Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy

Based on the popular character created by acclaimed thriller author Robert Ludlum, which was adapted into a major Hollywood movie in 2002, The Bourne Conspiracy is a third-person action stealth game with some fun twists. Instead of telling a unique story of its own, this spin-off title draws most of its story inspiration from the first Jason Bourne movie, featuring many of the same scenes and sequences. Armed with mainly their wits and heightened senses, players must unravel a surprising conspiracy as they evade capture and regain their memories. Although most games based on movies are pretty bad, The Bourne Conspiracy ends up being much more fun than you would think.

Main Game Features

• Mixture of third-person shooting and action
• Features moments from the blockbuster movie
• Three difficulty modes to choose from

Story

The story in The Bourne Conspiracy is a mixture of both the movie and original novel source material, blending the two together for a familiar but somewhat original story of espionage. The plot follows Jason Bourne, a stealthy assassin who wakes up with amnesia and must escape capture from the authorities as he tries to figure out the truth behind his shady past. Although the events of the game take place during and before the movie, it also deviates at key points in the story, offering different revelations. You can still expect to play through some of your favorite scenes from the movie though, including a dangerous escape from a bank and an assassin vs assassin battle in an apartment.

Unfortunately, while the story worked well in the movies, it doesn't transfer as well into video game form. It's still a cinematic experience that is full of action and suspense, but there's a big focus on action instead of the narrative. Unless you're already familiar with the overall story and characters, you might find yourself confused or underwhelmed by the spy-based mysteries. There are plenty of fun moments, but the story lacks the intrigue of the material it is based on.

Gameplay

However, playing through the main story in The Bourne Conspiracy is surprisingly fun, especially if you're a fan of linear, straightforward adventures. There are 11 levels total, with three different difficulty options for you to test your skill at. When you're not shooting down bad guys or getting into fist fights, the game also features exploration, encouraging you to seek out important information hidden around each level. To find these clues more easily, Jason can engage his assassin senses, which makes interactive items shine brightly. This is similar to “detective vision” as seen in games like Assassin's Creed and Batman: Arkham Asylum.

There are a handful of exciting boss fights to take on as well, which require interesting solutions to overcome. The gameplay switches up style often, in order to keep things fresh, offering fast-paced action, slow stealth, and even vehicle-based sections. That said, once you've finished the story, it might be hard to find a reason to play through the game again. Apart from a single set of collectibles and the harder difficulty options, The Bourne Conspiracy doesn't offer much in the way of extra content. This makes it a pretty short game that can be finished in just a few hours, or much quicker if you rush through levels.

Conclusion

The Bourne Conspiracy might not be the best stealth-action game around, but it's still a decent amount of fun, with a cool main character and some exciting gameplay. Unless you are an achievement hunter or want to play on a harder difficulty, there's not much replayability here, but the game is still worth playing through once.

Pros

• Good gameplay variety
• Fun to see favorite scenes from the movie
• Cool boss fights

Cons

• Overuse of quick-time events
• Not a lot of replay value
• Underwhelming story and characters

Deriving most of its content from the Bourne Identity film, if you’re a fan on an action packed foray into the world of amnesiac spies then Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Conspiracy by High Moon Studios is for you. Offering a pleasant amount of combat diversity, this title is an odd but interesting mix and match of action for the player to enjoy.

Gameplay

The gameplay is pretty straightforward. You move from point A to point B while encountering enemies along the way; you’ll encounter a mini boss half way through the mission and a main boss at the end. This game is a mish mash of different genres, it has shooting sections, a driving mission and it has a great deal of close quarters hand to hand fighting that I have to admit, were actally quite satisfying to play.

The shooting sections are a run of the mill cover shooter style, the enemy hit boxes are a little inconsistent but ultimately they serve a purpose and convey what they need to. Where the game shines is in its close quarters combat scenes, with a combination of X and Y button bashing to get destructive combos to defeat your enemies. There are finishers in these scenes that are really satisfying; the punches have a nice weight to them with nice sound effects and the enemy combatant reacts properly to being force fed a knuckle sandwich. There is also a semi-destructible environment that I found really helped the whole ferocious feel of Jason’s efficient fight style. Destroying your enemies by beating them against tables, hitting them with crowbars, throwing them against bookshelves and other such moves are all awesome power moves but when you damage the environment too, it really feels nice and tickles that part in your brain that makes you feel powerful.

It plays quite similarly to Uncharted: Drakes Fortune with those 3rd person shoot ‘em up scenes and a huge amount of action. It just lacked the charm of the protagonist and the depth and intrigue of the story. A great deal of the game is completing quick time events, most of which result in immediate death if failed and provides no alternate route for victory. Frustrating to some but definitely adds an element of intensity to the action scenes.

The Look

The game doesn’t look too bad to be fair to it. Ignoring the fact they couldn’t get Matt Damon’s likeness and switched Bournes model to some interchangeable and relatively indistinguishable white guy, we still know who we’re controlling. The world and settings are of an acceptable standard in style and detail but I often found I barely had enough time to even look at it with the mad action fest that occupies most of the games run time.

The game chooses not to focus on long held camera shots and elects to adopt the fast paced editing style prevalent in the films. Sure, its choppy look gives a strong frenetic feel to the combat but it can also make the fights hard to follow.

The Story

Yep, I’m pretty sure there is one but the developers are following the movies which were hard enough to follow themselves sometimes. Essentially, the Story is apparent and its fine but it’s really not what the game wants you to focus on. It’s a lot of Bourne travelling around and kicking ass and I’ve got no problem with that.

Pros

• Awesome and engaging action
• Satisfying fight scenes

Cons

• Convoluted plot
• Any realistic person would have died during the first mission