 Review By: Grant McCallum |
Developer: | High Moon Studios |
| Publisher: | Sierra Entertainment | |
| Genre: | Action | |
| ESRB: | Teen | |
| # Of Players: | 1 | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | HDTV 720p/1080i/1080p |
Six years ago, Jason Bourne exploded onto screens across the world in the first film in a trilogy of high action spy thrillers – The Bourne Identity. This action-packed movie and its sequels was well received by many, so it’s no surprise that Sierra have finally put gamers in the shoes of the amnesiac agent in Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Conspiracy.
As those who have seen any of the Bourne films will already know, Jason Bourne is essentially a walking weapon. His devastating hand to hand skills coupled with sharp instincts and excellent marksmanship makes him one of the most deadly men in the world, and the people behind the game have clearly done their best to make sure that the player truly feels this way when they take on the role of Ludlum’s character.
The Bourne Conspiracy starts – like the film – just before Jason loses his memory whilst on a mission for his mysterious employers. You are dropped straight into the action in Marseilles, where Bourne is on assignment. Before long, however, you are roped into a world of confusion and turmoil in story of mystery and cat-and-mouse chases which draws from the first film in the Bourne series whilst taking a few liberties here and there. The story is for the most part engaging and exciting, following Bourne’s efforts to escape from his unknown past as a Treadstone operative. Interestingly, this tale is interspersed with flashback levels triggered automatically during cutscenes, most often when Bourne discovers one of his old passports which remind him of past missions.
These secondary levels send you back in time to when Jason was still willingly taking orders from his superiors, and although the plots of these flashbacks don’t contribute greatly to the overall story of the game, the levels are exciting to play through and give an insight into how Bourne behaved before losing his memory. Notably, he is much more trigger happy as you will notice the majority of the gunplay is carried out during these flashback sequences. Although the story is a good one, it could have been told better as from time to time it is a little confusing, and in all honesty the ending was a downright disappointment – it falls so flat, I was expecting the game to be loading the next mission or cutscene, not the credits.
Throughout the game the cutscenes are both exciting and good looking. If you’ve seen The Bourne Identity you may well recognise some of the familiar action sequences which have been recreated in the game. There are also “quick action events” which is almost a given in any action game which is released these days. Fortunately, these “Press X to not die” moments aren’t (usually) unfairly timed, and you’ll have to be paying keen attention anyway if you don’t want to lose track of the story. That being said, these events are frequent and will still annoy those gamers who dislike them.
Action in The Bourne Conspiracy comes thick and fast, and one of the most notable parts of the gameplay in this title is the fantastically executed hand to hand combat. Just as you would expect if you’ve seen the Bourne films, the bare knuckle fights are highly impressive both to look at and play. Initially it may appear that combat is going to be overly simple as you are only given three buttons with which to act: light attack, heavy attack, and the very useful block button. Despite the simple control setup and the fact that you can only string together combos of up to three consecutive hits, the hand to hand combat is in fact the true gem of The Bourne Conspiracy.
Posted: 2008-09-02 19:06:58 PST