Bourne Reborn?
Bourne is highly faithful to its source material but sometimes I feel there may be an over reliance on the film property and is perhaps a little too faithful. An example of this would be the scripted moments through out the game which stop you from playing. They are shorter than cutscenes but they illustarte what Bourne is doing and tell what he did in the film. Spunds a good idea, but there are way too many for my liking and it starts to dawn on you that you aren't really doing that much to contribute towards the game. You're basically being shown a large cutscene with interactive bits.
Another nuisance is when you want to shoot some one at close range you can't. You automatically go into CQC with special takedown moves, which again look awesome but hint at being a bit too scripted. I can't go straight up to some bloke and pop him in the head because the game won't let me.
However the combat is very good, better than that shown in GTAIV and it feels heavy and meaty, as if you are chucking a handful of pork chops at someones chin. It's uncomplicated and animations look teriffic, the takedown moves feel brutal though scripted and eventually occur too often for me to appreciate properly. Gun play is sound, though not entirely perfect, it loosely reflects that found in Uncharted, but doesn't work as boldly nor excitingly. As a result kills don't feel entirely satisfying or as beefy and powerful as the CQC.
One other skill Bourne has is Bourne Sense, a bit like Spider Sence and helps Bourne get to the end of the level by showing where to go on the map, similar to the GPS in Army of Two, it guides you when the going gets tough, which is handy but feels slightly like it wants you to get through the game and eliminates any multinavigational challenges.
Set pieces are extremely well represented and capture the essence though graphically it is a little rough around the edges. Nothing ever feels totally convincing enough or like you are playing a Hollywood Blockbuster, something Bourne should be. There is no thrill in playing this game, as the mini cooper section feels floppy and like you are driving a cardboard box on wheels. Highly unbalanced and not great.
One last pain in the arse is the inclusion of real time events, button pressing sequences seen over a million times before and now it simply feels tired and over used. It started out as a great idea about 2 or 3 years ago. but now it feels like a tired muel ready for the slaughter, and then brought back to life in a few years as some zombie donkey.
Though with its barn yard of flaws, Bourne is the first game since Spider-Man 2 or James Bond: Everything or Nothing, to actual be a worthwile movie tie/based game, which in my eyes is a fantastic achievement. With all the slobber that has been released in the past years, this has definately captured the Bourne essense but needs a little bit of spit and polish to fully make it shine.
Bourne isn't a bad game but it isn't a excellent one, it just settles for good. It captures the Bourne flavor well, despite the absence of Matt Damon, and has some truly worthwhile set pieces recogniseable from the films. I'd easily opt for fists over guns in Bourne, but hopefully a sequel will arrive with a polished and truly exceptional experience, that is desrved of the film. It has shed loads of potential and this game sees a step, a small step, in the correct direction.