High Moon Studios have a knack for making decent 3rd person licensed games on the console, with the fun Transformers games and the silly Deadpool game. This was their first effort on the 360 and it really feels like a clunky younger brother to the Cybertron duo. The game follows the story of the movie, presenting it over around 12 levels with some nice cutscenes throughout. Game play wise it is a nice mix of 3rd person cover shooting and first person hand to hand combat. You also have an adrenaline meter which, when full, lets you pull of a finishing move, either shooting or hand to hand combat, which leads to an instant kill. I enjoyed my time with the game, but the experience was dragged down by some flaws and poor design choices. For example, the game is predominantly a cover based 3rd person shooter, but it struggles to implement the movement into or out of cover, which is really down to the controls. The gunplay itself is good and aiming works fine. The levels are designed with this cover in mind, full of things to hide behind. The issue is that you don't really know which you can use as cover. I found myself running up to objects and then awkwardly standing around getting shot as my characters refused to hide behind whatever it was. It's little issues like this that feel a bit amateur and really highlights that this was one of HMS's first games. The reliance on quick time events was another frustration. When you are not headshotting bad guys, you are punching them in the face in a 1 on 1 fighting game style combat section. This was a nice change of pace from the many third person brawlers on the console, but it can get a bit stale as you basically mash x and y in between blocking. Because of this, the inclusion of random QTEs during these fights was a very weird design choice as you really don't have time to react in the middle of a mash X combo. These issues don't ruin the game, it is still a lot of fun to play and the short campaign doesn't overstay its welcome. I really enjoyed jumping around the globe visiting a variety of different areas, and the few driving sections were a nice distraction. However, it must definitely is a flawed game, clunky and full of strange issues and design choices. If you can get past these, you will have fun with it, but don't expect a polished experience.

The Bourne Conspiracy is based on the hit book and movie by author Robert Ludlum. I have good news for people who haven’t watched or read the book or movie; you didn’t have to enjoy this. The game is about a trained assassin by the government who tries to find his true identity and runs into and has to kill, the people in his way. While the plot is a bit confusing the voice acting is superb and the game uses the Unreal engine (Gears of War) and the game just looks and sounds amazing.


While Matt Damon is missing as the lead role he won’t be missed since the new character is better and more likable. The takes are really reminiscent of Indigo Prophecy with the game being full of context-sensitive cutscenes. While there are essentially no mini-games there are three parts to the game: Fighting, shooting, and driving. The fighting is what you’ll be doing a lot and it’s just gruesomely satisfying. You have a heavy attack and light attack and you can use these in a 3 combo attack. You can charge either one for a light or powerful kick as well. You can block and strafe around the opponent. When you get your adrenaline bar up (there are three segments you can charge by connecting hits) you can perform a takedown which is a brutal and deadly scene of using the environment or breaking some limbs and smashing heads into walls.


While all of this sounds simple, it is, but it’s really satisfying and doesn’t really get old. You also have bosses at the end of every level that have a health meter, and I can report the AI in this game is really awesome. During the shooting sections, you can take cover, hold up to two weapons (a handgun and another weapon) perform shooting takedowns (up to three depending on how full your adrenaline bar is). You also have a cool run button that makes the camera shake while you run through halls so it really feels like your playing a movie. While your shooting sections are pretty generic and nothing special they work and thanks to the game’s length you won’t feel bored of this. There is one driving section in the game and the car handles superbly and it’s just full of intense chasing.


While the game is full of so much action it doesn’t last long clocking in at about 5-6 hours. There is no multiplayer what-so-ever and the extras are a bit lame. If you’re looking for an awesome action rental then look no further than The Bourne Conspiracy.

This is another case of if you have played the first two levels, you have played the whole game. You alternate between third person shooting segments and hand to hand combat segments. Pretty straight forward but there's never any variation of that. And the shooting and combat sections aren't even that particularly fun. The combat sections force you into a 1v1 perspective and it plays out like a fight night game. It's sort of interesting and unique the way that they did it. You could see how in a few years it would have been an arkham knock off.

But this needed variation. I played through about half the game. There was never an entire stealth section. There was no driving section. There were no minigames or puzzles. There was one sniping moment but all it was, was a quick time event. Oh man the QTEs in this game. It loves them! And god forbid you fail one because you will go back a significant portion in the level. Incredibly annoying. Even though you fight cops, terrorists, and US Marines none of them feel distinct from one another. None of them have their own unique fight style and instead are simply just a reskin of the same character model. Another example of the need for variation.

But I do have to say you would be hard pressed to find a movie video game that better replicates the feeling of a movie. The way they intersplice animations and cut scenes with combat makes it feel very cinematic. It looks pretty good for 2008 and even if I didn't love the combat I don't think I could ever get sick of the finishing animations of this game. I found myself throwing karate chops and elbows along with Jason Bourne. The sound effects are really well done and the punches and cracks and snaps have a real punch and weight to them. I'd be remiss to not mention how much fun it was to blow through enemies with the shotgun in this game. That had a real weight to it too.

Just like GI Joe, this game didn't get the movie actors to voice their characters. That's really the only thing the Watchmen game has on these past two I've written about. This game wasn't very glitchy. The only thing I noticed was the sound cut out a couple times on me. The second time it happened, the game crashed which I took as a sign to stop playing.

Ultimately this wasn't terrible, but it just wasn't that much fun either. It felt unique in a sense, but also like a missed opportunity

Action movies and action games are two separate beasts with two different appeals.

The idea of translating the Bourne movies to a videogame is a relatively good one, but how they went about it here is the same way they went about the recent James Bond games, if you'll pardon the obvious comparison.

These movies aren't about the action, they're more about the stealth, and, in the case of Bourne, the mystery.
Sure, you watch the movies for the action, but if you watch even one of the movies these games are trying to emulate you'll notice there's little to no weaponry, and if there is it's hardly ever the main character using them.

Meanwhile in these games, the main character uses a weapon like 80% of the time.
Now I did enjoy the Bond game Blood Stone but that was because the stealth felt satisfying when you pulled it off.
Here, the stealth, the aiming, the three different meters and even the story, are all just not great.

Enemies vision isn't made clear so you'll be trying to sneak up on someone and get spotted.
You automatically get thrown into a fight as soon as you run into someone which can make running through doors a gamble (since you can't see what's on the other side), and you can't exit until they're dead, which means you'll be peppered with enemy fire.

The "aim" button locks onto an enemies torso and tries to get you to shoot there despite the head being a one-shot kill, and shooting literally anywhere else, even the neck, will take up to five shots.
While you're trying to shoot an enemy in the head you'll be slowly moving the cursor up (because the aim sensitivity is awful) while 3 to 5 other enemies are filling you with more holes than SpongeBob.

The story is essentially that of the first movie but because it wasn't "action-y enough" every time a scene from the movie plays out you get a flashback scene that's a lot more engaging, and if you're lucky you get to play through a scene from the movie afterwards.

Developers need to start taking risks because I seriously don't like this game.
This spits in the face of an amazing movie and twists it's words to make sure you're shooting everyone.
If you want to play Call of Duty, then just play Call of Duty. Don't make us Bourne fans suffer.