The Bourne Conspiracy XBL Demo

In the midst of all the frenetic GTA IV happenings we've managed to pull ourselves away for a few seconds to check out The Bourne Conspiracy demo on XBL. First impression? Lots of quick time events, for everything. Need to jump to another ledge? Quick time. Need to slide under a closing gate? Quick time. Need to spin your car around to avoid a large truck? Quick time. I don't want to say quick time events are lazy because they can be implemented well, but I'd rather play a game where the framework allows you to do these things yourself.

That being said, The Bourne Conspiracy does a pretty good job of at least making the quick time events feel natural within the game. After the first play through you get a pretty good sense of when you're going to have to use them. Better to use them constantly than randomly surprise you throughout a level. The combat system is pretty simple and allows for counter moves and some sweet finishes. Gun play feels believable at best and is actually fairly similar to GTA IV's auto-aim system. High Moon Studios also has something to prove here since traditionally movie to video game adaptations have been about as popular as a suicide bomber on a subway. So I'm surmising that this version we're seeing is pretty much what we're going to get on the release.

I can't say I didn't have fun playing the demo, though, which makes me optimistic for its launch. It's not going win any medals, especially for it's driving sections, but it should make for a good one night stand.

Awesome.