The Bourne Conspiracy is based on the hit book and movie by author Robert Ludlum. I have good news for people who haven’t watched or read the book or movie; you didn’t have to enjoy this. The game is about a trained assassin by the government who tries to find his true identity and runs into and has to kill the people in his way. While the plot is a bit confusing, the voice acting is superb, the game uses the Unreal engine (Gears of War), and the game just looks and sounds amazing.
While Matt Damon is missing in the lead role, he won’t be missed since the new character is better and more likeable. The takes are really reminiscent of Indigo Prophecy, with the game being full of context-sensitive cutscenes. While there are essentially no mini-games, there are three parts to the game: fighting, shooting, and driving. The fighting is what you’ll be doing a lot of, and it’s just gruesomely satisfying. You have a heavy attack and a light attack, and you can use these in a 3-combo attack. You can charge either one for a light or powerful kick as well. You can block and strafe around the opponent. When you get your adrenaline bar up (there are three segments you can charge by connecting hits), you can perform a takedown, which is a brutal and deadly scene of using the environment, breaking some limbs, and smashing heads into walls.
While all of this sounds simple, it is, but it’s really satisfying and doesn’t really get old. You also have bosses at the end of every level that have a health meter, and I can report that the AI in this game is really awesome. During the shooting sections, you can take cover, hold up to two weapons (a handgun and another weapon), and perform shooting takedowns (up to three, depending on how full your adrenaline bar is). You also have a cool run button that makes the camera shake while you run through halls, so it really feels like you’re playing a movie. While your shooting sections are pretty generic and nothing special, they work, and thanks to the game’s length, you won’t feel bored of this. There is one driving section in the game, and the car handles superbly. It’s just full of intense chasing.
While the game is full of so much action, it doesn’t last long, clocking in at about 5–6 hours. There is no multiplayer whatsoever, and the extras are a bit lame. If you’re looking for an awesome action rental, then look no further than The Bourne Conspiracy.
I’m not really a comic book person, but when a good game comes along, I won’t pass it up. UD is probably the only game ever made that lets you jump 300 feet in the air. Jump over skyscrapers, grab cars and use them as steel fists, battle giant mechs, grab on the copters, and bring them to the ground. UD pulls this off superbly, but not perfectly. The main problem with UD is the extreme difficulty. The difficulty is unbalanced, so you’ll get an easier mission than an impossible one. The enemies just won’t let up at all. You’ll have 10 mechs come after you, shooting missiles and whatnot, and after a few minutes, you’re dead. This will make some people just give up (such as myself).
The game has a pretty decent story, but it’s nothing too special. You are Bruce Banner, who tries to tame the Hulk inside of him by partnering up with a scientist and getting various parts to build the machine to do the latter. Some missions have you protecting things, some have you destroying things, and some have you fetching things. That is pretty much all the missions are about. The combat is really rewarding and awesome. You have to use a basic attack, but combos with these will do massive damage, along with grabs and slams. You can buy new upgrades after you unlock each chapter.
There are 50+ moves, and they are all different. Some vary from being able to grab and throw things while running to jumping on copters and bringing them to the ground. This would be even more fun if there was some sort of block or counter button. You have to take all the damage that is sent at you unless you purchase moves that send missiles flying back and whatnot. You can run up buildings and fly over them to get healthy, but you’ll be doing this more than fighting, and it’s so annoying. While the initial introduction of flying all over the place, jumping as high as a plane, and being able to utterly destroy a whole city is fun, it gets old kind of fast because that’s all you do in this game.
You do have mini-games you can play, but they are pretty lame and boring. You can use a pole to smack enemies as far as you can in one, race, float and land in the middle of a giant ring, rescue people, etc., but they just aren’t as fun as they sound. Hulk fans will be able to unlock artwork and whatnot through pickups in the game, but this still doesn’t save you from fighting the difficulty. The graphics are nothing special. This is a 2003 game, so it looks pretty bad compared to today. If you can stomach the high difficulty, then pick this up. If only this game were easier, I would have been able to finish it.
I remember playing GTA III when it first came out. I didn’t have a PS2 yet, and I went over to a friend’s house and played it for hours every single day. While we mostly just messed around, it was something I had never played before and was just so addictive. Thankfully, GTA IV goes back to its roots and brings us to good ol’ Liberty City. You play none other than Niko Bellic, who is a Russian immigrant who came to LC with his cousin Roman to start a new life. The game’s main attractions are its story for once. GTA IV has a superb story that makes you want to keep playing. Gone are the lukewarm stories from previous GTAs where only the main character was the main attraction, with just OK side characters. In previous GTAs, you never really got a good feeling for the employers due to the lack of building up the story. You were just in and out of the short cutscenes, not knowing what to really do. This kind of problem was solved in San Andreas, but even then, only a select few were really fleshed out. In IV, you feel every character in the game, and there are tons of plot twists, which really keeps the game fresh through every single mission.
