“He doesn’t care how much blood he has to spill to get you.”

Based largely on the 2002 film The Bourne Identity, High Moon Studios’ The Bourne Conspiracy offers a spry alternative to the James Bond brand of glossy espionage action. Like the films, the game is full of high-stakes encounters that play out anywhere and everywhere in an aggressively stylish manner. Foot races, car chases, fistfights, shootouts, stealth, skydiving—the template is never in doubt. Unlike the films, however, Matt Damon is nowhere to be found. Apparently there was some dispute over the direction of the game, with the actor preferring a more sedate adventure game à la Myst (1993). I’ve no idea how such a game would have worked within the context of the Bourne universe. The game we got boasts decent enemy AI and a viscerally fun, if simplistic, hand-to-hand combat system featuring snapped limbs and smashed faces, but is otherwise a merely serviceable execution of the general third-person action schema undercut by its preponderance of quick-time events. It’s stitched together with plenty of gusto, though, ensuring its six or so hours flow together quite nicely. It’s a better-than-average licensed game, but the legions of mediocre licensed games have set a pretty low bar.