Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy

Spies and intrigue have long been staples of films, books and video games, whether it’s James Bond, Jack Ryan, Jack Bauer, Joanna Dark or someone else with a first name beginning with J.

It was back in 1980 when Robert Ludlum first unleashed the lethal skills of Jason Bourne in his novel The Bourne Identity. Five more followed, along with a TV film, and most famously, three blockbusting films starring Matt Damon as the titular hero. The films put the bang back into spy movies, providing an adrenaline rush and combining tense action with brain engaging scenes, prompting Bond to up his game considerably for Casino Royale.

Publisher Vivendi didn’t use the formidable success of the films as an excuse to rush out any old game though, and it’s taken until now for Bourne to negotiate the tricky path to the world of video games which has only heightened expectations for the game.

Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Conspiracy certainly delivers, putting gamers through their paces with gunplay, chase sequences and intrigue. It wouldn’t be Bourne without brutal hand-to-hand combat, and Conspiracy provides that in spades, using the skills of Jeff Imada – the man behind the fight choreography in the films.

So with action key to the game, what else we can expect from Conspiracy? “Players will experience most of the big moments from the first film – the pursuit through the embassy, the battle in Bourne’s apartment, the car chase in Paris, the fight with the Professor – but then they’ll also see plenty of new missions through flashbacks and extended action in familiar places,” says  Paul O’Connor, VP design director at High Moon Studios.

“For example, in the film, when Bourne confronts Conklin at the Paris Treadstone Safehouse, it is a rather abrupt scene that shows Bourne getting the drop on Conklin. In our game, there is a whole sequence where players first have to get into the safe house, and then an extended action scene as they fight their way out, culminating with a boss fight that wasn’t in the film.”

But does the game provide the kind of excitement that the films managed to put on the screen? “The experience of being Jason Bourne, of being a functioning $30 million dollar super assassin, is pretty thrilling. You dispatch enemies with ease and battle through impossible situations with cool takedowns and shooting tricks,” O’Connor enthuses.

“It has been advertised many times that a certain game makes you ‘feel like you are in a movie’, but with Bourne I believe the team really has come close to realising that ideal.”

With the future of Bourne on film unsure, what about the continuing adventures of the super spy in video games? “Our plan from the outset has been for The Bourne Conspiracy to be the first in a franchise series of games,” reveals O’Connor. “It is up to gamers to decide if we will be permitted to pursue that dream.”

So there you have it. Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Conspiracy promises to successfully package all the elements of the films that made them the biggest action series of the last six years into what is set to be one of the summer’s blockbusting crowd-pleasing video games