bapenguin
06-13-2008, 08:06 AM
Title: Robert Ludlum's: The Bourne Conspiracy Review
Platform: Xbox 360
MSRP: $59.99 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Furl%3D search-alias%253Dvideogames%26field-keywords%3Dthe%2Bbourne%2Bconspiracy%26x%3D0%26y%3 D0&tag=evavbap-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325)
Publisher: Vivendi
Developer: High Moon Studios
Editors: Nicholas 'bapenguin' Puleo
Loren 'AgtFox' Halek
Robert Ludlum's: The Bourne Conspiracy
bapenguin
In the movie The Bourne Identity, Matt Damon's character Jason Bourne asks the question "Who Am I?" In The Bourne Conspiracy from Vivendi, the game is asking the same question. The game, available on the PS3 and 360, is a combination of fighting, driving, shooting, button mashing, quick time events, and narrative that has one asking just what genre of game is this? Whatever genre this is, it's a satisfying one that rarely gets stale in its short, yet action packed, romp.
http://www.evilavatar.com/images/reviews/bourn1.jpg
Robert Ludlum's: The Bourne Conspiracy is supposed to take inspiration directly from the books; though I found it closely resembled the movies said books were based on. With music, camera shots and dialogue that mimic the movies, yet add their own unique style, TheBourne Conspiracy has high production values that put other movie tie-in games to shame. While the main part of the game's story will be familiar to fans of the movies, there are a handful of side missions that dig into Jason's past to help learn about his involvement in the Treadstone Project.
Like I said before, the game offers a wide variety of gameplay. Hand-to-hand combat is a mixture of a fighting game (one that could use an arcade stick) as well as a quicktime event minigame. With every bone crunching punch and kick you land you'll build up an adrenaline meter. Once a threshold is reached Jason is able to unleash atakedown move, usually a brutal hand-to-hand combo; or better yet perhaps a dynamic event involving some piece of the environment like a chair, chalkboard, or statue. This is easily the most satisfying aspect of the game, the use of music and sound is absolutely phenomenal, and the adrenaline rush of taking on multiple opponents and doing combo takedowns is extremely satisfying. Even by the end of the game I was still yelling out "oooooooh" and "oh man, that's gotta hurt" at the sheer brutality of these events that never get old. The shooting aspect of the game is a 3rd person over the shoulder action game with a cover system. The controls are a bit floaty, but once you get used to them this section can be equally as gratifying of an experience. The focus of theBourne story was never about gunfights, so it's great to see the developers allowing the player to easily enter into the hand-to-hand combat mode with any armed opponent. Finally, there is one lone driving section of the game. Unfortunately I feel this is the weakest aspect of the game, the car just never feels like it handles correctly and it just fails to yield the same intensity of its on-screen counterpart.
Robert Ludlam's Bourne Conspiracy is a tough sell. Even on the hardest difficulty it took me less than 6 hours to complete. The content that is there is perfect for fans of the series, and most of thegameplay is extremely satisfying. As a sixty dollar investment it's hard to recommend a purchase, at forty dollars I would have said instant buy. Still, the game is one I couldn't put down for an entire weekend, and one that kept me enthralled through its entirety. After watching any of theBourne movies again I could easily see myself picking it up to play through one more time, I just hope it sells well enough to warrant proper sequels.
AgtFox
I mostly agree with what Nick said above, although I've played enough games that include quicktime events in them that these sections of The Bourne Conspiracy became old quickly because of their quantity early on in the game. As the game progressed the reliance on them lessened a bit and the game honed in more on the awesome hand-to-hand combat mechanics and the shooting mechanics that I probably could have done without. I never really got a handle on the gunplay in this game, I almost felt like I had done a few shots of hard liquor right before having Bourne pull out his gun and start shooting. In many ways it tries to be like Uncharted: Drake's Fortune with the ability to change shoulders from which to aim as well as the similarity with the cover mechanic, but this game just can't stand up to that game in this regard.http://www.evilavatar.com/images/reviews/bourn2.jpg
This game seemed to go by so quickly (Nick did hard difficulty, I did medium) and honestly I would have continued playing it for a number of hours had they increased the levels. The hand-to-hand combat, which this game will be known for in the future, is simply phenomenal and makes you feel like you are pulling those moves that Matt Damon did in the movies. The story andvoiceovers are mostly well done except for the Bourne voiceover artist who tries really hard to sound like Matt Damon and really should have just staked his own claim onto the character of JasonBourne . Much like Nick I thought the driving section was the weakest, but luckily it only involves one section of the game. One more thing of note, Nick played the 360 version and I played the PS3 version. There was a 13 minute install right at the beginning of the game and then I was shocked by the number of loading screens that didn't go away in mere seconds after that big install. That's just a warning for people who want the PS3 version out there.
I also think The Bourne Conspiracy would be an easy game to recommend for purchase if its price point was lower. Where the price is now it is best to rent the game because you will beat it in a weekend with no problem, and may not want to play through the game again even with the excellent hand-to-hand combat mechanic.
Score: 3.5 out of 5
http://www.evilavatar.com/images/icons/e3_5.jpg
(About our Ratings (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40390))
The Good
+ Visceral hand to hand combat that rarely gets old
+ High production values
+ Solid music
+ Fans of the story will be pleased
The Bad
- Some boss battles drag on for a while
- Shooting mechanic a bit floaty
The Ugly
- Short. Quick Time Events aren't for everyone.
