Star Wars: Hunters is a free-to-play 4-versus-4 hero shooter that actually manages to be fun despite its live-service identity. Most of the core content isn’t locked behind a paywall, though a lengthy linear progression is necessary to unlock modes and characters. That being said, Star Wars: Hunters is a breath of fresh air compared to games like Multiversus. The core 4v4 gameplay is engaging and fun enough to for the aggressive FOMO to be a complete deal-breaker.

Before diving into what makes Star Wars: Hunters shine, let’s get the live-service stuff out of the way first. Star Wars: Hunters features its own in-game currency, season passes, and an aggressive shop with exclusive cosmetics. That being said, you can enjoy this game without paying a single penny. Though, unlocking characters and gear can be somewhat of a chore for those who want multiple characters out of the gate.

"The game aggressively targets the player with arena passes and other shop items every chance it can get"

Characters are unlocked one at a time with Hunter Tokens, which are rewarded based on well you perform in the game’s matches. I’m unlocking an average of one character per 40 minutes, which isn’t the worst forced grind I’ve seen in a modern live-service game. Of course, each character can also be bought immediately at 1000 crystals each. Crystals are the game’s store currency, usually only obtainable using real money out of your wallet. Leveling up your character’s abilities and gaining XP can be done without paying anything, albeit at a slower rate than paying.

Matches are scaled to your level, so it’s not quite pay to win. Still, even though the game has a decent progression curve for those who opt out of paying money, the aggressive way the game directs you to the shop is distasteful. The game take you to the store page every other time you boot up the account, and you’ll be pressured into buying into arena pass exclusives more and more as time goes on. Every menu stares you down with live-service FOMO exclusive store items and let’s you know how little crystal currency you have as if to shame you. It’s truly an eyesore to navigate through all the menus. Couple that with the Star Wars: Hunters website not mentioning monetization whatsoever and what you have is a truly obnoxious live-service model here.

Star Wars: Hunters spoon-feeds modes to you just as it does characters. The game contains four game modes total, but you’ll only be able to do the basic 4v4 Squad Brawl until you hit the necessary levels for the others. Power Control mode unlocks at level four and is your traditional capture-the-flag mode. Dynamic Control mode tasks you with holding a moving control point zone. Finally, the Trophy Chase mode is a game of tag where the player who picks up the TRO-F33 droid the longest wins. Unfortunately, modes and maps are always randomly shuffled in Star Wars: Hunters.

"Environmental details like Luke’s Landspeeder in the Tatooine map hit that classic Star Wars tone wonderfully"

While the randomized modes and maps are a bummer, I thoroughly enjoy the maps themselves. Levels have fun gimmicks to them, like the upper and lower canopies providing strategic positioning in the Ewok Village. The Star Wars tone is wonderfully executed throughout the game, with plenty of fanservice for Prequel and original trilogy fans alike. I often found myself wanting to just look around the maps at my own pace, but that would result in my teammates dying, unfortunately, as there’s no way to practice levels without initiating a match. The environmental design boasts lots of little details befitting of their in-universe locale, making me yearn for the ability to select each map to freely explore at your leisure. Likewise, there’s some cool character lore written in costume descriptions and quest progression diaries. Quests are basically just achievement-tracking screens, but they provide some extra personality with the occasional character quotes. Star Wars: Hunters provides classic Star Wars charm with its expressive characters and well-designed maps brimming with fanservice; I just wish it gave me more ways to enjoy them.

"You can aim with precision down the scopes and adjust dead zone settings for personalized control"

By far the most impressive aspect of Star Wars: Hunters are the smooth, intuitive controls. I had worries that the shooting would lack precision due to the game’s development as a mobile title, but that worry was quickly thrown in the bin as I took my first shots in the tutorial. Aiming with the thumbstick has progressive sensitivity, allowing for careful precision shots and 180-degree quick fires. There’s a good amount of control options you can tweak to your liking, such as dead zone, aim assist, acceleration boost, and focused aim adjustability. These options are pretty standard for third-person shooters, but it’s still worth a mention for how rare it is in the free-to-play/mobile space. Aiming down the sights and taking headshots are a breeze in this game, as is taking a more tanky approach and using a spread turret as a sentinel stormtrooper. All in all, I felt more in control of my aiming in Star Wars: Hunters than I ever did in EA’s Battlefront II, which I played just a week ago.

To go along with the great gunplay, moving around and jumping feels genuinely intuitive and snappy in Star Wars: Hunters. Take the simple act of rotating your character; an action that many recent games in the character action space make laborious and clunky. By contrast, characters in Star Wars: Hunters can be spun around as swiftly and effortlessly as a spinning top. As someone with a Switch prone to drift, the controls still feel more accommodating than similar games due to the precise, snappy movement and wealth of accessibility settings.

Thankfully, expressive character animations aren’t sacrificed for the game’s quick movement and smooth gameplay interactions. Each character has unique animations that manage to look realistic while still fitting the decidedly cartoony aesthetic. The Wookie stomps around with as much weight as you’d want from the large fur balls, and the skittish Jawas scramble about with a lightness of foot identical to the films.

"Stormtrooper shields allow you to turret down foes without worry."

Each character fulfills one of three classes and has their own unique abilities and weapons. Larger characters like the Wookie and Stormtrooper are your tank, while the Jawa and field medic take on the support role; likewise, Jedi and bounty hunters perfectly fit the damage class. Each character has a basic attack, three to four unique abilities, and a finisher. Some abilities, such as the bounty hunter’s grapple, even take advantage of terrain giving them a mobility advantage. I particularly enjoy the rolling Droideka traversal of the Slingshot character. The unique musical theme and voice lines for each character help make them that much more personalized and special, though some of the emotes and costumes do require a bit of grinding and/or money to unlock.

Thankfully, the special feel of the characters isn’t all fluff. The team-based gameplay lends itself well to the different class types resulting in a good amount of variety. Star Wars: Hunters is clearly meant to be more of a pick-up-and-play kind of experience, but I can see longevity here as more characters and maps get added to the game. The lack of a dodge roll is disappointing, though. Sure, some classes can grapple out of the way and use energy shields when being targeted, but a universal dodge would spice up the toolkit and create even more strategic depth to the game. Also, the map selection is a tad scant at the moment, with under eight maps.

Star Wars: Hunters may not have the most groundbreaking systems and next-gen graphics, but the quick 4v4 matches are genuinely fun and engaging. Its combat is smoother than EA’s Battlefront II and can still be thoroughly enjoyed without paying a penny. I just lament the aggressive monetization in the menus and the scant amount of maps and lack of any kind of campaign. Star Wars: Hunters fulfills its niche in the hero shooter market as a fun and easy-to-control love letter to the popular sci-fi franchise, even if it’s a bit shallow in content at the moment.

This game was reviewed on the Switch.