Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy

Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy
Developer(s)	High Moon Studios[1]
Publisher(s)	Sierra Entertainment
Engine	Unreal Engine 3[2] with PhysX
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360[1]
Release date(s)	NA: June 3, 2008 AUS: June 5, 2008 EU: June 27, 2008[3]
Genre(s)	Action, stealth
Mode(s)	Single-player

Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy (known as simply The Bourne Conspiracy) is a third-person action stealth video game developed by High Moon Studios and published by Sierra Entertainment for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.^[1] The game expands upon Robert Ludlum's character Jason Bourne, and immerses the player in a cat and mouse style espionage action adventure.^[4] The game was released in North America on June 3, June 5 in Australia and June 27, 2008 in Europe.

Gameplay

Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy mostly derives from the film version of The Bourne Identity. Although the game does not use the likeness of Matt Damon (who portrays Bourne in the films), due to creative differences with the actor who initially wanted the gameplay to be more similar to that of Myst instead of a shooter;^[5][6] it aligns closer to the film storyline than that of the novels, and features musical themes from the films.

As in the movie, the player character begins as an amnesiac found off the coast of Marseille, but as the game progresses, the player is provided with more clues to Bourne's true identity.

Jason Bourne's senses are an important part of surviving the game, with noteworthy items or locations highlighted—when a switch to this sense is triggered, the visual style changes, with important elements much brighter. A third-person espionage action game, the player encounters armed and unarmed combat, the latter usually resolved through quick-time events, and driving sections, also often dependent on quick-time events.

There are three difficulty settings which the player can choose from when playing the single-player campaign: Trainee (easy mode), Agent (normal mode) and Assassin (hard mode).

The game also contains a boss battle feature, allowing the player to fight the boss without having to complete the entire level again, although some boss fights last entire levels. The game also contains a music player feature that allows the player to listen to music from the game. It includes an original song for the game, Falling, written by Paul Oakenfold and performed by Cee-Lo Green.^[7]

Plot

The game takes place prior to, and during the events of, the first film. In addition to scenes from the film, several chapters also reveal some of Jason's backstory and missions that take place prior to the beginning of the game.

It begins with Jason Bourne, the protagonist, trying to assassinate African dictator Nykwana Wombosi, who knows too much about the CIA's clandestine activities and threatens to publish what he knows. After fighting his way through Wombosi's guards and several mercenaries, including Wombosi's lieutenant Solomon, he confronts Wombosi, but is unable to kill him, because Wombosi's children are present. Bourne is shot in the back as he staggers out onto the deck of Wombosi's boat and falls into the sea.

Bourne survives, and makes his way to a bank in Zurich, where he keeps a safety deposit box full of money and passports-along with a semi-automatic pistol he leaves in the box. On his way out, the police attempt to detain him, but he escapes to the American Embassy. There, the Marines attempt to detain him. He escapes from the embassy, then asks Marie Kreutz, whom he met in the embassy, to drive him to his Paris apartment, offering a large sum of money in return.

Once at Bourne's apartment, Marie accidentally informs Treadstone that Bourne is still alive by picking up the phone in the apartment, triggering a silent alarm. They send an assassin to kill Bourne, but Bourne subdues the assassin after a lengthy fight of fists and nonconventional weapons Jason uses. The assassin then throws himself out the window to avoid interrogation. Bourne and Marie escape from the Paris police, who were alerted after the assassin killed himself, then travel to Marie's friend Eamon's house in the countryside.

They spend the night at Eamon's house, but before they can leave the next morning, they are attacked by another assassin who uses a sniper rifle from the surrounding hills. Arming himself with a double barreled shotgun, Jason blows up fuel tanks to create cover and makes his way into the hills where several shots he fires forces the sniper into a barn. After making his way into the barn Jason has a brief fire fight that ends with a fist fight as the barn is lit on fire. Once they both inadvertently escape the barn in their struggle, Bourne stabs the assassin to death with a sharpened piece of wood, then sends Marie away as he goes to Treadstone to confront the people who have been chasing him all over Paris.

Once there, he warns his former boss, Alexander Conklin, to leave him alone. Instead, Conklin escapes and has several dozen agents attack Bourne. He incapacitates the agents through various means and in firefights or fist fights as he makes his way down out of the building and into the streets, then chases Conklin into an alley. As they struggle, another assassin appears and shoots Conklin. Bourne pursues the assassin into a church undergoing construction and has a brief gunfight before he causes an explosion that knocks the assassin off balance, allowing Bourne to tackle him and send them both into the grave yard behind the church where Bourne is almost strangled to death but uses a shovel as a club to send the assassin over an edge and break his neck. The game ends in Greece after Bourne vanishes before the Police arrive, and Bourne and Marie are reunited in the shop Marie has opened, they embrace as the game fades out.

Demo

The demo was released on Xbox Live on May 5 and PlayStation Network on May 8. There are three levels in the demo: the escape from the Zurich American Embassy, a past assassination on board an airplane, and a part of the Parisian car chase that was featured in The Bourne Identity. It was also released in the issue #85 on a playable disc that comes with the July 2008 issue of the Official Xbox Magazine.

Reception

Reception

Review scores Publication Score PS3 Xbox 360 Destructoid N/A 3/10[8] Edge N/A 4/10[9] Eurogamer N/A 5/10[10] Game Informer 6.75/10[11] 6.75/10[11] GamePro 3.75/5[12] 3.75/5[12] Game Revolution B−[13] B−[13] GameSpot 8/10[14] 8/10[14] GameSpy N/A [15] GameTrailers 7.2/10[16] 7.2/10[16] GameZone 8/10[17] 8/10[18] Giant Bomb [19] [19] IGN 7.3/10[20][21] (US) 7.5/10[22] (AU) 7.3/10[21] OXM (US) N/A 7.5/10[23] PSM [24] N/A The New York Times (average)[25] (average)[25] Variety N/A (mixed)[26] Aggregate score Metacritic 70/100[27] 71/100[28]

The game received "average" reviews on both platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.^[28][27]

411Mania gave the Xbox 360 version a score of 6.8 out of 10 and called it "a fine game with a fun hand-to-hand combat system. Beyond that, it meets about the average requirements for a game in today’s market – good sound, quality graphics and animation and a popular license. Unfortunately, the short lived campaign and lack of replay value hurt the game quite a bit. Regardless, it’s worth a rental so pick it up and give it a try. The story of the book and movie are greatly overshadowed by the action sequences of the game which make for a fast pace and fun time, but if you have problems forgetting that Jason Bourne has amnesia – don’t feel bad. It’s not important anyway."^[29] Charles Herold of The New York Times similarly gave the game an average review, saying, "Toward the end, one character asks Bourne, 'If you kill me, who will tell you the truth?' I immediately thought, 'What truth?' Unlike the movie, the game completely fails to raise any curiosity about Bourne. Conspiracy is not about finding the truth, it’s about getting from point A to point B without bleeding to death."^[25] Variety gave the Xbox 360 version a mixed review, saying, "Developer High Moon Studios did a phenomenal job capturing the look and feel of the "Bourne" books and movies -- everything from the fighting moves to the camera work to the overall mood. But too many of the best moments are almost entirely out of players' control in this heavily scripted and disappointingly unresponsive game."^[26]

GameSpot nominated the game as one of the most surprisingly good games of 2008, but it lost to Air Traffic Chaos, a game for Nintendo DS, and "Best Boss Fights" where it lost to Metal Gear Solid 4.

References

External links

• Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy at the Internet Movie Database
• Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy at MobyGames