Bourne Conspiracy Review

Platform: Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 (reviewed on 360)
ESRB: T for Teen
Genre: Third Person Adventure/Shooter
Number of Players: 1
Publisher: Sierra
Release Date: June 3, 2008
Official Website

Rent

Let’s cut right to the chase: You play (of course) as Jason Bourne, the protagonist of the Bourne series of books and movies, throughout his journey to assassinate the targets assigned to him. But that’s not all! The game primarily treads through the events of the first Bourne movie with extra details taken from the novel and leads to many memorable, yet repetitive moments. Despite this game being based on the book’s version of Jason Bourne’s adventure, I just wanna say that I usually don’t mind any kind of movie game. They’re harmless, usually easy, and made to make money so I don’t put too much thought into them. I have not read Robert Ludlum’s book or seen all of the movies, which may be a good thing since I like the way the game played out and would not have wanted it ruined for me.

Graphics:
The graphics in the game are outstandingly detailed and vibrant. Save for a few barely noticeable flaws, the game does a superb job on the character models and environment details. The motion capture done on the faces is amazing. Every time a character in the game opens his mouth to speak, your eyes will lock on the face and you’ll follow each expression made. From the long-range shooting to the close-combat sequences, everything always looks crisp and realistic. When Jason gets punched in the face, you see blood and bruises appear on his face. When your enemy gets punched by you, the same. My only complaint is that the initial reticle for the gun is way too generic. It’s like a little dead white pixel in the middle of the screen. The only time it responds is when you are actually locked on to the enemy. It’s kind of annoying and it barely serves it’s purpose since you kind of do a lot of shooting.

Sound:
The sound in the game is decent. The voice acting for all of the characters is clean, smooth and very professionally done. I love the accurately portrayed accents and vocal mannerisms of all of the characters. It always follows the mood of the game. The sounds of the helicopters, boats and the like are dead on and really add to the feel of the game. Environmental sound effects are pretty well done. I love the sounds of the wind whipping by when you exit an area to the outdoors. The sounds of the guns firing is a little redundant and shallow, I wish they had done more with sound effects on the weapons.

Controls:
The controls can take some getting used to, but aren’t terribly difficult. The aiming, for the most part is smooth, but it never evolves past pointing and shooting from behind cover. With the exception of the ‘Bourne Instinct’ ability that allows the player to slow the progression of time (how creative), the shooting is while not bad, as basic as it gets. However, at most points in the game, it is possible to take cover and carefully shoot enemies “through” the walls. Bourne is supposed to be the world?s best assassin, but even he shouldn?t be able to do that! There are simple combos which can be utilized during hand to hand combat, but they have to be combined with defenses to really be effective. The driving stage in the game is actually when the game is most responsive. You experience tight movement and a great sense of speed, however your time with it is extremely short lived.

Flow:
The game pulls together quite nicely. From the beginning of the game, the story is interesting and never leaves you in suspense. It always keeps moving along. Anyone who has seen the films will understand the story completely, but those new to the series might be slightly confused with the constant flashbacks. In any case the whole game moves forward pretty consistently. The game moves nearly seamlessly from run-and-gun to close-combat sequences. One moment, you’re gunning down bad guys, and before you know it, one of them has snuck up on you and it’s right into close-combat.

Fun Factor:
The game is pretty fun to play. There’s nothing more satisfying than capping someone in the head as Jason Bourne. The seamless fight sequences that the game offers are a major step in the right direction for this genre of game. While a bit strange at first, the transition between dodging bullets to the one on one fighting game-like mechanics of the hand to hand fights bring a breath of fresh air to the action genre. Once again I must say: the driving is one of the best parts of the title. While linear, driving through buildings and tables to outrun police is some of the most fun offered in the game, but due to story constraints, this takes place in only one short level.

Female Aspect:
The only female role in the game is the per-usual for these types of story lines. Along the way, you meet Marie who’s only role in the game is to be a liability. Marie is basically just a passerby who got caught up in Jason’s mess after he pays her $10,000 (or I’m assuming Euro?) to drive him out of the country. She?s only ever seen in cutscenes and can be heard in her car, but her role is very limited. Of course, they fall in love in the end. Happily ever after. *sniff*

Replay Value:
The replay value is not terribly high. The only reason to go back through the levels when you reach the end of the game is if you perhaps missed one of the few randomly placed “passport” collectables on your first time through. That, or maybe you want to attempt to take on your targets on a higher difficulty setting. I know I always play on Normal my first time through any game (unless I feel that it’s not challenging enough), but honesty, there’s not much reward in completing this game on Hard. It doesn’t make the game any more or less fun. I would only go for it if you’re into snatching up the last of your achievements for the game but otherwise, there’s little reason to go back once the game is done.