The Bourne Conspiracy Updated Hands-On

MIAMI--You are Jason Bourne. Sneaking your way through the American embassy in Zurich. Racing through a subway tunnel in search of a madman. Taking down scores of enemies in the cargo hold of an airplane. Screeching tires around the streets of Paris while being chased down by the police. In Sierra and High Moon Studios' upcoming action game Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy, you are a 30 million dollar weapon, and the developers are doing their best to remind you of that fact at every moment. We had a chance to check out a demo of the game here in Miami on the same night that Bourne Conspiracy soundtrack contributor and DJ extraordinaire Paul Oakenfold performed selections from the Bourne Conspiracy soundtrack.

The demo shown off here in Miami included a level set in the American embassy in Zurich; a level set 18 months before the events in the first film, with Bourne as a CIA assassin hunting down a criminal; and a brief car chase set in Paris. The demo gave us a pretty strong idea of how the gameplay will work in the full game, especially with regard to the hand-to-hand combat.

Combat in the Bourne Conspiracy is a frenetic jumble of kicks, punches, and deflections; however, to the game's credit, the action is quite simple to control. Using a combination of light and heavy strikes and a blocking control, you'll have Bourne duking it out like a real CIA-trained assassin in no time. In fact, you might prefer settling disagreements with your fists rather than the many guns you'll come upon along the way. This is partially due to the sometimes-strange aiming mechanics and slow tracking speed you have when armed, but mostly because running up on a bad guy and planting your fist in his mouth is a load of fun.

It seems as if the game wants you to focus on hand-to-hand combat, too, or at least in the levels we played of the demo. Due to the unreliable aim, it was almost preferable to run up to enemies and initiate hand-to-hand combat automatically. Although it's admittedly odd that the game won't let you pull out a gun in the middle of combat and settle the fight with a bullet, the combat managed to hold our interest.

As you fight, Bourne builds up adrenaline; if you earn enough of it, then you can instantly perform takedowns with the press of a button. These takedown animations are both brutal and extremely effective, and if you've got more than one tier of adrenaline built up (you can have a maximum of three), you'll be able to take down multiple enemies at once. You can even do weapon-based takedowns, which will let you one-shot kill an enemy. In addition to the basic combat moves, the game will toss in God of War-style button-mashing minigames that will let you block a punch or get an extra shot at an enemy. However, if you fail to execute these sequences correctly, Bourne will pay, sometimes with his life.

Rounding out Jason Bourne's superhuman abilities is the so-called Bourne instinct. With the press of a button, you can activate this power that will let you instantly identify enemies onscreen and on your minimap. It will also show you objectives to head for, as well as help you aim your weapon to take down bad guys quickly. At the higher difficulty levels, using the Bourne instinct power will drain Bourne's adrenaline level, so you'll want to use it sparingly.

Each of the three levels in the demo had its own high points. The opening level--a "reimagining" (as the developers put it) of the events from the American embassy scene in The Bourne Identity--has you control Bourne as he makes his way from the floor of the embassy building, up the stairs while fighting soldiers all the way, and onto the roof. Once there, you've got to fight off soldiers, dodge sniper fire, and find a way to escape.

As mentioned previously, the second demo level is set in the past, with Bourne acting as an assassin trying to track down a criminal who's escaped from the Zurich police. Although we didn't see much of anything new while chasing down the criminal through the subway lines and up through the airport, the showdown in the cargo hold of the plane was a pretty darn good boss battle. It was full of skillfully choreographed takedown moves, with Bourne and his foe trading blows back and forth. Fortunately, it was also a tough battle; it's clear that the developers are looking to add some challenge with the game's boss battles, even on the easiest difficulty.

The final level of the demo featured a chase sequence, which we hadn't yet seen from the game but had been looking forward to, if only because of the brilliant chase scenes from the Bourne films. Unfortunately, this was the weakest part of the demo, not just because the level was too short but also because the level didn't seem to successfully re-create the frenetic, kinetic mayhem of the film's chase scenes. One of the problems was the setting; although the virtual Paris that is the backdrop for this level was gorgeously rendered, full of lovely textures and lighting effects, the couple of blocks that made up the level itself seemed far too small. Plus--and perhaps this had something to do with the difficulty level on which we played--there never seemed to be that much threat from the police cars that were chasing us. Nonetheless, this probably isn't the only chase scene in the game (producers are still mum on the other levels in the game), and we're hoping that things improve on the driving front between now and the game's release.

It seems that Jason Bourne is at his best in the game when he's throwing fists, thanks to the fast-paced, easy-to-control fighting mechanics and some excellent animation and sound work that keep the combat visceral. We'll have to see if those easy-to-learn controls and bloody good times end up staying fresh and vibrant at the end of the adventures in the Bourne Conspiracy, which is due for unveiling this summer.

Editor's note 03/31/08: Since posting this preview GameSpot was contacted by High Moon Studios who noted that the game will allow users to customize the aiming sensitivity.