Developed by High Moon Studios
Published by Sierra Entertainment
Released for Xbox 360 (6/3/2008)
Also on PS3
Robert Ludlum's the Bourne Conspiracy is an admirable effort to create an experience with a mixture of hand-to-hand and gunfighting combat styles. There are also some chase sequences sprinkled in for good measure. The main protagonist is, of course, Jason Bourne, though he shares no likeness to Matt Damon so I guess we're to assume this is based on the novels. I enjoyed the first two films, but I lost interest in the many sequels and haven't felt compelled to watch them at any point. I like the concept for a game though; who doesn't want to play as a highly-skilled and trained killer? So, let's dive into the Bourne Conspiracy and see what's in store.
Graphically, the game looks pretty nice for a title released in 2008. The character models and environments sport some nice detail. The sound design is all above average, nothing stood out as bad nor exceptional. The story is there, but I'm afraid I'm unable to recall any of it as I just couldn't find myself interested enough to pay attention during the cut-scenes. That's not to say that it's bad or anything, just that I didn't care about them and was playing the game purely for the action.
When it comes to the gameplay, Bourne tries to blend hand-to-hand with gunfighting and you'll be going back and forth between the two very frequently. We'll start off with the melee combat. When you get within a couple feet of an enemy you'll engage the hand-to-hand system and the screen pans back to give you a view of both fighters. It somewhat resembles the Fight Night games in some respects but is nowhere near as deep. You have two buttons to attack with and a block button. Fights can be easily won by just mashing the two buttons back and forth. The game does have some simple combos you can do to increase your damage, but I never found myself caring to learn them when you can just mash the buttons and win all the same. As you inflict damage on your enemies you build up a bar that can store up to three meters. You can activate these at any time for an instant takedown. Some of these takedowns are pretty brutal and Bourne will utilize the enviornment when there is something within reach, which is definitely a nice touch.
The gunplay feels a tad loose compared to many other games involving shooting from a third-person perspective, but it works okay due to computer opponents being a bit on the dumb side. You'll want to go for headshots as often as possible, as enemies can eat up quite a few bullets, especially on the hard difficulty. There are several types of guns you can pick up from dead enemies, mostly just the standard fare type of stuff you'll see in these types of games. The shotgun is definitely fun to blast foes with in this game as they tend to launch back like in old action flicks. I appreciate how many of the objects around will take damage during the firefights. The takedown meter works with firearms in addition to melee and will auto-fire a shot guaranteed to kill an enemy, consuming a bar per kill and allowing up to three to be stored. So you can hold on to three bars for tough situations and do a nice triple-takedown. It's an interesting mechanic and I'm sure it was pretty impressive in this pre-Arkham Asylum era of 3D fighting.
High Moon Studios attempted to combine these two styles together, so if in the middle of a firefight you run up on one of your enemies you will enter hand-to-hand mode. This makes for some funny moments watching Bourne go fisticuffs with someone while several enemies are still firing at him. On hard mode this will get you killed though and all of a sudden humor gives way to frustration. It was definitely ambitious but in the end it doesn't really work very well. There's not much flow to the action and on the hard difficulty enemies seem to take forever to die. The melee is definitely unique, but ultimately is just not as fun as other similar titles. I almost forgot to mention, they also included a stage where you get to drive around a bit. This was a welcome deviation and wish it would have been more than one stage! If you've already played through the similar in concept but superior in design 007: Blood Stone (though to be fair, Blood Stone came out a whole two years after this game) and need more third-person shooter action, you could do worse than Bourne Conspiracy.
Final Verdict: The Bourne Conspiracy was rather decent back in 2008, but it is definitely showing its age. If you love third-person action games you may be able to overlook some of its issues and still have a good time with this one.
Purchase Links:
Buy Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy - eBay
Related Links:
Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy - GameFAQs
High Moon Studios - Official Site
Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy - Metacritic
Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy - GameFAQs
Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy - True Achievements
Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy Achievement Guide - Xbox Achievements
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