Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

The Bourne Conspiracy

1. Official Site
2. Platform: 360
3. Publisher: Sierra
4. Developer: High Moon Studios
5. Release Date: 06/03/08
6. Genre: Action/Adventure

by Ron Burke

You are Jason Bourne, or at least that is what the passport you are holding says.   Who is Jason Bourne?  Is he a trained, merciless killing machine?  Maybe that is what the silenced pistol underneath the other passports with your pictures is trying to say.  How do you define yourself when you can’t remember where you were 72 hours ago?  How is that perception changed when you are pulled out of the water with bullet holes in your commando wet suit and a Zurich bank account number embedded in your hip?   Can you continue to deny the fragments of your past when you can kill a man at 10 paces just as easily as reading directions to the train station in several different languages?  You are Jason Bourne.

High Moon Studios (of Darkwatch fame) has a lofty goal – they want you to step into the shoes of the most enigmatic everyman turned assassin since James Bond.  They want you to experience the white-knuckle high-paced combat and driving that we saw in the three blockbuster films, as well as additional elements culled directly from Bourne creator Robert Ludlum’s book series.  I’ve had the opportunity to play through the game twice now – it’s time to debrief you on Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Conspiracy.

Buzzword Bingo time!  Bourne is powered by the Unreal Engine 3, utilizes the AGEIA PhysX system,  is entirely motion captured in High Moon’s professional on-site MoCap studio, and features a fully THX soundtrack and effects array, which was also captured in-house at High Moon.  From the opening cinematic to the closing credits, it is clear that the folks at High Moon take a great deal of pride in their work.  Their first task, given that Matt Damon had publically stated that he was done with the Bourne character, was to recreate Jason Bourne.  Naturally the folks who have read the books have a vision in their head, and the folks who have seen the movies have Matt Damon in their head, so High Moon had to set out to create a Jason Bourne character that would meet both sets of expectations. 

When we first meet Bourne he’s been shot and left for dead in the ocean.  His locator catches the eye of a passing fishing boat and he is rescued and nursed back to health physically, but persistent headaches and amnesia have taken their toll on Bourne mentally.  This pre-rendered cutscene serves as a refresher to the Bourne Identity movie, as well as setting up the first of several flashback missions.  Backing up a full two days prior to the attempted assassination of Wombosi, we find Bourne in Marseille, France.  Immediately you’ll note the excellent use of the Unreal Engine to create a living, breathing world for our narrative.  People gather at a nearby café to drink and people-watch; a couple is perched on the nearby wall while the woman of the group chats away with someone on her cellular phone.  Off in the distance some local thugs post up against the wall.  Following a lead, Bourne traces a bomb maker named O’Connor to a local bar.  It is here that you get to see The Bourne Conspiracy in action.

Several thugs encircle Jason, planning on scoring some brownie points with their boss for taking down the would-be assassin.  Unfortunately for them, you have other plans that simply can’t be delayed.  Moving in on the first goon, I did a foot reap on his back leg, sending him sprawling into a nearby table.  The second thug didn’t fare a lot better as he got a few quick jabs to the mouth followed by a spinning roundhouse kick to the face.  Stupid enough to get back up, I finished the second guy by ramming his face into a nearby jukebox.  My adrenaline low, the last of the thugs proved to be a bit more of a challenge, and we were both the worse for wear when I drove his face directly into the bar.  All of the player models take damage, their faces becoming bruised and bloodied as the battle rages on.  The environment is completely trashed at the end of a fight as well – objects in the environment can be “weaponized” as long as you’ve built up the adrenaline to do so.  The cloth modeling in the game is equally well done.  Bourne’s full-length sweater bends and flexes realistically, and his wetsuit takes on a slick look in the moonlight.    The primary storyline characters received the royal treatment, utilizing the best the Unreal engine has to offer to provide realistic and believable characters.  It is the other characters that need some love.

Where there are bosses, there are nameless thugs.  For every fantastically rendered character there is a faceless thug with a slightly lower polygon count.  To keep the stable framerate, it seems that High Moon has not given as much detail to some of the characters.  I guess what I’m trying to say is that it is somewhat inconsistent when you watch a cutscene with facial close-ups that rival some of the biggest titles of this year, only to get into a close tangle with somebody with a bit less detail.  It is really a minor complaint, but I’m a critic – it’s what I do.

