It's easy to pass off Robert
Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy as too little, too late. That would be a mistake.
Possibly the least-anticipated game of the year—the most recent installment
in the film franchise vanished from theaters nearly a year ago—Bourne
Conspiracy
admittedly elicits low expectations, which may be why it transcends them
handily. Perhaps arriving late to the table can actually help a game. (See
Sega's wretched—and perfectly timed—Iron Man as a counterpoint to this
theory.) Instead of feeling like a tossed-off movie tie-in, Bourne succeeds because of its
unassuming nature, lack of ambition, and simple but perfectly executed
hand-to-hand combat.
Centered around the events
of The Bourne Identity—the developers have fleshed out the more memorable scenes
from the film, like Bourne's U.S. Embassy visit in Paris, the assassination
attempt aboard Wombosi's yacht, etc., while including a few entirely fictional
sequences—the game wisely never tries to do anything terribly ambitious.
Instead, it offers a mélange of near-primal gameplay staples: fighting,
shooting, and driving. The driving fares the worst of the three by far, and it
should have been left on the editing-room floor. Shooting is also a relatively
pedestrian experience. But in the game's hand-to-hand combat, something
exciting happens. Bad-ass moves practically flow off your
fingertips—press enough buttons, and something incredibly cool is
guaranteed to happen—making you feel, if only briefly, very much like
human weapon Jason Bourne.
Beyond the game: The only actress from the
films to contribute her voice and likeness is Franka Potente, a.k.a. "Marie."
Matt Damon, most notably, is absent, though not unaccounted for: While in
negotiations to play the character in the game, he reportedly said it was "too
violent" for his tastes, and backed out.
Worth playing for: The aforementioned
fisticuffs get even better when you pull off the game's context-sensitive
moves. If you wind up near a microwave (or a shovel stuck in the ground, or a
fire extinguisher), you can pull off some super-moves that would make even
Kimbo Slice cringe.
Frustration sets in when: The driving segments are
about as much fun as an eye exam at the DMV. Suffer through them, and get back
to the fisticuffs.
Final judgment: The Bourne Conspiracy succeeds for one simple
reason: It makes players feel almost obscenely powerful. Though that may sound
like an oversimplification, too many game developers neglect this all-too-essential
element.