Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy

Infobox VG
title = Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy


developer = Sierra Entertainment
High Moon Studioscite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=Bourne Conspiracy Announced | date=2007-06-26 | publisher= | url =http://www.sierra.com/uk/home/news/product_news/260607_-_bourne_conspiracy.html | work = | pages = | accessdate = 2007-06-27 | language = ]
publisher = Sierra Entertainment
designer =
engine = Unreal Engine 3cite web | title=The Bourne Conspiracy Hands-on for Xbox 360 - VideoGamer.com | url=http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/the_bourne_conspiracy/preview-983.html | accessdate=2008-06-05 ] with PhysX
version =
released = vgrelease|NA=June 3 2008 [http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/robertludlumsthebourneconspiracy/similar.html?mode=versions Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy for PlayStation 3 - Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy PlayStation 3 Game - Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy PlayStation 3 Video ... ] ] [http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/robertludlumsthebourneconspiracy/similar.html?mode=versions Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy for Xbox 360 - Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy Xbox 360 Game - Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy Xbox 360 Video Game ] ] vgrelease|AUS=June 5, 2008 vgrelease|EU=June 27 2008cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=Sierra announces 'Bourne Conspiracy' | date=2008-04-03 | publisher= "Digital Spy"| url =http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/a92916/sierra-announces-bourne-conspiracy.html | work = | pages = | accessdate = 2008-04-03 | language = ]
genre = Third-person espionage
modes =
ratings = ESRB: T
platforms = PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
media = Blu-ray Disc, DVD-DLcite web|url=http://www.gamepro.com/microsoft/xbox360/46456/info.shtml|title="The Bourne Conspiracy" Page|publisher=GamePro|accessdate=2008-06-02]
requirements =
input = SIXAXIS Controller, DualShock 3, Xbox 360 Controller

"Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy" is a video game for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game was released on June 3, 2008. Developed by High Moon Studios, "The Bourne Conspiracy" expands upon Robert Ludlum's character Jason Bourne, and immerses the player in a cat and mouse style espionage action adventure.cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=Sierra Announces The Bourne Conspiracy | date=2007-06-27 | publisher= | url =http://www.xboxic.com/news/3116 | work = | pages = | accessdate = 2007-06-27 | language = ]

Features

Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy gives players the experience of becoming a 30 million dollar elite agent, combining elements that delve deeply into Jason Bourne's character with gameplay and game presentation informed by the style of the films. The game does not use the likeness of Matt Damon (who portrays Bourne in the films), due to creative differences with the actor. [cite news | title=Matt Damon: Bourne video game too violent for me | date=2008-04-29 | url=http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2008/04/29/matt-damon-allegedly-shied-away-from-bourne-game | accessdate=2008-06-11 ] As the game progresses, players are provided with more clues to Bourne's true identity and begin the game by first hunting targets around the world as a deadly government assassin then labelled the agency's most wanted.

Players use Jason Bourne's sense of survival, cunning nature, heightened target awareness and firearms training to engage and eliminate small armies. As a third-person espionage action game, players move from fistfights to firefights to experience sequences that aim to seamlessly blend Bourne's signature hand-to-hand combat with intense shooting and the ability to escape and evade deadly situations.

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).

Plot

The game takes place within the confines of the first film, with a few liberties taken (Note that the film has virtually nothing to do with the original novel by Robert Ludlum except for the basic situation, which means the game isn't either.)

Chapter 1.1, Marseilles (present day)

The game begins in Marseilles, where CIA assassin Jason Bourne, operating under the black-op organization called Treadstone, has been tasked with assassinating a former African dictator named Nykwana Wombosi. Wombosi knows too much about the agency's involvement in Africa and must be silenced. However, Bourne learns his cover has been blown, and Wombosi has hired an assassin named O'Conner to kill him. In this level, Bourne takes on O'Conner's men in the alleys and a bar before fighting him, and kills him in hand-to-hand combat. After killing him by bashing his head in, Alexander Conklin, assistant operator of Treadstone, is uneasy with Bourne continuing the mission, but Bourne insists on completing the task another way.