On another note, the graphics are amazing. While not Assassin’s Creed or BioShock amazing, they’re really good. It’s mainly the subtle details, though, such as people now putting their blinkers on, cars are damaged in real-time now with realistic physics, so half-broken fenders and bumpers sway as you turn the car, the paint can get scraped up, crowd AI is more efficient (yet not by much), better enemy AI (still not by much), further draw distance, everything has high-res textures, bump mapping, and the whole next-gen works. There are a few things that they stripped away, such as the whole working out system, swimming underwater (you can still swim though!), and territories. There are other subtle details, such as the internet, that you can now use. It’s a virtual made-up internet, but it’s still as funny as hell and has a dating system (yes, it’s still here) implemented on the dating website. You can get emails for side missions from employers as well. You can now take taxis around the city and either watch them drive or skip them if you want. This really helps a lot if you are tired of driving everywhere. There is also a new route system where the game will plot the safest and most legal course to your destination. Red is a target, blue is friendly, green is a waypoint you made on your map, and yellow is an objective. This is probably one of the better additions because it keeps you from getting lost during time-sensitive missions.
Another thing is the revamped wanted system. You now have to flash “zones” for every star. The more stars, the bigger the circle will get on your radar that you have to escape. Cops are now shown as flashing blue and red blips, and copters are now flashing Xs. While we’re talking about characters again, the voice acting is amazing. I really felt like I was watching bits of a movie every time there was a cutscene. The characters are really fleshed out here, every single one. You’ll remember every character in the 60+ hour game, and that’s a really hard thing to achieve. Rockstar really went the extra 20 miles with this game, and you can just feel it.
The game is huge as well; while not as huge as San Andreas, it’s about as big as GTA III, yet it’s also big and taller as well. You can fly planes and copters again in here, and while it’s a lot easier than San Andreas, it’s still not very fun. Speaking of controls, they are more refined this time, and the auto-aim is a lot better, yet there’s still that stupid camera! Switching targets is not very easy. You have to press the right stick exactly left or right, or you won’t switch targets. Whenever you lock on, Niko always aims for the wrong people and ends with cheap deaths and what have you. The cars are also a big pain because they just don’t feel right. They all feel really heavy, and they slide way too much, no matter what car you use. You try to put the brakes on, and your car will slide and slide and you’ll miss your turn, and the same goes for the handbrake. You hit it, and your car spins out a few times, no matter how good you are with the handling. I found this very annoying with the driving missions because it would lead to cheap and frustrating failures.
Apart from all this, the game has 16-player Xbox LIVE support. You have tons of game modes, from deathmatch to cops and robbers. In cops and robbers, it’s pretty self-explanatory. You all get in a car and try to kill each other. This is also very fun yet annoying because the game can lag a lot, especially with people who have crappy connections. It also may take a while to start a game due to everyone wanting 16 players, and they just won’t start the game. Aside from the minor issues, GTA IV is probably game of the year-worthy, but it doesn’t do anything as groundbreaking as GTA III did. It just perfects it 100% this time and gives us what we’ve always wanted. The perfect GTA game.
… For 99.9% of people, GHIII is the same as GHII, yet we get online play (which is just as awesome as you’d think) and tons more songs, yet it is probably the most disappointing GH when it comes to cover songs. You get songs like One, Number of the Beast, School’s Out, Cult of Personality, and more, but they aren’t showstoppers like in GHI and II. GHIII, however, has the best song list for more indie music and lesser-known covers like My Curse, Stricken, Before I Forget, Through Fire and Flames, Prayer for the Refugee, and more. This is also the first GH that’s impossible to beat! While the game is hard enough on Hard, good luck beating the last few sets on Expert. It’ll take you months to master these songs, if at all. Through Fire in Flames is probably impossible for most GH buffs on Medium or Hard. Luckily, after hours upon hours of practice, I barely scraped through the song on Expert.
Some new features are the updated graphics—they’re finally next-gen! The game has great physics with bouncing and swaying clothes and high-definition textures, so denim looks like denim. The characters also get more of a sexual upgrade! (thanks, Neversoft!?) Judy Nails is as hot as ever, yet they left out Pandora and added a preppy Japanese chick. There are a few great new characters, like Slash, Tom Morello, and Zeus the Rock God. Speaking of Slash and Tom, you now get boss battles. These don’t play out like you think. The first few are easy, but the last one, playing Devil Went Down to Georgia, is just pure luck. You have to hit sequences like when you get Star Power, but instead, you get weapons. These include breaking your string (you have to press a button really fast), raising the difficulty, blowing your amp (all the buttons flash on-screen), or doubling the notes. This is fun, but some may never beat it on Expert.
Minus all of that, you can now play a co-op career, which is really fun as well and pretty self-explanatory. Overall, GHIII is more for indie and lesser-known band fans. If you want famous songs, then you’re out of luck. Thankfully, the game has lots of downloadable songs now. I just wish the GHII songs were compatible.
I was so excited for Dark Sector after hearing about it years ago. I finally get to play it, and I wonder why it took so damn long. The story is about something along the lines of a government experiment in Russia to make money or something like that, and you’re a guinea pig in the experiment… The story is almost non-existent, but who cares?! It’s all about the gameplay. The graphics and audio are astounding, so don’t worry. The game plays, feels, and looks like a mix of Resident Evil 4 and Gears of War. You have the over-the-shoulder viewpoint like in RE4 and the hold-down-the-button-and-run-with-the-camera-up-your-ass move like in GoW.
