Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy

There are those games out there, where you can have two sides to the same coin when it comes to a reviewers view on a specific game. Let me explain, if you purchased The Bourne Conspiracy at full retail price theres a very good chance you'll feel totally let down by what the game offers. Yet if you rented it, you'll find that its a solid game that will scratch your gaming itch over a good weekend of gaming and leave you pretty pleased. Thats what Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy is suited for, a good rental and for that its a surprisingly fun little game while the action lasts. Even though you can't help for feel it could have offered a lot more.

Based around the books written by Robert Ludlum, and mostly around the superb films featuring Matt Damon. The Bourne Conspiracy offers a bit of a mix and match experience with the story. Its clear that the developers expect fans of the books/films to buy or rent this game because the games story does leave some huge gaps here and there. Don't expect to come into The Bourne Conspiracy expecting to be told the full story of the film/book of the same name, because you'll be dissapointed. If you want to know the story read the fantasically written books or if your not a reader then catch the superb movies. Anyway where was I, I personally rented this game and glad I did. For full price its not worth the cash, though it offers a Single Player experience that'll last you a day or so and different difficulty levels. Generally the game feels a little lack on content, which is disapointing because you can't help but feel more could have been done with this game. Especially considering a lot of the gameplay features are done so solidly in a time when games based around movies are so garbage. In the game you play as Jason Bourne, not the Matt Damon character though. A totally different styled character whose voiced by a different voice actor. The story is a bit of everything and though the game skips things here and there you'll still feel the general flow of the story within the experience on offer. Though I reconmend you watch the movies for a thicker meatier story. The story plays its part, its clear the story is just filling for the actual gameplay and action found within the Bourne Conspiracy.

You'll do a little bit of everything, from third person over the shoulder shooting to driving around the snowy streets of paris like the famous scene in the film. Theres also a solid melee system that can generally feel a little repetitive but offers enough variation that its not a huge deal.  The Melee combat features a system which allows you to perform special takedowns, these are hard hitting stylized attacked that are obtained once you reach a certain point in the Takedown graphic which sits at the bottom right corner of your screen and never really goes away, only in cutscenes. You build up this graphic by attacking your enemy or blocking his attacked, its even possible to perform a special triple takedown if you are surrounded and have enough takedown slots filled. All of the animated attacks are fantastic and very much in Bourne Style, they all have a somewhat realistic style to them much like the quick attacks Bourne perform in the films and will make you shout 'Ouch, thats gotta hurt'' once you see them in action. It is also possible to do a gunfire takdown if you have enough in the takedown chart, this isn't as spectacular and for the most part is a timed button sensitive one hit kill system. Speaking of Timed Button pressing, the game is full of them in different sections. Think God of War times 3. For the most part they are fine to perform and usually end up with a spectacular styled cutscene. But they eventually get on your nerves a little in later sections of the game, these are also found in the takedown system. A large Part of the game requires gunfire, which works perfectly fine. A cover system is also found within and does its job most of the time without any real concern. Most flat surfaces can be used for cover and thats what you'd expect from a good Cover system. Gunfire controls are solid, tho occasionally they can be a little bit dodgy from time to time and when you go into Bourne Instict you get a bit of a auto target system kick in though it doesn't do a great deal as the Bourne Instinct doesn't last you long, its basically a sense Bourne as which helps you get around levels and can be very helpful from time to time. You can die surprisngly easily in the harder levels of differculty and cover will allow you to regenerate health, but it will be in the middle of gunfire  where you'll spend most of your time dieing on the hardest of levels. The melee system isn't peticularly hard, the harder levels simply mean that enemies take a few more kicks or punches to take down. Theres also perfectly fine driving level in the game, as you drive through Paris. The controls are fine but are not at all realistic, also a small complaint is that in this game they drive the new Mini yet in the films Damon drives the old classic Mini..... but thats me being picky. Its solid at least, but nothing special and actually can feel like the games worst section as the gameplay is pretty basic and the graphics are poor. Speaking of graphics, for the most part its ok, nothing special here though there are sections that will still look fine. Its an average looking title but the graphics engine does it's job perfectly fine and won't get in the way of the game, it runs smoothly which is important in a game such as this. The games camera can be a bit half bothered and slow when in the 3rd Person camera but this is also something a lot of 3rd Person games seem to have nowadays. Voice acting is solid if unspectacular, not a great deal is said so not a great deal can be said about it. Gunfire sounds nice and other sound effects also have a nice hardness to the sound.

One aspect of The Bourne Conspiracy that is disapointing is the lack of a Multiplayer Mode, it might not seem a great idea at first but the melee system and 3rd person action could suit the Multiplayer battlefield well and I could see some sort of mode working, it would have added a great deal to the game and its sad that nothing is in there. There is a collection system in the disguise of simply picking up passports but its nothing special. Strangely one aspect of the game which saves it is Achievements. Unlike some games where getting achievements just isn't worth the time, its easy enough to collect some good achievements within The Bourne Conspiracy and for the most part there a lot of fun to get.

OVERALL!
As a rental package, Robert Ludlum's Bourne Conspiracy is a solid fun, action orientated title that will last you a good weekend of gaming and will scratch your gaming itch. But as a full priced game, its poor value for money with a lack of modes and a short single player story. A definate rental choice.

Gameplay: 8/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 7/10
Value: 3/10

I Give Robert Ludlum's Bourne Conspiracy 3 Stars out of 5.