There is one area where High Moon truly raises the bar – the animations in The Bourne Conspiracy are absolutely top notch.  As I mentioned, High Moon Studios has their own 24-camera motion capture studio on site – a rarity even in companies far larger.  Designed by some of the effects team from The Matrix, this motion capture studio was filled with the stunt team of Jeff Imada – the stunt coordination / fight choreography team behind the Bourne series of movies.  Imada, an expert of the Filipino martial arts Pekiti-Tirsia (which roughly translates as “to cut into small pieces at close range”) and Kali worked with High Moon to bring the incredible close quarters combat of the movie series to the game.  Imada has brought movies including Blade Runner, Blue Thunder, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Big Trouble in Little China, Highlander II, Patriot Games, The Crow, Mortal Kombat, The Glimmer Man, From Dusk Till Dawn, Blade, Fight Club, and Serenity to life, so having his crew on board is an incredible honor, as well as a boon to the overall product.  The end result is nothing short of spectacular. 

While Bourne uses fairly common attacks such as a short jab, hook, uppercut, roundhouse kicks, etc. as his martial mainstays, it is when his adrenalin is pumping that things get interesting.  We’ll go over the mechanics of the adrenalin system later, but suffice it to say that the takedowns never seem to get old.  You’ll be able to use items from the environment, just like in the movie, to attack and subdue your opponent.  Nearby books become a short shield, a pen on a desk becomes a stabbing weapon, and even a fire extinguisher serves well as a bludgeoning tool in the hands of Jason Bourne.  The contextual takedown system is varied as the environments, so keep your eyes open for potential weapons at all times.   Unarmed, Jason can sweep legs, break arms, throw enemies, elbow smash, palm strike, knee, and otherwise completely thrash his opponents, up to three at a time.  The takedowns are varied quite a bit, so you won’t be seeing the same takedown ‘shoehorned’ into the scenario time after time. 

There is two things that really makes me rub my eyes with this title – the use of bloom lighting, and garish in-game advertising.  I’m personally not a fan of the ‘Vaseline on the camera lens’ trick that seems to invade almost every Unreal Engine powered title.  Bourne uses it quite a bit in the distance, as well as constantly during takedown attacks.  If you aren’t a fan of bloom, be prepared – unlike a PC title, you can’t turn it off.  The second eyesore is the use of product tie-ins.  While I do support using product tie-ins in games to offset costs, they have to blend into the landscape.  For instance, in the Marseille level you’ll note that the French city looks old and browned, but the MasterCard signs look like they were put up moments before you arrived.  A little ‘distressing’ on the sign would have caused them to blend into the landscape a bit more, but still be noticeable enough to keep the sponsor happy.  Similarly, keeping the Cisco logo visible but scrapping the corny “Human Network” nonsense would have accomplished the same goal.  It isn’t as bad as the drubbing we get with sports titles, but it is somewhat obvious.

If you have a taut, high-paced action title on your hands, there is only one guy to turn to for a soundtrack – Paul Oakenfold.  Thankfully the internationally known DJ had some time to spin up a completely original soundtrack for The Bourne Conspiracy.  Drawing obvious inspiration from the Bourne movies (you might recall that his song “Ready Steady Go” was used for the fantastic chase scene in The Bourne Identity), Oakenfold turns out one of the best game soundtracks I’ve heard in recent memory.   The tempo and style of the music changes with each level, providing the perfect backdrop for the player to prosecute their missions.  Subdued and passive during the early parts of the dock level, loud and bombastic during the embassy escape level, the soundtrack delivers in a way worthy of a separate purchase.  You hear that High Moon / Vivendi?   I want to purchase the soundtrack please!

The sound effects are equally as impressive.  The Director of Product Research & Globalization at High Moon, Meelad Sadat, remarked during a recent studio tour how the effects team gathered a group of the 130+ people at High Moon into their area to listen to a new effect that they’d finally captured.  The team waited in anticipation of some awesome sound and instead was provided a small ‘Pfffft’ sound.  Apparently this was the sound of a real bullet exiting the barrel of a real pistol.  They were unimpressed, but you shouldn’t be – they went to that level of detail and it shows.  Bullets ricochet, hard impact of bone on skin sounds vicious, and since real weapon sounds were used they sound spot on. 

