Right, I love the Bourne series. One of the best action series ever created.
So when I saw there was a demo out for the Bourne Conspiracy on the 360, I jumped on it as if it were my long lost love of my life.
"1.2GB of utter glory" I thought.
Now, I saw it was made by Sierra entertainment and High Moon Studios. Great, both companies have made some seriously good games.
Boy was I wrong.
The first thing you notice is that the character DOESN'T LOOK LIKE MATT DAMON. I cried. Seriously. That was what made the Bourne series; Matt Damon was a god. Well, one point down the drain for epic fail on that part ( unless Matt didn't want to be part of the game ).
The story has been kept basically intact - when I mean basically, I mean the overall plot, most missions have added shit to make it harder.
You can quite clearly tell, that from the start of the demo, this game is aimed at giving you the biggest adrenaline rush you can get.
You are immediately thrown into a fight with 3 guards and you have to get rid of them before running away.
X and Y are used to attack, A used to block. Not very innovative, and when the fight moves are basic... it was disappointing.
But, you have adrenaline combos; so when you have kicked the shit out of them quite a few times, your adrenaline bar increases and you can perform "takedowns" - again, not new - and these are seriously awesome. Most takedowns are unique because Bourne uses his surroundings to beat the shit out of guys. Breaking arms, smashing them against doors, etc.
Ok, so from the first part, we have established
- Takedowns are good
- Fighting is constricted to 3 buttons and is ok.
- Another thing; physics are excellent. People move normally and fighting is quite realistic.
So far it ain't bad.
Now for the running part. You steal one of the guards radios and start sprinting away from the scene, taking the route upstairs and through corridors. Now, the "new" thing appears in this game. There are moments when you have to use your "Bourne senses" which allow you to escape certain scenarios. This makes the game that bit more "frustrating" yet "fun". When you reach a point ( for example, this time there were gates closing real fast ) the screen goes slightly dull for a moment and it tells you to press a button ( which is randomised ) on your controller. If you panic and press another one, you fail. If you get it right, he does something amazing and escapes whatever.
Now, skipping to gun fights.
They. are. shit.
The guns sound like BB guns ( no joke ) and fire as if the nozzle was at 90 degree angles from the point of the gun.
Even worse, the reticule is about the size of a needle head.
Gun movement and shit isn't too bad. You can take cover, switch shoulders for aiming, sprint with the gun, etc.
Sierra tried to add a bit of "open world" here, by allowing you to go certain ways ( which generally end up in you dying ) and have failed miserably. There is a car chase ( the paris car chase ) , where the car handling is beyond shit, and you have certain roads you can go down. I lol'd hard. Everything else is blocked off, it doesn't look like Paris and car damage is crap.
AI is alright. Pretty smart at times and generally doesn't make mistakes.
Everything in the vicinity is destructible, which is quite cool, yet generally pointless.
Overall; it does give you an adrenaline rush, but it doesn't give you the feeling of playing a game. It's the feeling of bashing buttons and running aimlessly. I was seriously disappointed.
Maybe we can hope for more from the full game.
So when I saw there was a demo out for the Bourne Conspiracy on the 360, I jumped on it as if it were my long lost love of my life.
"1.2GB of utter glory" I thought.
Now, I saw it was made by Sierra entertainment and High Moon Studios. Great, both companies have made some seriously good games.
Boy was I wrong.
The first thing you notice is that the character DOESN'T LOOK LIKE MATT DAMON. I cried. Seriously. That was what made the Bourne series; Matt Damon was a god. Well, one point down the drain for epic fail on that part ( unless Matt didn't want to be part of the game ).
The story has been kept basically intact - when I mean basically, I mean the overall plot, most missions have added shit to make it harder.
You can quite clearly tell, that from the start of the demo, this game is aimed at giving you the biggest adrenaline rush you can get.
You are immediately thrown into a fight with 3 guards and you have to get rid of them before running away.
X and Y are used to attack, A used to block. Not very innovative, and when the fight moves are basic... it was disappointing.
But, you have adrenaline combos; so when you have kicked the shit out of them quite a few times, your adrenaline bar increases and you can perform "takedowns" - again, not new - and these are seriously awesome. Most takedowns are unique because Bourne uses his surroundings to beat the shit out of guys. Breaking arms, smashing them against doors, etc.
Ok, so from the first part, we have established
- Takedowns are good
- Fighting is constricted to 3 buttons and is ok.
- Another thing; physics are excellent. People move normally and fighting is quite realistic.
So far it ain't bad.
Now for the running part. You steal one of the guards radios and start sprinting away from the scene, taking the route upstairs and through corridors. Now, the "new" thing appears in this game. There are moments when you have to use your "Bourne senses" which allow you to escape certain scenarios. This makes the game that bit more "frustrating" yet "fun". When you reach a point ( for example, this time there were gates closing real fast ) the screen goes slightly dull for a moment and it tells you to press a button ( which is randomised ) on your controller. If you panic and press another one, you fail. If you get it right, he does something amazing and escapes whatever.
Now, skipping to gun fights.
They. are. shit.
The guns sound like BB guns ( no joke ) and fire as if the nozzle was at 90 degree angles from the point of the gun.
Even worse, the reticule is about the size of a needle head.
Gun movement and shit isn't too bad. You can take cover, switch shoulders for aiming, sprint with the gun, etc.
Sierra tried to add a bit of "open world" here, by allowing you to go certain ways ( which generally end up in you dying ) and have failed miserably. There is a car chase ( the paris car chase ) , where the car handling is beyond shit, and you have certain roads you can go down. I lol'd hard. Everything else is blocked off, it doesn't look like Paris and car damage is crap.
AI is alright. Pretty smart at times and generally doesn't make mistakes.
Everything in the vicinity is destructible, which is quite cool, yet generally pointless.
Overall; it does give you an adrenaline rush, but it doesn't give you the feeling of playing a game. It's the feeling of bashing buttons and running aimlessly. I was seriously disappointed.
Maybe we can hope for more from the full game.
