The Bourne Conspiracy (360 / PS3)

[Floshenbarnical]

Basically "Hey we got the Bourne license! Let's make some linear Missions, 1 to 11. WOO!!"

Well other very linear games have done VERY well.

Gears of War, Rainbow Six, Call of Duty

And I don't know what you're trying to say because the BC demo was the most linear thing I've ever done, it was like being taken to a funfair as a small child but your parents kept hold of your hand at all times in case you got excited by all the attractions and hurt yourself.

[Vin]

This wouldn't be bad if Bourne's movement wasn't so bloody sluggish.

[Floshenbarnical]

Yeah- I know he only walks briskly in the films but this is silly

[robdood]

Well other very linear games have done VERY well.

Gears of War, Rainbow Six, Call of Duty

And I don't know what you're trying to say because the BC demo was the most linear thing I've ever done, it was like being taken to a funfair as a small child but your parents kept hold of your hand at all times in case you got excited by all the attractions and hurt yourself.

He's saying making a linear game is the most cost effective option. Which is why it always happens. Which also makes it a bit boring.

A license like Bourne has so much potential. A game that almost entirely consists of QTE (cutscenes, in other words) seems a little cheap; why can't we properly be Jason Bourne and pwn people's faces with awesome on-the-fly plans? if you were really conceited you could say the game seems to have been made with a 'get this made with the minimum level of work' mindset.

And to be fair, I woulnd't say Gears or R6 have done 'very well' with their single player games, either.

[Floshenbarnical]

He's saying making a linear game is the most cost effective option. Which is why it always happens. Which also makes it a bit boring.

A license like Bourne has so much potential. A game that almost entirely consists of QTE (cutscenes, in other words) seems a little cheap; why can't we properly be Jason Bourne and pwn people's faces with awesome on-the-fly plans? if you were really conceited you could say the game seems to have been made with a 'get this made with the minimum level of work' mindset.

And to be fair, I woulnd't say Gears or R6 have done 'very well' with their single player games, either.

Well I would have to respectfully disagree there, I think Gears of War didn't revolutionise gaming per se however it did show just how much of an intense cinematic experience you can make from an incredibly linear formula- the sort of experience that I expect the makers of Bourne Conspiracy would like to deliver but invariably will do less well than the aforementioned games. I think this will mainly be due to the reasons that we've seen on the GTA4 constructive criticism thread about excessive hand-holding in the game. Surely it would be much more exciting to see laser-sights focus on you and have to duck for cover yourself? If you failed to, I'm sure the same result would be appropriate (arrest/death) but acheived in a better way. See for example Metal Gear Solid on PSX in the snowfield when Sniper Wolf trained her sights on you; it provoked a necessary evasive tactic, and a fucking heart attack.

[Cyhwuhx]

.::: Got this today on PS3 and I'm enjoying it immensely. It has a weird install thing in place - first a big one, then every time you boot - but it's just fun to play. Aiming and shooting seems to have improved. Either that or I have adjusted to it. As expected perfecting each set-up is the creamy caramel center of this game. The neo-Bourne seems a little bit better in terms of personality as well.

The major gripe against it, is that it's still confusing as hell, at times. Cut scenes swap saliva with action scenes, leaving you bewildered when to react and when done reacting often leave you as bewildered as to where the direction of your next target is.

Still, it's just excellent fun to me and one of the better licensed games this side of Riddick.

[Okotta]

Edge gave this a 4/10? A FOUR out of TEN??

I've played and completed the first two missions on Agent difficulty and I'm having a great time. The fighting system is simply a dream to both see and use and it's so satisfying to beat people up using the combos I've discovered so far. And positioning yourself in the environment and then use those environments for takedowns is just awesome. I'm very impressed with this.

Love the sound when you do a headshot with the silenced pistol. Fire the silenced gun and after a little delay, comes the thud from doing the headshot. Good stuff.

The loading times have also been vastly improved from the demo. That was actually about the only thing I was nervous about before picking up the game today - that the loading times would be annoyingly long, but they are not. I'm playing the PS3 version and it does a 5 GB install the first time you boot it up. Guess that helps with the loading.

I've completed the demo on both my 360 and PS3 and the 360 version maybe looks a little smoother, but apart from that the game looks the same on both systems. One thing that bothered me about the 360 version though was, that I didn't like the controls so much. LB and RB just don't work well with this game. You need to press and hold RB to run and it just feels better to use R1 for that, since you don't need to move your finger on the DS3 to run - you have to move your index finger to do it on the 360. LB to holster and unholster you weapon also doesn't feel as natural as it does when using L1 on the PS3.

But people really should check this game out, regardless of their system.

[Rudderless]

.::: Got this today on PS3 and I'm enjoying it immensely. It has a weird install thing in place - first a big one, then every time you boot - but it's just fun to play. Aiming and shooting seems to have improved. Either that or I have adjusted to it. As expected perfecting each set-up is the creamy caramel center of this game. The neo-Bourne seems a little bit better in terms of personality as well.

The major gripe against it, is that it's still confusing as hell, at times. Cut scenes swap saliva with action scenes, leaving you bewildered when to react and when done reacting often leave you as bewildered as to where the direction of your next target is.

Still, it's just excellent fun to me and one of the better licensed games this side of Riddick.

I'm with you, though I'm not convinced it's quite as solid as some are suggesting. But in a way that doesn't matter. It's a little clunky at times, but it works because it's genuinely thrilling for the most part. The punches and kicks in the fights really connect, and the camera being so close to the fighters really adds to the drama. And the music is fantastic.

[Robo_1]

Cut scenes swap saliva with action scenes...

That's certainly one way of putting it.

Glad to hear you're enjoying the game though, mine should be arriving tomorrow... hopefully.

