First off, I have to say that I am a big Jason Bourne fan. I've seen every movie so many times (I own them all on DVD), and I'm currently reading the novels by Robert Ludlum and Eric Van Lustbader. Since I am a big Jason Bourne fan, I was walking around the video game store and, at a fairly low price (15$) found The Bourne Conspiracy. I was hoping this game would be GREAT!
Boy was I wrong! I don't know why I got my hopes up so high. This is pretty much just another licensed title based on a movie or series. In other words, it's not that good, and it feels rushed.
The game pretty much follows the story of the Bourne Identity, while some other scenes and missions follow the back story behind Jason Bourne and help us better understand this character.
The game is repetitive really quickly. Run through a mission from checkpoint to checkpoint. Along the way you'll have a few goons to fight or shoot at, and if you're lucky, a few objects here and there to interact with. A few bosses can pop out of nowhere at times and attack you, just punch them with a few combos and perform take downs on them. But that's not all, they get up after take downs, so you have to rinse and repeat over and over again until you defeat the bosses. Sometimes, it feels like it's been 20 minutes you're fighting the same guy over and over again.
The fighting and shooting mechanics suck. Because the camera angles refuse usually to cooperate, it's a chore getting your cross hair directly on top of your target. Fighting probably wouldn't feel all that painful if it offered more combos, if the enemies you are fighting weren't frustratingly difficult (there are times when they are) and, most importantly, if it didn't happen that often. Another control scheme was with driving. Although it happens only once in the game that you drive a car (thank god!!!), the car controls itself so horribly it was worth mentioning it.
Elsewhere, there's not much fun to be had. During the most climatic moments of a cut scene, you'll be asked to press A button that appears on the screen just once. You can't tap it too late, or Bourne will die. A rhythm game is as climatic as things get in the Bourne Conspiracy. This ''minigame'' also happens when you take down multiple targets at once, or when evading take downs from bosses.
But the game does have it's positive points. It does look pretty good for one. And the sound acting is beautiful to hear. The story is quite good and interesting, and progressing through it is my only motivation to passing the game. Notice how everything else but the game play is great about this game? This leads me to believe that, as a Bourne film, it would've been awesome. In fact, since this is based on the Bourne Identity, it was an awesome movie. But as a game, maybe it was rushed or I don't know what, but it doesn't really work out well. If you really want to try this game, wait 'till a friend buys it by mistake and ask to borrow it from him or her, or at the very maximum, rent it.
