Mike Bantick
Saturday, 14 June 2008 11:47
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
Game Director Emmanuel Valdez talks about the approach to Bourne the character; “From the books to the films, there is an almost daunting breadth and depth to Robert Ludlum's Bourne series. To share how we defined everything about Bourne would mean sharing a tome of excerpts from the source and character briefs covering his history, traits, abilities, motivations – who he was, who he became, where he’s headed. It was a thorough deconstruction, but in the end with one goal in mind: What will make Bourne a compelling video game action hero. At one point an astute designer at the studio pointed out the notion that we were in fact chasing Bourne’s identity, to mostly nervous laughter”
So what about the game play itself? Well this is where the cinematic influence comes to the fore.
The early part of the game is all about the fisticuffs. Bourne will face of mano v mano with some tough looking hombres that you would not want to meet in the flesh.
Magically, using only three buttons, Bourne fist fights are a wonderful montage of visceral moves and bone jarring action. Button combos form on screen violent cinematography that looks natural and has a realistic ‘weight’ behind each move.
Then there are the ‘take downs’. Land enough blows on your opponent, and soon enough Bourne’s adrenaline metre will build to one of three thresholds. Pressing ‘B’ at this point results in ‘take down’ move usually causing enough damage to disable a non-boss opponent.
The take-downs are also brilliantly integrated with the scenery around the fight. So for example, press B whilst near a fire extinguisher and Bourne will grab it, swing it into a thugs midriff and then crack his skull with a dull thud.
Multiple adrenaline levels can be used to take out more than one opponent at a time with the cinematic interlude seamlessly showing the action.
Once Bourne grabs a firearm the game smoothly moves into shooter mode with a satisfying heavy firearms feel to the action. Bourne can carry a hand gun along with a heavier weapon, and luckily there is plenty of ammo lying about the various levels.
The movie influences return with take-downs occurring in the shooting sequences as they do during the brawling.
The less said about the driving sequences the better, it is not a highlight of the game, but does fit in with the aim of recreating the Bourne experience. More time could have been spent on reaching a more fulfilling driving mini game.
