Bounty Hunter: Space Detective

The Good
It is simple, a bit different, and cheap.

I was browsing my Steam queue the other day and this game popped up. Dirt cheap, only £0.40, and I thought it looked just that little bit different so I got it and I also got the sister games Bounty Hunter: Stampede and Bounty Hunter: Ocean Diver. Unsurprisingly this proved that there is really only one game but that it has been repackaged with different artwork to look like three games, all three even use the same music, hence I'm doing a single review for all of them and I'm reviewing Space Detective because this is the one that caught my eye.

At its heart this is a simple shooter. Locate a target, point with the mouse, click, KA-BOOM, on to the next.
The sound effects are simple, I can only remember the one that plays when something is shot down.
The music is a sort of electro-pop/techno loop that is quite pleasant - it must have been OK because I kept it turned on while I played all three games - not outstanding or memorable but it's OK.
The artwork is good in all three games and in this game it is the artwork that counts. I played the games in full screen mode because with my eyes that's the only way to go. What doesn't come across in the screenshots is that the little figures are at different levels and each level moves at a different speed (I think this is parallax scrolling and it works very well)
All of the little characters were clear enough to see and identify. Personally I found the fish in Ocean Diver to be the prettiest and easiest to play with. The space ships were fine, not as pretty, and they varied by the tiniest of details so identifying the targets in this game is harder. Stampede's creatures weren't as pretty as the fish nor as detailed as the space ships and I thought they were a little fuzzy around the edges. Identifying the targets in Stampede was kind of mid-way between the other two.

The Bad
Instructions: There are very few instructions, just three messages at the start of the game 'These are the targets'; 'This is the timer and the score' ; 'Don't shoot civilians' and that's it. Now that's all you really need to know so I started out, hit the first two targets and was sent back at the main menu where I selected the same difficulty setting and played again, back to the menu, repeat, repeat.
What this means is that there is no feeling of progression, I'm not advancing from level one to level two and so on, it feels like I'm replaying the same level over and over. At one play through the number of targets increased and that seemed to indicate some form of progression but on the next play through the number of targets decreased so I may have been mistaken. Some explanation of what is, or is not, happening would be of use.
What I have noticed is that the more times I clear the level the more my the population in my city / aquarium / farm grows. It took a while to work this out but as the population grows Steam achievements are unlocked - this is another reason why I'd like better instructions.
Finally - When Space Detective starts up there was a screen that showed some baddies which don't appear on the scanner but can be shot down for bonus points, the same probably applies to other games but this is the one I remember. That screen is the only screen that shows those images and it never appears again because there's no Help function! Aaaaarrrrggghhh!

Another minor irritation is the music. It's OK and I don't dislike it but to use the same music for all three games just isn't right.

When playing the game if I shoot a random object other than the specified target the game displays the message "Target Escaped", not something more appropriate like "You've been a very bad boy. Don't do it again".

On several occasions, mainly on Ocean Diver, I've located and hit the target, the game has chalked up a hit but has then aborted saying I'd hit a non-target. This may be a flaw in the game or it may be that my mouse is sending a double click and needs further investigation. (See below.)

The Bottom Line
These are fun, pointless, games that will test your powers of observation. I don't find any of them to be addictive. They are easy to pick up, play and put away again - a bit like the old Minesweeper or Solitaire games that came bundled with Windows

Update: The original review concluded by saying 'Play Space Detective if you want a challenge or Ocean Diver if you want a much prettier but slightly easier challenge'.
Well, last night I settled in for a sustained session on Ocean Diver and was very disappointed with it and no longer recommend it. The occasional problem reported above where I'd hit a target, the game would recognise that by crossing the fish off my target list but would also record I'd hit the wrong fish and end the level happened every time. I tried changing the mouse sensitivity. I tried one deliberate click, I tried a quick fast click, nothing worked and I have now uninstalled the game.
On the plus side I played Space Detective for a good hour. It is tougher but it works and of the three it is my game of choice.