The Bourne Conspiracy (360 / PS3)

[FozZ]

As the title says, there's a trailer and 'behind the scenes' type affair for Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy on Live Marketplace, plus it's previewed in Edge this month.

Seems they're really making an effort to give you the feel of being in amongst hectic action with shaky cams, interesting fighting, etc. There are gunna be flashback levels where you play Bourne back when before he lost his memory and is an uber badass assassin chap, including going for the hit on the boat where his head malfunction originates.

This could of course turn out to be gash as with oh so many book/film tie in games, but for now i'm giving it the benefit of the doubt, it looks really rather good fun.

HD Trailer - Gametrailers.com

Lower Res Trailer - Gametrailers.com

Behind the Scenes Vid - Gametrailers.com

[Vin]

Man, I've got some major Operation Surma flashbacks with this one.

Why always go for the really fucking generic looking bloke? Why not implement the Live Camera feature so you can use your own face?

Breaking faces Bourne style with your own mug?

Yes please.

[Gambit]

Bump!

A demo of this has hit the American Xbox Live marketplace and us Europeans are promised the demo next week.

[Yoshimax]

And apparently the demo is shit !!

[Vin]

It's not looking good.

I've read that they implemented QTE's during the gear changes on the driving bits. Christ.

[Uzi]

And apparently the demo is shit !!

I played it twice. Love it. No nonsense action game.

[decider]

It's obviously had some money thrown at it but it still feels a bit cheap somehow. The first level's got so many QTE's it may as well be Dragon's Lair.

Edit: Oh man, the driving level is utter shit.

[Vemsie]

I like QTE's and I like Bourne. This should be right up my alley.

[Harry]

It's pretty great for it's constant fast paced gameplay, it's like you're on drugs.

The CQC is fun but I love and hate it at the same time for how much of a battering you need to give your enemy before they drop.

Very cool game though, just a shame they had to tack on horrible driving sequences.

[Robo_1]

It's pretty great for it's constant fast paced gameplay, it's like you're on drugs.

The CQC is fun but I love and hate it at the same time for how much of a battering you need to give your enemy before they drop.

Very cool game though, just a shame they had to tack on horrible driving sequences.

Indeed, the driving is utter pump. The first two levels showed promise, and it's a fair sized demo. I'll be watching the reviews with interest.

[aidey6]

It's obviously had some money thrown at it but it still feels a bit cheap somehow. The first level's got so many QTE's it may as well be Dragon's Lair.

Edit: Oh man, the driving level is utter shit.

There does seem to be a fair few QTE's... is this really 2008

Once you get used to the these appearing I suspect the game will not be very long....

[Robo_1]

Based on the strength of the demo, I've just pre-ordered this. I've been through the demo three times now, and - driving aside - the gameplay mechanics all work well. They've certainly captured the urgency and brutality of the hand to hand combat, and the shooting sections hold together well.

The graphics look a little simple for a game released at this stage of the current gen, but hopefully they've added a little bit more polish into the final build.

I don't generally have a problem with QTE's, but there's no question that this game goes to town on them. I understand why they've done it, as they're a natural fit for Bourne's trademark takedowns, but from a pure gameplay perspective, it can get a touch repetitive.

The driving is a mess though. The handling felt like the car was barely touching the ground, and my memory of Bourne films was the use of narrow streets and interaction with other vehicles to create the action. The roads here were comically wide, and the map seemed like something out of a demolition derby it was so loose. Fingers crossed that they've tightened it all up, otherwise I fear it's going to bring their score down across the board.

As I say though, the first two sections offered about as good a Bourne experience as I could have hoped for, and on that strength I'll be grabbing a copy.

[Hello Goaty ♥]

I'm not posting this here to be a troll, ok!

Its just that.... Is anyone really interested in this game? I'm not interested at all.

Hope you know where i'm coming from guys.

[Wickedkitten]

I don't mind the demo at all but talk about having to have hair trigger reflexes on some of the QTE bits. It took about 3 goes just to make it under the security barrier in time.

[Uzi]

Good stuff

Agree with you there. The pace of the game is amazing isn't it? Just keeps the action coming. I love it.

[Dave White]

Agree with you there. The pace of the game is amazing isn't it? Just keeps the action coming. I love it.

[/quot

Really surprised by this.

I really enjoyed that demo and will be ordering this for sure.

[Cyhwuhx]

.::: This is confusing the hell out of me by constantly taking away controls and changing the pace of it all at a whim. I really can see how this is fun, but at times the entire thing goes on auto-pilot only to demand a QTE reflex a split-second later. Seems to be some kind of modern Dragon's Lair in that respect.

Yet, I'm somehow afraid this will become a massive trial-and-error game in the long run, which can be potentially irritating considering the spread apart checkpoints and the loading times. The latter one is taking the cake at times, giving you a massive pause only to rewind 3 seconds in-game.

But when it does get running in high gear, boy, does it satisfy and get across the spirit of the (film) series. I really want to play more of it despite the niggles.

[Uzi]

The loading was worse for the fact that it took you out of the high non stop pace it developed as well.

I can see it getting repetitive in theory but seeing as I played the demo three times (the first two bits are so much fun) and trying to do them as fast and as seamless as possible (decreased the embassay time by a full three minutes). Like Mr Bourne would though, I look forward to punching that crap out of people again and again.

