By Jason Nimer

You'd be hard pressed to find a moviegoer who didn't enjoy the "Bourne" trilogy. The first film, "The Bourne Identity" was an unexpected hit and thus, Matt Damon and Jason Bourne came back for two sequels. These films have an "everyman" appeal; it seems that nearly "every man" that sees them can't say enough about how well done and exciting they are. Like with a lot of pop culture these days, I missed the boat on the whole Bourne trilogy, not because of lack of interest, but because by the time I get around to seeing most movies, everyone else in the universe has already done so and I hate watching movies with people who have already seen them ("What'd he just say? What'd he say when I asked what he just said?" "I think that guy is a spy." "Of course he's a spy, you just say him go through spy school!" - Homer and Marge Simpson, during a screening of "The Stockholm Affair").

This review, for The Bourne Conspiracy on the PS3, will strictly be about the game itself and the only mention of the films, or Robert Ludlum novels, will be right here - Jason Bourne, in this game, looks absolutely, positively nothing like Matt Damon. Is that a positive or a negative? I guess that depends on how much you enjoyed the films and whether or not you are a big Damon fan. Ok, now onto the game.

The Bourne Conspiracy has a lot going for it. The action looks great, the fighting uses a simplistic, though usually effective, system and the story is full of twists, turns and international intrigue. There are some hiccups here and there, most of which grow in annoyance the longer you play the game, but lets go through the high points first.

As I said earlier, the action looks awesome, though not like you'd expect. The game's graphics are pretty good (think late PS2-era) and the character animations are almost always dead-on, but the fisticuffs are what really drive up the game's visual appeal. Jason Bourne is a well-trained assassin (or agent or something like that) and his hand-to-hand skills look as impressive as I've seen in a while. All the standard fighting moves are available, punch, stronger punch, block, etc., but what sets it apart is the finishing moves at your disposal. By landing attacks successfully, you'll begin building up an adrenaline meter which, when full, can be used to trigger any number of environmentally influenced final attacks. Bourne will smash foes heads through mirrors and windows, slam faces into refrigerator doors and even hold enemies' heads in sinks full of water. One of these moves is usually strong enough to bring down lesser enemies, but multiple uses are required to kill bosses. If you've seen the television commercials for the game, it's easy to believe that what you are watching is a cutscene; not so - that's really what the fights look like in the game.

The fighting does have its share of drawbacks, though. The block button is largely ineffectual in the later stages of the game, the punch/kick combos are oft repeated and look wooden and unnatural and, most annoying of all, you never truly feel like you are in complete control of Jason Bourne. He'll do things on his own, forget to block, trigger finishers when you didn't want him to… the system could have used another month or two of polishing, but you'll see past the cumbersome system once you smash your first enemy face-first into a radiator.

Luckily, a flawed but workable combat system isn't your only means in the game. You'll also be using guns (and plenty of them) and even driving is some stages. The driving stages are broken, plain and simple. Tight curves and a control scheme that makes GTA IV's impossible to control cars look like Gran Turismo will hinder your progress at every step in these stages. Thankfully, they are split up pretty equally and don't occur all that often. They may not be much fun, but at least they work well enough to ensure that you won't get hopelessly stuck.

The gunplay works better than the driving, but not by much. You'll need to use cover, aim, shoot… all concepts that have been better in other games. The controls feel "off" and for some reason, taking damage never seems like your fault. Twice in the first hour I played the game, Bourne peeked up from behind cover against my wishes and was instantly filled full of holes. Like the fighting, though, the shooting has a sense of style to it that is hard not to appreciate. When sprinting from cover, shooting or even hiding, the game's camera reliably stays behind Jason Bourne and bounces around like an episode of "Cops." It might not seem all that cool on paper, but it serves to add a frantic slice of realism into what are otherwise boring shooting segments.

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