Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy

You are the ultimate weapon...

As reviewed by GP member 77:

The Bourne Conspiracy follows the plot of the first film (Identity) while flashing back to some of Jason's previous missions. From the start, you'll notice that Matt Damon has not lent his likeness to the game but I can't imagine it making much of a difference. The graphics are passable for this generation and you'll find yourself in some pretty interesting locales all around Europe that look authentic.

There are three types of gameplay in The Bourne Conspiracy, Third Person Shooter, Third Person Fighter, and Driving. Let's start with Driving. It's only one level and it recreates the famous chase in the Mini-Cooper from The Bourne Identity. The controls are a little loose but they work for the level. The level itself is intense at times, but drags on a little longer than it should. You'll plow through buildings, rocket through tight alleyways, and shatter glass and lamp posts all while avoiding police at high speeds. If the game were entirely focused on racing, I'd be panning the controls and handling, but considering it's only a small part of the game, it's passable and serves it's purpose.

The shooting aspect of The Bourne Conspiracy is satisfying, if a little underdeveloped. It uses an over the shoulder camera and cover system similar to what most games are using now-a-days. Targeting is tight and responsive. Bad guys don't take an ungodly amount of bullets to go down (which is a nice change from a lot of recent games) and you'll find many destructable parts of the environment to help you take out bad guys like explosive barrels, cars and more. Like the driving, it serves it's purpose and serves it well. At times the shooting sections can feel a little tedious but that's usually only because you can't wait to get to the next hand to hand fight.

Bourne is a living breathing weapon and the hand-to-hand combat sequences in thsi game definitely make you feel like a lethal human being. Hand to hand fighting is handled in a myriad of different ways. There are kicks and punches and strong kicks and punches, but the real focus (and awesomeness) comes with "Takedowns." Takedowns are context sensitive actions that you use to either weaken an opponent considerably, or take him down for good. After fighting for a bit, you'll build up your takedown meter which you can use to BRUTALIZE your opponent. If you're near a desk, you'll slam his head into it, shattering it to splinters. Or maybe you'll kick him into a nearby electrical box, electricuting him. Or my personal favorite, grabbing a nearby pen and stabbing your opponent multiple times with it. The possiblities in the game are truly amazing as virtually any object in the environment can be used to perform a truly violent yet sweet take down. And if there isn't an object in the environment around, you can do one against the opponent by breaking bones, necks and noses with your bare hands. This is truly one of the most satisfying game mechanics I've used in a long time (even more so than the glaive in Dark Sector). Also, your Takedown meter is actually separated into three segments. As you fill segments by fighting enemies, you'll be able to perform a Takedown on multiple opponents at once, depending on how many segments you have filled. Needless to say, it's pretty freaking awesome. Takedowns also find their way into other aspects of the game, like shooting where you can shoot multiple enemies quickly and efficiently.

In the end, The Bourne Conspiracy is a competent shooter with some excellent fighting sequences. It's a short game, clocking it at about 8-10 hours but it's worth playing through again just to see what kind of takedowns you can do in different situations. This is a game worth your time, but rent it, as its short gameplay time doesn't merrit a purchase.

Bourne to be bad, as in good

This is somewhat of a movie game, that doesn't follow the movie very close. thats not a bad thing though,this game captures the feel of the movies very well. the fighting is simple but very fun and looks amazing, responsive controls and good looking graphics coupled with a good story make this game, however it does have its problems. the DRIVING part which isn't very long and thats good because it isn't very good and the GUN PLAY which isn't very good either namely because the targeting was implemented poorly. and there are some graphical imperfections along the way but just the usual stuff (collision detection) and i experienced some frame rate issues nothing to bad. but overall not a bad game