So far everything I've mentioned has been tolerable; bad driving, ok shooting and bland combat with cool finishing moves - sounds like a solid rental, right? There are two huge missteps here that, for me, drove the game's fun way down. The passport system and the "event" cutscenes (dubbed QTE - quick time events - by Capcom when they used them in Resident Evil 4).

The passport system isn't as big a problem as the QTE, so lets get it out of the way first. Each level has collectable passports found in every nook and cranny and it is your choice whether or not to try to pick them all up. If you manage to grab them all, that level's boss fight becomes playable over and over again. The problem with this is that the Bourne Conspiracy doesn't have any replay value after you've finished, with the exception of playing the bosses over and over to kill them in new and interesting ways. Basically, if you want to ever feel the need to play again after you've finished, then you need to work twice as hard to get all the passports. There are a lot of games out there now with longer legs than this one, and it almost seems like a cop out when the game holds the carrot of replayablity in your face. Imagine if you could only play Call of Duty 4 online if you managed to find all the hidden evidence in the game's single player mode first. Lots of people would have been ticked off, and that is essentially what is going on here.

The Bourne Conspiracy's biggest problem is the QTEs. After finishing off a few characters and doing something specific (walking, fighting, etc.) the game will give you an on-screen prompt to quickly hit a button. If you are too slow or hit the wrong button, well, that's it. Game over. As much as I loved these things in Resident Evil 4, here they are a huge annoyance. You have considerably less reaction time than you did in RE4, the indicator is small and easily overlooked in the middle of the action and it seems that these pop up every few minutes. It was a good idea, but implementing it failed miserably.

Overall, I'd say that the Bourne Conspiracy is a solid title with a few warts, some of which can be overlooked and ignored. I'd assume that if you loved the films or books, you'll love this game. But from a completely objective view, this game fits neatly into the just ok third person shooter category. Personally, I'd play Dark Sector before going out to buy this one. For everything that this game does wrong, Dark Sector does right and with just as much style. I'm afraid, though, that both games will be overlooked due to the busy release schedule of this spring and summer. The game may not have the "everyman" appeal of the films, but it's a worthy rental that a good number of action gamers will probably get a kick out of.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 74%.

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