Star Wars: Hunters

Star Wars: Hunters might not bring anything particularly new to the ever-increasing field of class-based shooters, but there's a lot of fun to be had here. If you can look past the fiddly menus and 'Arena Pass' trappings that have haunted so many in the genre, Hunters offers a level of tactical PvP gameplay that is simple to grasp and entertaining enough to warrant mastering. Best of all, it feels right at home on Switch. There's certainly room for improvement but, like ol' Shiv Palpatine, we will watch its career with great interest.

Star Wars: Hunters’ lighthearted PvP fun is like a party at the Death Star: Impressive for a bit, but probably not a place you’ll want to hang around for too long

Star Wars: Hunters is a surprisingly fun and good game that you should definitely check out. The characters, maps, modes and even the gameplay are well balanced, designed and even implemented in the game. There's just something missing. Over time, you'll find that it lacks depth, and longer matches would definitely help.

Star Wars Hunters is a surprisingly fun hero shooter wrapped around a somewhat aggressive live-service model.

The gameplay is solid, and everything feels as though it is polished and fun, but without much to truly capture the attention of the community, there is a concern that after the initial hype dies off, the matches could begin to struggle with maintaining an active player base. That said, this game does have a lot to offer, particularly for Star Wars fans, being a well-crafted entry into the genre of competitive arena combat battles. Especially being free-to-play, Star Wars: Hunters is a fun game that is absolutely worth a try.

Hunters is not quite as much fun as playing Overwatch … or watching Star Wars. It could have done with some truly original features, or more movie content tied in with the gameplay. Instead, it is a decent team shooter that you can play on Switch or mobile, and swap your progress between the two, so you never have to go more than a few moments without levelling up a wookiee. Yes, it tries to bamboozle you with many quests, challenges and blinking icons on the menu screen so that you inevitably fold and buy a £10 season pass, but you can definitely defeat the game’s Jedi mind tricks and have a blast without paying. The force is strong in this one, but not THAT strong.

Star Wars: Hunters places a basic intergalactic skin over a generic F2P team shooter, but there’s fleeting fun within those modest expectations.

Even after several updates, Star Wars: Hunters can’t capture the verve nor engagement of other Hero shooter/brawler hybrids. The end result is a surplus of characters, modes, and cosmetics that’s swamped by lacklustre design, aesthetics, and mechanics. For this sub-genre, calling it mediocre feels too generous. For a new-ish Star Wars game, it ranks among the weakest efforts since Disney took over.

A Star Wars version of Overwatch is not the worst idea ever, but its full potential can only barely be glimpsed through a miasma of cloying microtransactions and purposefully shallow gameplay.