games: The Bourne Conspiracy

For anyone who has ever wistfully daydreamed of being imbued with l33t secret agent skills, Jason Bourne has got to be one of the ultimate heroes. And now, the Bourne franchise has come to video game and we can, at last, play our favourite lethal amnesiac in Robert Ludlum’s ‘The Bourne Conspiracy’.

This summer has seen a number of pretty dire movie-tie-in games, but thankfully The Bourne Conspiracy breaks that trend and gives us a game that’s actually competent and worth something in its own right.

This is not strictly a movie-tie-in, but rather more of a companion piece. The plot mostly occurs in line with that of the Bourne Identity and the game recreates some of the key sequences from the film, but it also adds original story to the cannon of the films in flashback levels which reveal more of Bourne’s past.

Also, Matt Damon was not involved and so the hero of the game has his own, well, identity. There is still a strong association with the films though, and a high quality one at that, with Bourne screenwriter Tony Gilroy working on story and character, and Bourne fight co-ordinator, Jeff Imada co-designing the combat system.

Gameplay is a mix of hand-to-hand combat, shootouts, and dramatic escapes and action sequences. The hand-to-hand combat is really good. There will be a small cut scene to initiate a scuffle, and then you take over with a series of two button attack combos, charged attacks and blocks.

These have been nicely choreographed and animated it’s a joy to see a character doing more unusual things like using his elbows or blocking and dodging skillfully. As well as your health, you have an adrenaline gauge in blue which when filled to a certain level allows you to perform various take-down moves which are shown in a cut scene. This really captures the Bourne fighting style and often incorporates bits of nearby scenery for a truly vicious end. If you let your adrenaline charge higher, you can take down multiple opponents at the same time.

The AI is quite good, fighting skillfully and avoiding your attacks if you use the same combo too often. The only gripe is that sometimes Bourne’s responses to button presses feel a little slow, and sometimes enemies will wait to take turns to attack you, which feels a bit unrealistic.

The shooting isn’t bad, although a zoom would have helped and accuracy is sometimes questionable. The action sequences are fun and reasonably imaginative requiring you to do things like distracting helicopters by blowing shit up, and faking your own death. There are also interactive moments in some of the action cut scenes, where everything will slow down and you have to quickly press certain randomly chosen buttons within a time limit for Bourne to successfully complete a particularly skillful move, such as dodging bullets or a last minute dive over railings, or in melee, avoiding an opponents take-down.

In terms of graphics, this isn’t bad looking at all, although there is a bit of clipping and stuttering from time to time. The audio is strong with good music and solid voice acting. But movement can both look and feel a bit cumbersome,

When playing the PS3 version which took 12 minutes to install it still has reasonably long load times. It’s also frustrating that for a character whose success is based on intelligence and adaptability as much as combat skills, that the game is so linear, and a lot of the environment purely scenery (even if it is destructible).

But all in all this is not a bad outing and certainly worth at least a rental if you’re a fan of the films. A respectable three stars.

For the best of the rest:

IGN:
The Bourne movie trilogy, comprising Identity, Supremacy and Ultimatum gave the action/spy genre a much needed towel flick to the groin. It demonstrated that exciting, kinetic action need not always involve big explosions, car chases with conveniently placed ramps or sassy one-liners delivered after the final baddie is killed in some elaborate and ironic fashion. The Bourne flicks eschewed all that in favour of a breakneck pace, amazing, creative fight scenes that were down and dirty - yet somehow graceful - and a very wobbly camera.

Play.com:
Robert Ludlum’s best-selling spy novels and blockbuster film adaptations have thrilled millions. Now for the first time, become Jason Bourne, Ludlum’s most famous spy, in an original videogame that takes you deeper than ever before into his world of action and espionage.

Daily Game:
It’s easy to pick on licensed games and movie tie-ins, because with the exception of The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, those products generally stink. So it’s important to realize two things about The Bourne Conspiracy, which Sierra is shipping to retail today for PS3 and Xbox 360. First, there’s no Jason Bourne movie scheduled for at least a year, so The Bourne Conspiracy isn’t a rushed-out movie tie-in, but a “companion piece” to the entire franchise. Second, and just as important, High Moon Studios has treated the gameplay with as much care as a stand-alone IP, not a series with five books and three movies to its credit, resulting in a game that’s part shooter, part fighting game, and all edge-of-your-seat action.