Platform: Xbox 360
MSRP: $59.99 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Furl%3D search-alias%253Dvideogames%26field-keywords%3Dthe%2Bbourne%2Bconspiracy%26x%3D0%26y%3 D0&tag=evavbap-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325)
Publisher: Vivendi
Developer: High Moon Studios
Editors: Nicholas 'bapenguin' Puleo
Loren 'AgtFox' Halek
Robert Ludlum's: The Bourne Conspiracy
bapenguin
In the movie The Bourne Identity, Matt Damon's character Jason Bourne asks the question "Who Am I?" In The Bourne Conspiracy from Vivendi, the game is asking the same question. The game, available on the PS3 and 360, is a combination of fighting, driving, shooting, button mashing, quick time events, and narrative that has one asking just what genre of game is this? Whatever genre this is, it's a satisfying one that rarely gets stale in its short, yet action packed, romp.
http://www.evilavatar.com/images/reviews/bourn1.jpg
Robert Ludlum's: The Bourne Conspiracy is supposed to take inspiration directly from the books; though I found it closely resembled the movies said books were based on. With music, camera shots and dialogue that mimic the movies, yet add their own unique style, TheBourne Conspiracy has high production values that put other movie tie-in games to shame. While the main part of the game's story will be familiar to fans of the movies, there are a handful of side missions that dig into Jason's past to help learn about his involvement in the Treadstone Project.
Like I said before, the game offers a wide variety of gameplay. Hand-to-hand combat is a mixture of a fighting game (one that could use an arcade stick) as well as a quicktime event minigame. With every bone crunching punch and kick you land you'll build up an adrenaline meter. Once a threshold is reached Jason is able to unleash atakedown move, usually a brutal hand-to-hand combo; or better yet perhaps a dynamic event involving some piece of the environment like a chair, chalkboard, or statue. This is easily the most satisfying aspect of the game, the use of music and sound is absolutely phenomenal, and the adrenaline rush of taking on multiple opponents and doing combo takedowns is extremely satisfying. Even by the end of the game I was still yelling out "oooooooh" and "oh man, that's gotta hurt" at the sheer brutality of these events that never get old. The shooting aspect of the game is a 3rd person over the shoulder action game with a cover system. The controls are a bit floaty, but once you get used to them this section can be equally as gratifying of an experience. The focus of theBourne story was never about gunfights, so it's great to see the developers allowing the player to easily enter into the hand-to-hand combat mode with any armed opponent. Finally, there is one lone driving section of the game. Unfortunately I feel this is the weakest aspect of the game, the car just never feels like it handles correctly and it just fails to yield the same intensity of its on-screen counterpart.
Robert Ludlam's Bourne Conspiracy is a tough sell. Even on the hardest difficulty it took me less than 6 hours to complete. The content that is there is perfect for fans of the series, and most of thegameplay is extremely satisfying. As a sixty dollar investment it's hard to recommend a purchase, at forty dollars I would have said instant buy. Still, the game is one I couldn't put down for an entire weekend, and one that kept me enthralled through its entirety. After watching any of theBourne movies again I could easily see myself picking it up to play through one more time, I just hope it sells well enough to warrant proper sequels.
AgtFox
I mostly agree with what Nick said above, although I've played enough games that include quicktime events in them that these sections of The Bourne Conspiracy became old quickly because of their quantity early on in the game. As the game progressed the reliance on them lessened a bit and the game honed in more on the awesome hand-to-hand combat mechanics and the shooting mechanics that I probably could have done without. I never really got a handle on the gunplay in this game, I almost felt like I had done a few shots of hard liquor right before having Bourne pull out his gun and start shooting. In many ways it tries to be like Uncharted: Drake's Fortune with the ability to change shoulders from which to aim as well as the similarity with the cover mechanic, but this game just can't stand up to that game in this regard.http://www.evilavatar.com/images/reviews/bourn2.jpg
This game seemed to go by so quickly (Nick did hard difficulty, I did medium) and honestly I would have continued playing it for a number of hours had they increased the levels. The hand-to-hand combat, which this game will be known for in the future, is simply phenomenal and makes you feel like you are pulling those moves that Matt Damon did in the movies. The story andvoiceovers are mostly well done except for the Bourne voiceover artist who tries really hard to sound like Matt Damon and really should have just staked his own claim onto the character of JasonBourne . Much like Nick I thought the driving section was the weakest, but luckily it only involves one section of the game. One more thing of note, Nick played the 360 version and I played the PS3 version. There was a 13 minute install right at the beginning of the game and then I was shocked by the number of loading screens that didn't go away in mere seconds after that big install. That's just a warning for people who want the PS3 version out there.
I also think The Bourne Conspiracy would be an easy game to recommend for purchase if its price point was lower. Where the price is now it is best to rent the game because you will beat it in a weekend with no problem, and may not want to play through the game again even with the excellent hand-to-hand combat mechanic.
Score: 3.5 out of 5
http://www.evilavatar.com/images/icons/e3_5.jpg
(About our Ratings (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40390))
The Good
+ Visceral hand to hand combat that rarely gets old
+ High production values
+ Solid music
+ Fans of the story will be pleased
The Bad
- Some boss battles drag on for a while
- Shooting mechanic a bit floaty
The Ugly
- Short. Quick Time Events aren't for everyone.