The Bourne Conspiracy [Xbox 360]

"Being an avid movies fan I really enjoyed all three Bourne movies. These movies kind of redefined the action movie genre, so you can imagine I was looking forward to this game. The Bourne Conspiracy - unfortunately - isn't exactly what I hoped it would be.

There aren't any familiar faces in the game for starters. Matt Damon, the movies main protagonist, didn't want to participate as he isn't interested at all in video games. As a result the main character seems a bit colourless and dull to me.

The game isn't a complete new story in the Bourne franchise. In fact this game is basicly retelling The Bourne Identity. Jason Bourne is shot and left for dead in open sea. Fortunately a fishing boat happens to reels him in. After being taken care of, Jason wakes up not knowing who he is so he goes on a journey to find his true identity and why he was left for dead. However, in this game you get a lot of cool flashbacks that tell what happened before Jason was struck with amnesia, which is very cool if you're a Bourne-fanatic. It's clear that the game developer wanted to offer us more than the standard adventure.

The Bourne Conspiracy plays a lot like other action games. You'll be fighting most of the time and there is also plenty to shoot at. Hand-to-hand combat is the most fun though. You have three buttons; one for the light punch, one for the hard punch and one button to block, so as a result you'll be doing all your attacks combo style. While you are fighting, an adrenaline meter quickly fills up which allows you to perform one or more brutal counter attacks. These counter attacks can be executed almost everywhere in the game, so you can expect a lot of interaction with the environment. Call me sadistic but it's very fun to go around and see what objects can be used as lethal weapons!

So while fighting is downright satisfying, shooting at enemies is something that developer High Moon Studios could have done a lot better. Unlike every other shooter game available you can't zoom in with your gun during combat, not even a little. This makes controlling Jason feel a little awkward during fire-fights. Lucky enough you have the ability to hide behind objects and to peak around corners. Nice ideas, but it all feels sort of quickly thrown into the game. The aiming feels stiff and moving around isn't as smooth as I hoped it would be.

What also seems to be trown in the game for good measure is the ability to slow-down everything around you, which is being called 'using your Bourne Instinct'. Doing so highlights useful objects around you but also depletes adrenaline. Anyway, you don't really need to use your Bourne Instinct as objects are pretty much in sight anyway. So save your adrenaline for executing those brutal counter attacks. Way more fun!

But punching and shooting your way throughout the game is not all what you're going to do. There are quick-time button events that take place during cutscenes and you even get to cause mayhem in an arcade-like car chase sequence that takes place in Paris. Although this is fun for a while, it soon feels a bit flawed because of the clunky controls.

In the end The Bourne Conspiracy has some nice looking visuals, plenty of action and enough variety to offer you, but unfortunately the game isn't as polished as other - older - games are."