A New Take on the Licensed Game is Bourne: Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Conspiracy Reviewed

Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Conspiracy isn’t your typical
licensed game. It forgoes the star appeal of the film series- neither Matt
Damon’s likeness nor voice are featured. It also appears nearly a year after
the release of The Bourne Ultimatum, the latest film in the franchise. Instead
the title relies upon the Robert Ludlum novels for source material. As the game
opens, players are directed through a scenario in Marseilles, France that ends
where the first film opens- with main character Jason Borne laying nearly
lifeless in the Mediterranean Sea.

Gameplay is built upon four main elements: shooting,
driving, hand-to-hand combat, and quick time events. Each of these events is limited
in complexity, and would never be able to support the game individually. However,
when brought together, they add enough variety and excitement to keep the title
compelling through its ten hour storyline.

Driving is the weakest element, as the car physics feel
unnatural. Cars seem like quick, little tanks, with their ability to rotate on
a tight radius and plow through scenery. Shooting is made difficult as there is
no visual feedback given when enemy contact is made. Often enemy combatants
require five or six handgun rounds to dispatch. Once players pick up other
firearms, however, that problem becomes rectified. One aspect we enjoyed is
watching the collateral damage of the shotgun- crates and other obstacles are splintered
in a satisfying manner.

Hand-to-hand combat suffers from a general repetitiveness, as
only two buttons are used to issue one of eight combos. But when Bourne lands a
number of strikes on his opponent he builds an adrenaline meter. Once this
meter is filled, he uses environmental objects to incapacitate foes. Fortunately,
a great deal of work went into this aspect of the game as there are a myriad of
different strikes and bone breaks that reward the player.

The game’s quick time events aren’t very interesting and carry no depth; you
have about a second to copy a button press that appears on-screen. Succeed and Borne
escapes or damages his opponent, fail and he takes damages or worse- the game
reverts back to the last checkpoint. They happen just infrequently enough to
cause the player to pay attention to cut-scenes.

Graphically, the game is impressive; it uses the Unreal to create large character models, and seldom suffers from slowdown or
framerate problems.  The camera tries to
replicate the close shots of the films, and occasionally gets stuck in an inopportune
corner.

Overall, while The Bourne Conspiracy has a few minor
problems, it brings together enough gameplay variance to keep players
entertained through its length. Let’s hope it is a harbinger of the future of
licensed games- a game strong enough to stand on its own.

Final Grade: B-