Jason Bourne has now hit consoles, bringing all of his action with him, in fact the only thing that Mr Bourne doesn’t bring with him is the actor who usually plays the part. Yes Matt Damon, for what ever reason is posted missing in this one, perhaps he though “oh it’s a game based on a movie, so no doubt it won’t be very good”. Well if that was your reason Mr Damon, you are very wrong.

The first thing you will discover about Bourne Conspiracy is that it certainly doesn’t hang around. Straight from the off you are thrust into the action, and there is plenty of it. Obviously you will need to learn the basics of combat before you start the action, thankfully though this is pretty easy to pick up. The game has two main action buttons for fighting and combining both of these buttons together will string together some pretty amazing combos. You also have an adrenalin gauge which will fill up as you fight, this is divided into three sections, you can use this with one press of a button to take down an enemy, even when only one section is filled, or you can fill all three and take down multiple enemies, which does come in useful sometimes.  

The combos and takedowns that you will perform certainly look very impressive, enemies get their arms broken, their heads smashed off of walls and also find themselves being thrown downstairs, nice. While a single takedown may be enough to defeat your standard enemy, when you come up against the bosses it is an entirely different story, these guys are tough, so tough in fact that you may find yourself using at least seven or eight takedowns before defeating them, and that’s if they don’t get you first.

Another aspect of the combat is the weapons, there is certainly a decent choice, and the takedown system is also available here, again meaning that with one push of a button your can defeat an enemy in impressive style. Weapons do run out of ammo, so you will need to make sure you stay stocked up, this is done by either killing enemies and taking theirs or finding ammo which is stored through the levels. The game also implements a cover system, meaning that you can hide behind crates and other objects to replenish your health and also to hide from the barrage of bullets coming your way.

As well as his adrenaline ability, Bourne also has a rather nifty sixth sense. This ability is made useful by the map in the bottom corner of the screen, when the Bourne sense is activated, this shows you where you are, where the enemies and your destination.  

There are a few unfortunate drawbacks to the game, for one often during gameplay you are required to press buttons in order to beat certain sections of the game, for example during the embassy scene you are required to push a button in order to dive under the closing door, and often during boss fights you are also required to use this type of control. While this is not a major flaw, perhaps it just happens a bit too often, therefore making the game feel like it is showing you the way. Another problem comes in the form of the Bourne sense, although it is great to be able to see enemies and where you are going, it does take away the sense of tension, such as not knowing where the enemy fire is coming from. 

During the game you also have the option of collecting passports which are spread around the levels, this will then unlock new items such as artwork, music and other extras, the main one being the ability to skip directly to the boss fights once you have finished the game and collected them all.

Graphically it is hard to fault Bourne Conspiracy, the presentation is excellent and everything about the game looks great, from the action scenes to the backdrops. The sound also helps to add to the atmosphere a great deal, so top marks for this department.

Overall Bourne Conspiracy is a fairly decent action game, sure it does have it’s moments of frustration, however the fight scenes are excellent and some of the best I have seen in an action game. This alone may be a reason for you to give this game a try.