Review: Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Conspiracy
I’ll try to keep this short. After all, I’ve already given my impressions on Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Conspiracy when I first played it in early July. Finishing the game didn’t exactly change the way I felt about it. Here’s the skinny:
No matter how you put it, The Bourne Conspiracy is fun. It may not have depth, it may not require much brain power, but it sure is a blast. The violence that comes with shooting people in the face, smashing faces in using protagonist Jason Bourne’s deadly fists, or hurtling down the street in a small car while being chased by dozens of police cars is immensely satisfying.
The combos for melee fighting are easy to learn but its simplicity borders on button mashing. Interestingly, resorting to button mashing would work against players because opponents, particularly bosses, are quick to learn one’s favorite moves. Mixing attacks is the best way to go, but there’s not a lot to mix in the first place.
Shooting is standard fare, reminding me of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Dark Sector, Kane & Lynch, or any other current-gen third-person shooter/action adventure game. For what it’s worth, the shooting proved to be more enjoyable than the melee because of the destructible environments. Half the cover available gets wrecked, so I had to keep moving to survive.
Driving around in Paris may be fun, but the car physics feel pretty loose. The visuals in this stage look a bit overdone, thanks to the crazy road textures. Strangely, I had to look at the game’s Wikipedia entry to find out that the level was set in Paris because it looks nothing like the real thing. The buildings look like they were merely copied and pasted.
The game is visually and aurally appealing, I’ll give you that. Explosions, blood spatters, and takedowns look and sound particularly nasty. But when the smoke clears, there’s nothing in The Bourne Conspiracy that compels me to play it again. What’s worse, the first (and only) romp is good for only six hours, tops. Jason Bourne’s console adventure is fun while it lasted, but it certainly doesn’t deserve the $60 tag. A rental is more likely.
Image of Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Conspiracy is courtesy of Vivendi Games.
The Bourne novels were great, the movies didn’t disappoint (although they did stray from the books), but yeah, I wasn’t expecting much from the game. It’s a shame too because all the trailers make it look so exciting/fun (and something that would be worth more than one play through).
This one’s as good as it lasted, I’m afraid. Which is a shame, really. It would have been much better if there was a way to re-experience the game without getting that been-there, done-that vibe.