Speaking of sound effects, there are quick action events in this title.  That is to say that you’ll be asked to hit a button in the same style we saw in Shenmue / God of War to complete your takedowns, avoid being crushed by an oncoming train, etc.  These sequences are preceded by a small trilling chirp sound to signal your slow-motion interaction.  Tying into the feeling of constant super-awareness that Bourne exhibits in the books and movies, these can come at any time during combat, during in-game cutscenes, or anywhere in between, you’ll have to learn to keep your eyes and ears open at all times.   While it sounds like it would break the immersion of the game, when you put it in the context of the super-human speed required by a professional assassin, it makes sense and works better than you might think. 

There is only one driving sequence in The Bourne Conspiracy, so the vast majority of the time you’ll be controlling Bourne on foot.  The controls are relatively simple with the left analog handling movement and the right analog tackling the camera and aiming.   The X button acts as a ‘use’ button, with the O button getting heavy use for takedowns.  The Triangle button allows you to use your “Bourne Instinct” (more on that later), while R2 and L3 handle sprinting and crouching, respectively. 

During combat you’ll be using the Square button for light punches and kicks (taps for punches, hold for kicks) and Triangle in the same way for heavy attacks.  The X button allows you to block or evade. (e.g. You don’t ‘block’ a knife.)  Gunplay utilizes the triggers to fire with L3 changing from a left to a right stance.  The L1 button allows you to target an enemy from cover, auto-aiming for center mass.  If you continue to hold L1, you can use the right thumbstick to ‘adjust’ a little bit in all directions giving you leg and arm shots, but more importantly, head shots.   Since a tap to the head is always lethal, you’ll want to get the hang of those pretty early on.

High Moon prides themselves on the camera system in the game.  Their approach was to try to make a camera that emulates the ‘vomit-cam’ look of the second and third Bourne movie, giving the most visceral and cinematic view of the action possible.   Occasionally the angle chosen is not the most optimal, but for the most part it stays out of the way. 

Getting back to the car chase sequence in the game, I have to admit that I was not a fan of the controls.  You use the R1 and L1 buttons to accelerate and brake, just like every other driving game.  You’ll use the O button for the e-brake, and the Triangle button for “Bourne Instinct with Slow Motion” to make those tricky narrow escapes.  Emulating something akin to the Burnout series, the driving sequence asks players to evade the police.  There is a small meter on the HUD that fills if the police are getting close.  When it tops off, you are captured, cuffed, and stuffed.  By destroying objects in the environment (mailboxes, posts, etc.) you’ll build up your adrenaline which allows you a short burst of slow motion.  I honestly found the driving controls a bit lacking and somewhat ‘floaty’.  It was the only time I really felt disconnected from the character.  Overall it just felt out of place.  There is only one driving level and it is fairly short, so don’t fret over this one too much.

Vivendi and High Moon met early on with Ludlum Entertainment, and according to Design Director and VP Paul O’Connor, they determined what type of game they did not want to make.  It sounds like an odd approach to making a game, but when you are dealing with a licensed property that has specific restrictions, it only makes sense.  Jason Bourne is not James Bond.  Jason Bourne doesn’t use laser watches or cars that fire rockets from the headlights while invisible.  Jason Bourne doesn’t have snappy one-liners.  Jason Bourne doesn’t kill innocent people.  Jason Bourne is a $30 million dollar weapon who had the audacity to develop a conscience.  Jason Bourne always has a mission and a purpose.  Jason Bourne is an unstoppable force – the perfect weapon.  The question is, has High Moon captured that essence in The Bourne Conspiracy?  I’d have to say for the most part the answer would be yes.

The game starts, as I said, with Bourne face down in the water.  It quickly progresses to the Marseille level, three days prior to the assassination attempt against Wombosi that serves as the backstory for The Bourne Identity.  The two days prior Jason has to track down a bomb maker, take out a bunch of Wombosi’s personal army, and even kill off one of Wombosi’s Lieutenants before he can even make an attempt on his target.  From there we quickly progress backwards and forwards in Bourne’s life, playing missions that parallel the movie, and then playing flashback missions that fill in some of the ‘gaps’ in between. 