[Sergeant Squid]

Imagine the fighting of this combined with the non-linear, multi-branching mission style of the Hitman games.

Yum.

[sandman]

Enjoying this. After the let down that was Alone In The Dark its nice to play a game where the controls at least work, even if they are far from perfect.

Nothing brilliant here, but its an exciting game to play and fits in well with the Bourne universe.

[Robo_1]

I've put a good few hours into this now (I'm up to the tram) and whilst it's rough edges are certainly a little sharper than I excepted, the gameplay is really satisfying. At it's core, it feels like an old school action game, successfully moulded into the Bourne franchise.

The demo is a really good indication of what's to come. The studio has done an excellent job of capturing the urgency and flurry of combat present in the Bourne movies, and the graphics and music go a long way to back it up.

It doesn't seem to want to stray far from it's comfort zone of fight/gun fight/fight, with on foot chases being regrettably few at present. I can certainly see it getting tiresome if things proceed without change, but time will tell on that one, and at present I'm certainly not bored by what's on offer.

The fighting is satisfying, and the trade off between fighting and takedowns has been well put together. The difficulty level too seems to be pitched just right. On Agent (normal) difficulty it's certainly no cake walk, but with a recharging health system, the games tougher sections are nicely balanced out. Up until about an hour ago, I could have quite happily said that checkpoints were intelligently spaced, but an early scene in an airport left me fuming at the distance between points, which saw me repeating about ten minutes of play four or five times. Hopefully this one section will prove to be the exception rather than the rule, but it was certainly a trying hour of play.

Whilst the general graphical polish is good, I do find some of the transitions between the takedowns and fighting to be less than smooth. I'd say more often than not, it's well implemented, but there are a fair few times when animations will be missed, or enemies will appear out of thin air to trigger the initial de-arming animation. It can make for quite a jarring experience, and undoes some of the great work High Moon has done with the cinematic presentation of the game.

Most importantly though, I'm genuinely looking forward to getting back into it, so I'd say it's certainly a worthwhile purchase if you enjoyed the demo, and aren't expecting it to transform into anything more.

On a side note, BlahDVD are doing this for 30.92 for both PS3 & 360, and for reasons I still can't explain, my game turned up with a T-shirt, a funky flashlight/pen thing and red Bourne bag, so that was a great surprise considering they never said any of that was going to be included

[Sergeant Squid]

One thing I find weird is that, in the films and books, Bourne doesn't just kill people for no good reason - particularly not guards. He incapacitates them and stuff.

I know this would most likely make a dull game if all the shooting bits were removed and that but even so, it doesn't really fit. And the mechanics aren't that great for the shooting bits either.

Oh, and the driving bits suck ass

[Gabe]

One thing I find weird is that, in the films and books, Bourne doesn't just kill people for no good reason - particularly not guards. He incapacitates them and stuff.

I know this would most likely make a dull game if all the shooting bits were removed and that but even so, it doesn't really fit. And the mechanics aren't that great for the shooting bits either.

Oh, and the driving bits suck ass

I believe that's one of the reasons Matt Damon didn't endorse this game with his likeness - he thought it was violent for violents' sake. He wanted a Myst-type game. I wonder if that could work; he does do a bit of investigating, I suppose. Chuck in some fight scenes and there you go - something that maybe 'fits' better in the universe. Although when you think Bourne, you do think action, so who knows.

[Rayn]

There's a review up on Eurogamer. I can't be arsed to post the article here, and I can't be arsed to spoilertag the 5/10 score.

[Hello Goaty ♥]

I need to ressurect this then, as pointed out by Syntax

I spotted this is 12.99 in Gamestation

Its great, and graphically nice as well!

[Cyhwuhx]

I need to ressurect this then, as pointed out by Syntax

I spotted this is 12.99 in Gamestation

Its great, and graphically nice as well!

.::: A very nice game for that price.

[Skeeez]

Wait till you get to the boss fights. They take about two hundred hits to finish off, you take about ten.

Ruined an otherwise OK game.

[Kinketsu]

I picked this up finally for about the same price as Goat Keeper. Was really interested in it after the demo but was a bit short of cash at the time of release having splashed out on a number of other games, so told myself I'd get it when it was cheaper. Saw it on the second hand shelf in the game shop today and was reminded of it, having totally gone out of my head.

I have Red Faction and Prototype started at the minute, but spent my gaming time today playing this instead. It is exactly what I hoped it would be from the demo, great satisfying unpretentious action game that smacks of 007 : Everything or Nothing. It seems to have a lot of play time in it based on what I've done so far and actually is pretty handsome. The demo showed two of the blander areas so far.

I can't say if this was worth full price yet or not, but there's no question it's worth the price it is selling at now, in my mind. A wee niggle is actually not having Matt Damon in there. I know it's only a small cosmetic thing but it would have made it feel even more Bourney. It's a shame I doubt they'll make another Bourne game as I don't think this one sold very well, but they should.

[Gabe]

I recently got given this and decided I might as well give it a go, despite the demo instantly turning me off - but I was very surprised to really enjoy it. Sure, the boss fights can be battles of attrition, the story makes no real sense and the gunplay is basic and I do still think that the brawling is clunky and unresponsive - and yet in spite of that it does work. Some of the locations are graphically lovely, some are nicely laid-out (I really liked the airport level) and it is just about the right length to not overstay its welcome.

I would never have paid full-price for it, but as a rental or a cheap-buy it was good fun. It does make me wonder what direction Starbreeze is going to go with the license now.

[Vemsie]

The fighting in Arkham Asylum out-Bournes the Bourne game though.

However, I'm really interested to see what Starbreeze does with the license. A Mirror's Edge type game? A third person game?

One thing we can be reasonably sure of is that the presentation will be damn good.