Chapter 1.2, Marseille Docks (present day)

After killing O'Conner, Bourne heads down to the docks to sneak aboard Wombosi's yacht. However, with Wombosi's security team on high alert (knowing that O'Conner failed), Jason cannot easily sneak aboard, and is forced to take on Wombosi's men head-on, including a helicopter, therefore hindering his plan to act covertly. Jason also takes on Wombosi's lieutenant, Solomon, in hand-to-hand combat before throwing him over a railing into water. When Bourne finally disables the helicopter, Conklin realizes that Wombosi is aware Bourne is after him, and wants end the mission. However, Jason decides that he will find a way to fake his death so Wombosi and his men can relax. He learns that Solomon (still alive) decided to bring a group of Corsican mercenaries to assist in killing him. Bourne then sets off the fuel pumps to create the impression that he died in the blast. However, Solomon and the Corsicans spot him aboard a boat. Bourne takes on Solomon again but this time Solomon to wraps a heavy chain around Bourne's neck before throwing him overboard. He then sneaks onboard the yacht after pulling himself up from the water by grabbing one of the boat's tires on the side.

Chapter 1.3, Wombosi's Yacht (present day)

After successfully boarding the yacht, Bourne must disable the alarm system as well as an emergency submarine and helicopter to prevent Wombosi's escape. Solomon and his men become aware that he is still alive. What gives Jason a chance to complete his mission is that no one is allowed to disturb Wombosi, not even Solomon. After cutting off all means of escape for Wombosi, Bourne witnesses an intense argument between Wombosi's guards and the head of the Corsican militants. Conklin orders Jason to shoot Wombosi with the Corsican's gun to make his assassination appear as if it was part of a palace coup. Bourne fights Solomon one last time before throwing him overboard to his death. Then he goes to assissinate Wombosi but is unable to as his children are watching. As he leaves, he is shot in the back by Wombosi, and falls into the Mediterranean.

Chapter 2.1, Eliminate Devandelen (flashback)

Devandelin is being transported from Zurich to the Hague to face a war crimes tribunal, but the CIA wants Devandelin dead. After Bourne attacks Devandelin's police escort, a group of commandos attack the transport and kill the remaining officers, freeing Devandelin. Bourne chases the assailants through the Zürich International Airport and through the carriges of a train, eventually boarding a plane Devandelin is using to escape. After reaching Devandelin, he knocks him out, but in the scuffle, the pilot is shot, causing the plane to lose altitude. Bourne grabs a parachute and jumps, leaving the plane to crash, killing Devandelin.

Chapter 2.2, Escape the Embassy (present day)

Back in the present, Bourne heads to the bank where he finds a safety deposit box with money, passports and a gun. As he leaves the bank, he is recognized by the Zurich police, but he manages to find refuge in the American embassy. However, moments later, a consular official moves to detain him, either after talking to the CIA or the Zurich police. Bourne fights off the official and escapes the Marines stationed at the consulate. He eventually escapes using a fire exit and scaling down the walls. He pays a woman he saw in the consulate, Marie Kreuz, $10,000 to drive him to Paris.

Chapter 3, Silence Rurik (flashback)

In Vilnius, Jason Bourne has been ordered to assassinate another former army general. He kills him and his guards with a sniper rifle at Vilnius University before he can give his speech, but his cover is completely blown. He takes on the police and Rurik's guards in chemistry labs and library, blows up a tank in the plaza, and sets off an explosion in a distillery to cover his escape.

Chapter 4.1, Castel Fight (present day)

After the flashback ends, Marie decides to pick up the phone to see if "it still works". Bourne attempts to stop her but is too late, and this allows Treadstone Headquarters to pick up the signal and realize Bourne is still alive and at home. Three assassins are called: Castel, The Professor, and Manheim. At his home, he is attacked by Castel and a long hand-to-hand fight occurs. When Castel's health depletes halfway, he pulls a knife on Jason, but Jason defeats him. After beating him, Jason is momentarily distracted by Marie, and Castel jumps out the window to his death so as avoid interrogation, hence committing suicide.

