If you ever wanted to play as Star Wars characters in Overwatch, check out Star Wars: Hunters. This free-to-play Nintendo Switch game (also available on Android and iOS) is a serviceable but uninspired team-based shooter set in a galaxy far, far away. The character concepts make fun use of the license, but the game drags you into a Sarlacc pit of microtransactions. Star Wars: Hunters is entertaining enough, but chances are you’ve already played something similar.

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Gameplay

Star Wars: Hunter is a fast-paced third-person multiplayer shooter featuring two teams of four. Instead of sprawling, Battlefront-style clashes between armies, Hunters is about quick tactics and tight team synergy. Your team rotates through game modes that task you with scoring the most eliminations or controlling territory. The familiar locations include Endor forests and Tatooine deserts.

Hero-based shooters like this spice things up by offering fighting game-esque characters with different moves and personalities. The upcoming Marvel Rivals, Disney’s other Overwatch clone, lets you play as iconic superheroes, but Star Wars: Hunters sees you control original characters competing on a space game show. Still, they quickly remind you of other famous Star Wars faces. For example, Mandalorian Aran Tal is just Boba Fett with swapped colors. Rieve could be any angry Dark Side acolyte.

In Hunters, characters fall into the Damage, Support, or Tank classes, so you must pay attention to your team's composition. However, there are meaningful differences between combatants within a class. Hunters makes good use of the Star Wars lore to give characters creative abilities. Grozz the Wookie, a tank, rushes opponents, grabs them, and smashes them into walls. Sentinel the Stormtrooper, another tank, calls in reinforcements for his ultimate attack. Utooni, Damage-class, is just two little Jawas standing on top of each other, and that’s great.

That’s basically where the creativity stops, though. During my time with Star Wars: Hunters, I thought I might as well play the titles that clearly inspired it (like Team Fortress 2). Compare that with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, a game that expertly blends multiple influences before applying the Star Wars filter. The only moment that made me truly grateful this was a Star Wars game was when a podracer stage hazard wiped out the enemy team.

Star Wars: Hunters is a more casual shooter. Perhaps that’s why it’s available on mobile and Nintendo Switch, avoiding PC and other consoles. The gunplay is accessible, and melee-focused characters provide a nice alternative.

(Credit: Zynga/PCMag)

Graphics and Multiplayer

Star Wars: Hunters has welcoming, if basic, graphics. The characters have a somewhat stylized design, but the visuals don’t tip over into the Clone Wars cartoon aesthetic (a look I find hideous). Star Wars: Hunters performs well, aside from some texture-loading issues I noticed at the beginning of matches.

At first, you can only play casual matches, but as you earn experience, you gain access to ranked play and special events. You can play solo or team up with friends. The game also supports crossplay between mobile and Nintendo Switch.

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Heavy Monetization

Star Wars: Hunters is a mobile game made by Zynga, so it’s not surprising that it has an aggressive free-to-play model. Still, it's annoying. There’s a battle pass with free and premium tracks, a cosmetics-filled store, and options to pay directly for content instead of grinding for it. One thousand crystals cost $10, enough to unlock a single character.

Free players aren’t totally out of luck. You unlock characters and level up their abilities using experience points earned while playing. You earn a decent number of characters fairly quickly, but the unlock speed slows down the further you get along. At least you can try out every character before you buy, unlike MultiVersus.

Even if you avoid spending money, the monetization efforts make the game a mess. The interface is a constant cacophony of pop-ups and notifications competing for your attention and dollars. Claim your rewards! View your daily quests! Check out this limited offer! It can be hard to navigate the menu and play the game. There’s something sadly funny about epic Star Wars music blaring at you as the game desperately hawks a legendary lightsaber handle that looks like just another metal stick.

Verdict: This Force Is Too Familiar

Over the decades, Star Wars has become far too omnipresent to feel as special as it once did. Still, Star Wars projects always have the potential for greatness. So it’s disappointing that Star Wars: Hunters plays it so safe. It’s an average F2P licensed game that borrows shamelessly from a trendy genre without improving it. If you want an Overwatch-style shooter with extra Wookies and lightsabers, though, Star Wars: Hunters at least make good on that promise.

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