Based on the movie adaptation of the Robert Ludlum’s Bourne Identity, the Bourne Conspiracy is the second title to come out of relatively new High Moon Studios. Their first title was Darkwatch, a vampiric / western first person shooter for the original Xbox and Playstation 2. The Bourne Conspiracy is their first attempt at adapting licensed intellectual property into a video game format.

Bourne Conspiracy’s presentation is a combination of slick cut-scenes adapted from the first movie and original levels created for flashback purposes. The polished design offers the same cinematic appeal that’s seen in the trilogy. High Moon brought in the director of Supremacy & Ultimatum (Paul Greengrass) to adapt Bourne’s world into a video game format. You will immediately notice the same quick camera cuts from scene to scene as seen in the movie as well as the fighting choreography.

Gameplay

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The majority of the levels are divided between shootouts and hand to hand combat. Bourne can carry two weapons at a time; a large weapon such as a shotgun / machine gun and a pistol. The lock-on-targeting system is designed to require a bit of player interaction, but even direct hits seem spotty. Players can improve targeting by using Bourne Instinct (a skill that highlights enemies in the surrounding area) and shot accuracy improves slightly. The game also uses a cover system similar to Gears of War, but slightly less fluid.

The hand to hand combat is simplistic to say the least. There are two buttons that control fast and strong attacks. These can be strung into eight different 3 button combos, but there’s no real control of directional swings. From the perspective of the fighting genre, Conspiracy fails to capture Bourne’s full range of motion. It’s definitely not frustrating to a casual player, but it does become very monotonous after the first few levels.

Either form of fighting builds up the takedown meter. Takedowns allow the player to immediately dispatch up to 3 enemies in one blow each. The environmental takedowns offer a bit more entertainment, especially when there are objects from the first movie that come into play. For instance, a letter opener sits on the desk in Bourne’s apartment just waiting to be stabbed into the hand of the blond assassin. There are also human shield takedowns that occasionally come in handy during a gunfight.

The A.I. is generally competent, but there are a few unfair advantages along the way. Often Bourne will be caught in a firefight, but forced into hand to hand combat if an enemy gets too close. Since Bourne can’t exit hand to hand, the player will continue to be shot repeatedly while attempting to dispatch the nearby enemy. It seems like Bourne should be able to pull out his pistol at any point during a first fight, but unfortunately not. The boss fights can be utterly ridiculous at times. They seemingly have a superhuman level of defense no matter how many times Bourne rams their head against a nearby desk. That being said, they do gradually become more sluggish at the fight progresses. This allows the player to land more punches and build up the takedown meter a bit faster.

Much of the game relies on button-pressing combinations, including the takedowns. When a boss attacks, the player also has a chance to block an attack via a button press that pops up on screen during the attack. Queued button presses also come into play during the end of boss fights, opening cut scenes and the single driving level in the game. I’ve always found those timed button presses to be an overused gameplay element, but they are obnoxiously easy to perform in Conspiracy.

The driving level is taken from the portion of the Bourne Identity when Bourne and Marie are fleeing from the embassy. Unfortunately the driving system bounces the Mini Cooper around the city like Sega’s Crazy Taxi. Colliding with objects on the sidewalk doesn’t really slow down the car, but grazing another car can bring the vehicle to a grinding halt. Fortunately, the enemy police car A.I. during the driving portion is very forgiving and only the pop-up button presses will give players a reason to fail the level.

Sadly there are no multiplayer modes to speak of. Beyond the single player campaign, the only extra content comes in the form of unlockable items that include the game music, videos and artwork from the planning stages of the title. These can be opened by completing certain levels as well as finding passports littered around the landscape. The passports aren’t viewable, only items located in the various nooks of the linear landscape. Similar to the glowing effect of enemies, Bourne Instinct helps the player locate the passports a bit easier.

The achievement set is definitely designed for the casual gamer and lacks an obvious challenge. The majority of the achievements can be attained on the first runthrough, but the gamerscore points are weighted to the final few achievements. Unfortunately the remaining achievements, such as subduing 200 opponents without a takedown, are quite repetitive to complete. Only the most dedicated of achievement whores will be able to grind out the full 1000 points.

Graphics & Audio

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Visually, the title does an excellent job recreating the set design of scenes from The Bourne Identity. The level layout does feel very linear though. The character design is above average, but not extremely detailed. I had very few, if any, clipping problems and the physics system when attacking enemies was solid. Explosive effects are attractive, but don’t raise the bar for other shooter titles on the 360.

The visceral appeal of the sound effects really shows off Bourne’s hand to hand combat skills. Each punch / kick combo and takedown kicks your subwoofer into overdrive. The voiceovers are generally decent. As a fan of the books, I found the gruff voice used for Jason Bourne to be more representative of the character than Damon. The rest of the cast seem to be attempts at mimicking the principle actors & actresses. The music is well produced and definitely gives each level a distinct feel.

Conclusion

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The Bourne Conspiracy is a frantically paced, well polished third person shooter, but falls short in game length, fighting mechanics and replay value. Without a multiplayer mode, the player is limited to an eight hour single player campaign on the medium level of difficulty. The achievements don’t add tremendous value either as many tasks feel repetitive. The Bourne Conspiracy is a solid rental for any Xbox 360 owner, but anyone that purchases the title will feel short changed by the amount of content in the title.