The Bourne Conspiracy(Playstation 3) Review

I played the demo of this particular game off the early days of the PS3 PSN store a lot when I was a kid. Back in a time where I could only play demos and actively getting new games was hard for me. I played that said demo before I even watched the Bourne movies themselves. I finally decided to play the game on PS3 since it's cheap as of now. I'd say the game is solid, I will say much of my enjoyment came from going in the low expectations and being pleasantly surprised as a result. The short length does prevent me from harder and more critical on the game as a whole.

The best way of describing Bourne Conspiracy is that it is very much a movie tie in game based on the Bourne Identity movie from 2002...6 years after the fact. Also without Matt Damon and songs like Extreme Ways by Moby and Ready Steady Go by Paul Oakenfold. The background music from that said movie is used during the gameplay scenes where it emulates the former.

There are some interestings aspects about Bourne Conspiracy. The game turning into a fighting game during fist fights when getting upclose to enemies is very reminiscent of Enter the Matrix(these sequences have more clear editing and camera work than the Bourne movie fights themselves) and there's lots of cover shooting. There's also a lot of things introduced in this particular game that later high profile game releases would have. There multi man takedowns through QTEs like CQC chaining in Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker and V. Mark and Execute before Splinter Cell Conviction and Blacklist would have it. Environmental takedowns before Sleeping Dogs. Detective Mode with "Bourne Senses" that highlights parts of the level the player can interact with before Batman Arkham Asylum. There's also the scripted hallways chases with lots of explosions and bombast going on before Uncharted 2 and the sequels to that would have them.

Everything about this game really does feel like High Moon Studios was really pushing the envelope. At times it the game was better off not being connected to the Bourne franchise at all and being it's own IP.

This is where the weakest aspect of the game comes in: the story. Conspiracy is very much a shot for shot retelling of Identity but there is just one major difference lots of adaptation expansion and the kind that enters into the realm of filler and padding.

Sure actually playing as Bourne leading up to the Wombasi assassination and seeing how he lost his memory is interesting but it ruins the "thriller" aspect of the story since now the player knows everything and there is less of putting the puzzle pieces together. I do like admittedly think having a character who survives multiple encunters against Jason through the character of Solomon is interesting. The latter gets away and survives so many times that when he finally dies it feel rewarding finishing him off.

None of the boss characters have this since many of them are just randoms bad guys with barely any characterization or anything that annoys Bourne or the player. Just a boss fight for the sake of a boss fight.

Much of the game exclusive flashback levels don't add much of anything to the story and just pad out the run time of a not so long game. They just feel like filler episodes when right before the canon episodes that move the plot are about to happen. Learning about Bourne before he lost his memory is interesting on paper but these flashbacks have no bearing on the overall story.

The gameplay fares better. It's basically fist fights, shootouts, stealth, setpieces, and one car chase. One thing that does tie all these pillars together is the "adrenaline meter". It's surprising how commited the game is to this. For first fights, build it up to do finishing takedown attacks. For stealth, takedowns from behind gets you a full bar. Shooting gives you an instant kill on an enemy if you have line of sight. You can slow down time for the car chases with a full bar.

Other than that, shooting is typical cover shooting and regen health of the time with the ability to shoot over the shoulder being a toggle of L2 than holding the button so you are better off in OTS mode at all times. The guns sounds could be better but bullet impact sounds when they hit enemy heads or body does make moment to moment shooting enjoyable and not completely dull.

Fighting is basic but the takedowns are very fun to watch. You can spam light and heavy kick on weaker enemies but bosses you need to do combos and wait for openings and build up adrenaline. It is silly to get shot at while in a fist fight no option to run back and break up the fight.

Stealth is buggy with Borune having Sam Fisher crouch animations but you will get caught eventually and no way to noticeable detection meter.

Setpieces will have you spam Bourne Senses since trying to tell what you can interact with in the heat of the moment can be troublesome.

Overall, it is a rather ambitous tie in game but it's hallmarks of being one are still there.