[Cyhwuhx]

The loading was worse for the fact that it took you out of the high non stop pace it developed as well.

I can see it getting repetitive in theory but seeing as I played the demo three times (the first two bits are so much fun) and trying to do them as fast and as seamless as possible (decreased the embassay time by a full three minutes). Like Mr Bourne would though, I look forward to punching that crap out of people again and again.

.::: Exactly. It's the Burnout principle applied to an action-game. Try to go without 'crashing' for as long as possible. Still, if the loading could be somehow eliminated, this would let people OD on adrenaline. In a good way. Certainly keeping an eye on this.

[footle]

.::: Exactly. It's the Burnout principle applied to an action-game. Try to go without 'crashing' for as long as possible. Still, if the loading could be somehow eliminated, this would let people OD on adrenaline. In a good way. Certainly keeping an eye on this.

My concern there would be that we're currently running the demo from the hard disk of the PS3. I can't imagine that the loading time will *decrease* that much when the majority of it's coming from Bluray; or worse, without a decent amount cached on a 360 hard disk.

Or is that the last thing they optimise?

Definitely was catching the spirit of the films though

[ibk11]

Love the movies to bits, and so I was genuinely interested in this. However the demo hasn't set my world on fire. It seems to be one of those games in which you spend 99% of your time looking at a loading screen - since so much of the game is based around QTE-style moments, you end up failing things A LOT and waiting around for the previous checkpoint toload (which takes quite a long time).

I like the fast camera cuts and even the combat is passable, but the constant switching between non-interactive bits, fully-interactive bits, and semi-interactive bits (QTE etc) is so bewildering for the player - it isn't communicated clearly at all, so you are all the more likely to fail first time at every little challenge. Which is a shame.

Liked the fast pace of it all though, and I like the "Bourne Vision" stuff too. I just wish it wasn't so reliant on QTE - honestly it reminds of games like Fahrenheit where the designers just throw their hands in the air, the only method they can find to make things interactive is with QTE button mashing.

[Cyhwuhx]

.::: They could do with some visual cues here and there. Throwing quick borders along the top and bottom during non-interactive bits and having little ticker trails indicate the upcoming position of a QTE button signal, could do wonders for your brain trying to make sense of it all. Dressing it up like those elements would be part of your Bourne Instinct could even make them more involving.

Still, as it currently is it doesn't ruin the sense of impact, just lets you shout some profanity the moment something doesn't work first time without warning. But this current shape does lend itself to replaying the game, in a mad retro '80's fashion.

[footle]

I think it's meant to be replayed a bit - with the different powered up moves mapped to the Circle button your reward to get you through the QTE.

One thing it does do well though is *change the buttons used in the QTE*; which means it is the test of reaction it's meant to be, and not - like in Shenmue or RE4 - simply a button memorisation session.

[Vemsie]

I think it's meant to be replayed a bit - with the different powered up moves mapped to the Circle button your reward to get you through the QTE.

One thing it does do well though is *change the buttons used in the QTE*; which means it is the test of reaction it's meant to be, and not - like in Shenmue or RE4 - simply a button memorisation session.

Indeed, and in doing so, it really nails the style of the movies.

I'm not sure how they could've done this in a more interactive way.

[tyler]

So can I get the demo with a US account on the 360?

[Uzi]

So can I get the demo with a US account on the 360?

Yes

[tyler]

I'm just listening to dc11 you helpful ninja.

[Uzi]

Awesomes

According to my sierra contact- the demo won't be on Uk XBLM until the 19th of May and not on UK PSN until 22nd so if you don't want to wait its worth making a US account on the systems

[SeanR]

uzi sold me the demo in dorkcast 011.

[Kinketsu]

I liked the demo the more I play it, but I realised why today. It's quite a lot like some other games I really like. Specifically the James Bond game Everything or Nothing, the third person action game for the PS2, and the Yakuza series. It's very much like EON in that you've got a similar feeling gunplay system (almost exactly the same). In both games, you can run around shooting then go right into some two button fisticuffs. EON had a 'Bond sense' that worked exactly like the Bourne sense in this game, greying out the area and highlighting objects of interest. Both obviously have arcadey driving sections in arena style cities, although I suspect EON has the edge here, as it probably had more variety in the driving parts than Bourne will be able to have.

Other parts of it (one element in partcular) are a bit like the Ryu Ga Gotoku / Yakuza games. Quick, unexpected QTEs, even during fights. Meaty hand to hand fights. Successful attack strings build up a blue bar which you then press a button to do a brutal takedown. The takedown varies depending on what the enemy is stood beside, etc, and incorporates objects. The only thing is the Bourne game doesn't do fighting multiple people at the same time as well as Yakuza 2, and you have much less control over the fights (can't dodge/side step someone, can't use weapons, can't grapple or throw), but Bourne has to be able to do more things (shooting, cover system, etc) than just be a beat em up, so I think they did a fairly decent job.

Anyway, I've enjoyed playing the demo through a few times and it's really growing on me. I probably will buy this, maybe not at launch prices but a little while down the road. I really liked the games above, so something which kind of cribs from them a bit is OK in my book.

Only one major complaint, which many people have said on here, and that's the loading times.