I did mention that Bourne doesn’t gun down innocents, but I didn’t say that he isn’t intimately familiar with firearms.  Bourne often has a silenced pistol with him at the start of a level, but as enemies ‘drop’ theirs you can pick them up.  You are able to shoulder one large weapon and one small weapon, so chose wisely.  You’ll be able to use a shotgun, a machine pistol, a double-barrel shotgun, a machine gun, an assault rifle, and even a few unlockable weapons including a silenced machinegun and assault shotgun that functions not unlike the real-world Jackhammer Mk3A1.

Speaking of weapons, I do have an axe to grind with The Bourne Conspiracy – sniping.  I was all sorts of excited when I saw the screenshot of Bourne lining up his sniper rifle to prosecute a target.  You can imagine my disappointment when I found that this was reduced to a simple quick action event.  I’m not sure if it clashed with the T for Teen rating, or if High Moon just didn’t want to focus on this element, but after watching Bourne take shots at The Professor near the end of The Bourne Identity, and spending some scope time keeping an eye on his ‘friends’ at Treadstone in the other two films, I was hoping I’d see some trigger time. 

Even with all of these weapons you’ll still spend a great deal of your time engaged in hand-to-hand combat.  Again, feeding on Bourne’s super-human shooting skill, you’ll use your lock-on abilities to eliminate nearby enemies, but that is when things get fuzzy.  Getting close to an enemy automatically holsters your weapon so you can engage in hand-to-hand combat.  The enemies around you don’t necessarily subscribe to the same idea, so there are times when I’ll be engaged with an enemy only to get shot in the side of the face because you are not allowed to disengage until your enemy is dead.  Similarly, the aiming system is decent, but occasionally completely loses its marbles.  I’ve locked onto corpses and had trouble ‘letting go’ of them – it doesn’t happen frequently, but happens enough to notice. You can use the Bourne Instinct to spot targets more easily (they turn into a bright green silhouette), but I found myself using this to line up a precise shot after I’d already blown through a clip or two trying to hit someone in the distance. Outside of that, I hardly ever found a use for it beyond trying to figure out which door to run through in a hallway full of doors.  You really don’t have to use either the lock-on or the Bourne Instinct system, which is ok because the manual targeting system works just fine.  By level 4 I had taken out over 50 enemies with manually aimed headshots.  I’d also performed a few stealth takedowns on your opponents, but don’t worry - Bourne isn't really about stealth.  There aren’t any escort missions either.

The Bourne Conspiracy is better than the sum of its parts.   It rises above the few faults it has and shows incredible promise for the future.  With the Bourne property being one of the hottest in the entertainment world, this initial success spells only good things for the future. 

This brings me to the blessing / curse of The Bourne Conspiracy.  The game is entirely and completely on rails.  While it does fit with the ‘Bourne always has a target and a purpose’ mentality, it does mean that The Bourne Conspiracy, beyond bumping the difficulty, isn’t going to change in any way on replay.  That said, you can blow through the game, skipping all collectables, in about 8 to 10 hours – about average for an action title.  Given that you unlock more of the fantastic soundtrack by completing the game and finding collectables, you have all the reason in the world to track the passports down on a subsequent run through the game.  While there are no multiplayer components in the game, I can’t honestly say that it needs it or could effectively implement it within the combat structure of the game.  Take it for what it is – a fun ride that ends all too soon.  Is it worth your $60 bucks?  I think the unique combat and engaging story is enough to justify it, yes - just try to ignore the driving and sniping sequences.

Jeff Imada, Ludlum Estate, Paul Oakenfold, Tony Gilroy – it is very clear to me that High Moon and Vivendi spared no expense with this title.  They have treated this licensed intellectual property like an original product and gave it everything it needed to succeed. Absent is the stench of a rushed product to meet a constantly shifting movie tie-in.  Gone is the feeling of restriction that most games get when a third party is involved.  The few places where it stumbles are more than made up by the polish and attention to detail everywhere else.  While the next title is certainly TBD, I can safely give the thumbs up to The Bourne Conspiracy.

Gaming Trend Score

84

1. Graphics: 90
2. Audio: 95
3. Controls: 80
4. Gameplay: 80
5. Value/Replay: 80
6. OVERALL:84