The game is based on the glare that Hayden gets in the game. You can slice enemies up (which looks killer) by slicing off heads, chopping off arms, and watching enemies clutch their stumps and scream, slice them in half, etc. The game slowly introduces things for your glare throughout the game. You can charge your glare with elements like electricity, ice, and fire and go figure out what those do. You can also do “Aftertouch” (was that stolen from Burnout?) which lets you control the glare in slow motion. You can also shoot things, but the gunplay is kind of weak.
You can upgrade your weapons by adding things to them, such as extra firepower, higher accuracy, and stopping power, through suitcases that you pick up throughout the game. The multiplayer is really bad, though. The game is always lagging and cutting out, and it’s just boring. You have to type Infection and something else (yeah, it’s so dull, I forgot what I was playing), and it’s just boring. Dark Sector is an awesome rental and will fill 8–9 hours of your weekend with gory fun.
I’m going to write this review as if I were writing a review for five different games. After that (here at the top), there will be a summary of all 5. Overall, TOB is one of the best deals in video game history. With Valve’s ingenious talent backing this package, there’s no stopping it. Everyone has to pick this masterpiece up because there is something in it you’ll love.
Half-Life 2=9.0/10
I bought this on my PC about 2 years ago and played it to death (including all the mods). Even if you’ve played it on your PC, you’ll love it even more on your 360 (or PS3) due to the achievements, and people who can’t run the game very well can experience the game in all its glory. You are Gordon Freeman, who has mysteriously wound up in City 17 between a civil war against Dr. Breen and the Combine, thanks to Gman. You and your sexy companion, Alyx Vance, have to reach the Citadel and take down the Combine. Instead of explaining what you already know, I’ll explain what’s new. Nothing really. Just the achievements involved (and they are cleverly thought out). You have all the same weapons, levels, and monsters. Just sit back and enjoy the first part of the HL2 saga, and you’ll have the best 8–10 hours of your life. Back when the game was released, I gave this game a 9.5, but due to its age, it drops half a point.
Half-Life 2: Episode 1=8.5/10
The story takes off after the citadel blows up, and you now have to escape and stop the reactor before all hell breaks loose. With Alyx once again by your side, you have to push back the combine once more. While EP1 uses the same engine as HL2 with no enhancements (literally everything’s recycled to death), you still get a great experience. Well, there is one new thing: ZOMBINES FTW!!! While the game is a bit more on-the-rails-cinematic than HL2, you get more clever puzzles this time around, along with some memorable firefights. In the end, if you’ve played EP1 on the PC, there’s nothing new here either, but for first-timers, it’s a blast.
Half-Life 2: Episode Two=8.5/10
While this is the best HL2 entry yet, with more cinematic gameplay and some new content, you’ll love this one the most. After escaping the Citadel and City 17, you and Alyx must head through White Forest to her dad to stop the Citadel portal from letting loose monstrosities beyond our imagining. In EP2, we finally get new content such as acid ant lions, antlion larvae, Combine Hunters, a new vehicle, and an evolved story. EP2’s story is more touching than ever before, and we finally get some background on Gman. EP2 is a couple of hours longer than EP1, and you’ll want to play through it more than once.
Portal=9.5/10
This is a whole new creature. Portal is the introduction of brand new technology. You are an unknown tester for Aperture Science, and you are given a portal gun, which you use to solve puzzles. This is probably the most clever puzzle game ever made. You use velocity to launch yourself over obstacles, use portals to navigate through rooms, and even move objects. The game is just so clever; it really works your mind, but in such a way that you won’t get frustrated. The game has a next-gen engine and looks fantastic as well. After you beat the 3–4 hour game, you can go back and beat the advanced maps and challenges for more achievements. There’s nothing more than I can say than to pick TOB for just this game. It’s worth the $60. The game even sports an awesome and memorable story that you’ll joke about for years to come. The cake is a lie!!!!
Team Fortress 2=8.5/10
I remember playing TFC back when I bought HL1 Anthology, and it was a blast. TF2 sports a unique graphical style and wonderfully balanced characters to use. You all know who the characters are, unless you’ve been hiding under a rock this whole time. You have a heavy weapons guy who is as slow as molasses in January but packs a serious punch, a spy who can disguise as the enemy and sneak into the other side, and a sniper who also sports a machete and a machine gun. This is why I love TF2 so much. Everything is perfectly balanced. Instead of being a vulnerable sniper with just a pistol, you get a moderate machine gun. Instead of being a slow, heavy-weapon guy, you get a shotgun. Instead of being a weak Pyro with a flamethrower, you get a shotgun as well. If you love online gaming, TF2 will keep you hooked for hours. This is just the fifth reason to buy TOB, and you’re bound to be happy.
thebinarymessiah.com 
Yeah, it's pretty damn awful. Notoriously one of the worst games on the PSP. A 4 was actually being generous.…