I'm sure Lucasarts is well aware of just how long Star Wars fans have waited for this game. Although most have wanted a Boba Fett based game, the ability to play as the most feared Bounty Hunter in the world's 'father' is just as good.

Bounty Hunter is one of the best looking and sounding Star Wars games yet on the PS2. This is due mostly in part to an unusual video game alliance between Lucasarts and the technical wizards at both ILM and Skywalker sound. It's a know fact that the boys and girls at ILM really know their way around a computer, and it shows. Each of the game's story scenes are nothing short of impressive and are just oozing with Star Wars goodness. In-game everything is just as sharp. Although the game is weak when it comes to eye-candy such as lighting effects, and tends to reuse textures quite a bit - it's still a work of art. I was especially impressed with the character animation.

Until now, Dante from Devil May Cry was one of the most fluent gunmen on the system - but Dante hasn't met Jango. There is nothing like pulling out Jango's dual blasters and letting loose on some poor sap. When things get really intense, he can quickly move into a graceful back flip or side flip while still firing.

When it comes to sound, nobody does it better than Skywalker Sound. Considering how good the sound is in every other Star Wars game, you wouldn't think there was must room for improvement, but Skywalker Sound found a way. Everything - from the swelling musical score, to the most insignificant of background noises - sounds fantastic and really brings the experience home. Even the voice work manages to come off as top-rate.

Bounty Hunter takes place a few years before Episode II and serves as a background story for both the clone army and Jango Fett. Over the course of the game, many questions about Jango and Boba's past will be answered. Players will discover the real story behind Jaster Mareel, the origins of Slave I, and the story behind why Jango was chosen to be the primary sample for the Clone Army. One character even suggests Jango's reason for wanting a clone for his own.

Although it may look like your standard third person adventure game, Bounty Hunter is actually more in line with most run n' gun games. There is very little puzzle solving to be done, and the few puzzles the game has involve discovering ways to get to other parts of levels (such as finding a weak grate to cut through or going hand-over-hand across poles). Bounty Hunter is pure action and adventure and never stops throwing things at you. In addition to a primary goal - which usually involves catching up to a particular person - players can also go after 'secondary bounties' by using Jango's helmet computer. This is really one of the coolest parts of the game and I really wish more had done with it. After equipping the helmet radar, Jango can scan other characters. If a character is clean, then a 'No Bounty Posted' message appears, however if a bounty is posted on the person - a detailed message about why they are wanted as well as the price posted (either dead or alive) on their head.

One of the things that makes Jango Fett cool is his arsenal - all of which are available to you at any time during the game. Not only does Jango use his dual blasters, but he can also use his jetpack, flame-thrower, whipcord (the same one that was used on Obi-Wan) and a few other tricks. There are even points in the game where he can pick up other blasters and grenade launchers.

This is one of those games that gets really hard, but for whatever reason you keep coming back to play. Bounty Hunter has a few tense moments, most of which are brought on by the one-man-against-the-world mentality of the game. There are times when you will face a few thugs and have no problem, yet at others you'll go up against armies of people. One of the more challenging levels even has Jango fighting his way through a prison riot.

Control was the thing I liked least about the game and can make a few aspects more difficult than they need to be. The auto targeting is very floaty and seems to have a few bugs in it. For example, there were times when I wanted Jango to aim in one direction, but the targeting system, which goes after the closest enemy, would decide that it wanted to shoot some other guy - sometimes even doing bonehead things like going for guys who are behind walls or floors. This system is somewhat remedied by Jango being able to shoot different targets with each of his blasters, but one blaster doesn't quite have the punch two guns give you.

As I mentioned above, my favorite part of the game was the 'secondary bounty' aspect. The problem comes with having to equip the helmet and then scan people. This isn't a big deal when Jango is just walking around, but during firefights the system doesn't lend itself to quick switching between weapons and the scanner. It would have made more sense if the helmet were switched on with a button press.

If you can't tell - I really like this game. It's not perfect, but it more than makes up for it by just being a fun action game.