Although Billy and Rick had to just watch, I got to play Bounty Hunter for GameCube very briefly at E3 2002. What I saw and played was amazing...Rick commented that it was the best pre-Alpha he'd ever seen, and I agree totally. The sheer amount of moves Jango can pull off is wild, and he manages to look cool doing every single one of them.

In fact, looking cool is a major part of Bounty Hunter. The enemies we saw weren't all that threatening, and the game doesn't force you to go through any particularly linear missions. You have an overall goal in the game (to track down a rogue Jedi), and you progress towards that goal anyway you can. For a good Bounty Hunter, that means tracking down scum on the streets of Coruscant, etc., and beating information out of them that will eventually lead you to your prey. The premise reminds me of when Batman would go collect info from street thugs.

Along the way you'll be milling through many, many civilians, and it just so happens that some of them probably have minor bounties on their heads. Jango can turn on a sensor (like infrared or maybe ultraviolet), and any person with a bounty will be distinguishable. What you do with them is up to you, but generally there are different bounties for bringing them in dead or alive. However, the bounty is collected instantly, so really all you have to do is kill the mark or disable him with a taser or something. And if you kill a few other people in the process...oh well. Jango is a bad dude, so it's not going to hurt his feelings (or your score).

LucasArts made it clear that Bounty Hunter is a pure action game. They don't want you wasting time with puzzles or too much exploration (though there will probably be a little of each). If there's a grate or locked door in your way, don't run around looking for a key; just pull out your laser and cut right through.

The combat reminds me of Devil May Cry somewhat. Not that Jango will be using a sword or anything, but the primary focus is on smooth controls and looking stylish as you dispose of bad guys (or in this case, maybe good guys). Jango's twin laser pistols, his main weapons, automatically target on up to two enemies within sight. If there are three or four enemies present, the two auto-targets will move as you look and move around. Pressing R will lock one of the targets, and that lock will hold even as you turn completely away, meaning you don't even have to look at an enemy to kill him. You can stay locked on and keep shooting at a target even as you jump and fly around, climb on ledges, etc. It's awesome. Other weapons, which weren't all implemented fully yet, included the big missile on Jango's back, a two-handed laser rifle, and the flamethrower, which looks great by the way.

One of my first questions to the LucasArts rep was, "Is the jetpack free?" Yes, yes it is. Jango can boost twenty meters up and ten meters laterally, which translates into quite a nice distance in the game. His jetpack's fuel will automatically regenerate when he touches the ground, and pretty quickly at that. Bounty Hunter allows (and promotes) you to incorporate the jetpack into both exploration and combat, often simultaneously.

The game takes place over several planets. When I asked whether you can shoot down the flying cars on Coruscant, the LucasArts rep said "Not yet." Oh boy.

So far Bounty Hunter is shaping up to be an overdue but much appreciated apology for Shadows of the Empire. The game design looks similar at a glance, but Bounty Hunter plays much faster and with more freedom, and the controls are exponentially better. This may turn out to be the best third-person action game ever made if it lives up to what I played at E3.