Chapter 4.2, Paris Chase (present day)

Paris police descend on Marie's Mini Cooper, but Jason manages to avoid them through expert driving skills. They arrive at a motel, and Bourne recommends never using that car again. He decides to change Marie's hair to make her less recognizable. While watching her sleep, another flashback comes to Bourne of a past mission in Paris.

Chapter 4.3, Disarm Renard (flashback)

Jason Bourne has been ordered to kill Charles Renard, an international arms dealer known for arming violent uprisings in Africa, the Middle East, and even third-world Asia. He is hosting a black-tie ball at his art museum, but it is actually a front for a weapons deal. While sneaking through the museum, Bourne notices that another assassin hired by the buyer has been taking out Renard's men. He kills the buyer's assassin and makes it to the site of the weapons deal. He tries to find the weapon, but Renard and the buyer, who we now know is a man named Azar, get to it first (the weapon is revealed to be a dirty bomb), and then Azar double crosses and shoots Renard in the head. Bourne now must change his primary objective to killing Azar. In the crossfire between Azar's and Renard's men, he chases Azar through the museum and shoots down his helicopter causing it to blow up and kill Azar in it.

Chapter 5, Survive the Professor (present day)

Marie recommends that they visit her stepbrother Eamon in the French countryside. Jason realizes that he doesn't want to know who he is/was, and that his memories bring him back nothing but pain, and is thinking about starting a new life over with Marie, but the past does not let go of him. After spending the night, Eamon reports the family dog has gone missing. Jason believes that this is because there is another assassin nearby. He orders Marie, Eamon and his children into the basement. After blocking up the windows to allow Marie to get into the basement, Jason takes Eamon's shotgun and blows up several propane tanks to act as a distraction to allow him to get closer to the assassin known as the Professor. Bourne manages to kill him by stabbing repeatedly with a piece of wood after a gunfight and hand-to-hand combat in a burning barn.

Chapter 6, Treadstone Safehouse (present day)

Bourne tracks Conklin to Treadstone's Paris safehouse. Security is on high alert, but he covertly takes out the snipers stationed around the building, infiltrates the room where Conklin is hiding, and attacks him. He warns Conklin to leave him alone, and that Jason Bourne is officially dead. However, the room is stormed by CIA agents, and Bourne must descend a long staircase and take the agents on. After fighting his way through the stairwell, he then takes on the agents in the streets. After making it through the alley, both Bourne and Conklin wind up on the same street, but Treadstone's last assassin, Manheim, is waiting in a car and is seen attaching a silencer to his pistol. As he steps out, it is clear that his target is Conklin. Bourne witnesses the murder, and he follows him into Notre Dame. The two have a shootout inside the Cathedral, whereby Manheim blows up a gas tank, causing the church to catch fire. Bourne seizes the opportunity and tackles Manheim out the window. After a fight in the cathedral graveyard, Manheim appears to have the upper hand. Bourne manages to find a shovel and delivers a lethal blow to Manheim, sending him plummeting to his death. The scene shifts to Marie's scooter rental shop in Greece. Bourne shows up and the two embrace as the screen fades.

Demo

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

Reception

VG Reviews
Official Playstation Magazine Australia = 7/10
OXM = 7.5/10
TX = 8.1/10
1UP = B-
GameRev = B-
GamePro = 3.8/5
Gamespot = 8.0/10
IGN = 7.5/10
GSpy 4/5
XPlay = 3/5
GT = 7.2/10
GameZone = 8/10
Edge=4 out of 10citation |date=2008-08 |title=Edge |publisher=Future Publishing |volume=191 |pages=94] Reception for The Bourne Conspiracy has been generally positive. IGN praised the combat, and story, but criticized the shooting and driving mechanics and camera angles hampering the gameplay.. cite web | url=http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/878/878907p1.html | title=IGN: Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy Review | accessdate=2008-06-05 ] G4TV's game review show, X-Play gave it a 3 out of 5, also praising the combat but criticizing the shooting and driving mechanics, short game length, and problems with the camera. cite web | url=http://www.g4tv.com/xplay/reviews/1790/The_Bourne_Conspiracy.html| title= G4 X-Play Reviews: Bourne Conspiracy| accessdate= 2008-06-05]

References

External links

* [http://www.bournethegame.com/ Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy] - Official game website.