The completion of the Bourne trilogy finally proved what an entire nation had long suspected, but never dared to admit: James Bond is a little bit rubbish. An obscure Matt Damon spy film never seemed likely to threaten a film industry that gave up competing with Bond in the Eighties, but The Bourne Identity’s visceral realism tapped into a previously undiscovered audience. We have put up with your laser watches, razor hats and exploding shoes (probably) for too long Mr Bond, shake your own bloody Vodka Martini. We want a lumpen-faced movie star brutalising a Frenchman with a newspaper. In the words of Blofeld, “We don’t want you to talk, we want you to die”.

In a sense our fatigue was inevitable. Any franchise reliant on Pierce Brosnan being cool for box-office success is surely doomed to failure, and the choice to replace him with a morally conflicted Daniel Craig owed a huge debt to Bourne’s influence. We will have to endure a pixel-perfect recreation of Craig bursting out of his tiny swimming trunks when Quantum Of Solace: The Game is released later in the year. However, our first impressions of it suggest a level of quality closer to Rogue Agent than GoldenEye 007, leaving the door wide open for The Bourne Conspiracy to offer something different.

Where The Bourne Conspiracy gains the edge is in its fundamental concept. This isn’t strictly a movie licence, Matt Damon’s likeness is nowhere to be seen, and events from the films are restricted to a handful of set pieces and references. The principle failing of most movie licences is inherent to their very nature; sequences designed to satisfy a passive audience have interactivity inelegantly squeezed into every possible corner. But by delving into the literary mythology instead, High Moon has created an experience that genuine movie licences seldom provide.

Say what you like about short lead times, the necessity of cramming every film set piece into the game can leave you feeling like you’re playing a checklist. The Bourne Conspiracy is different. From the moment the game begins, bravely throwing you straight into the action, the feeling that you are Jason Bourne is inescapable, and that sensation never falters for even a second of its somewhat miserly five-hour playing time.

As Jason Bourne you need expertise in two highly specialised areas: legging it and kicking ass. The narrative constantly places Bourne in situations where moving is vastly preferable to standing still, so learning to shoot and assess your route quickly is vital. The levels are linear, lovingly detailed clichés – airports, dockyards, office buildings – which looks just fine as you rush past at full sprint. The point isn’t where you are, it’s what you’re doing. The Bourne Conspiracy may reveal nearly every one of its tricks within an hour of starting, but it is supported by challenging AI and is never less than satisfying to play.

We were concerned about the hands-off nature of the combat at first. Assassin’s Creed’s dumbed-down controls grated after too many effortless sword battles, but the immediacy of Bourne’s approach is well suited to High Moon’s approach. Hand-to-hand combat is controlled by two buttons, a light and a heavy attack that can be combined in numerous ways, but the majority of your satisfaction will derive from the gratifyingly vicious Takedowns.

Every enemy that Bourne dispatches feeds a three-step power bar. When one section is filled you can use a Takedown to inflict severe damage on an enemy. Remember those brilliant moments in the films where Bourne uses a flannel to poke out an assassin’s eyes with a few sharp movements? Those are Takedowns, and they’re quite wonderful to behold. The combat itself is perhaps a little shallow, but using Bourne’s environment to trigger more spectacular Takedowns is a bracing challenge. Wine bottles, pens, photocopiers, wrenches – all of these things and more can be inserted into an enemy if you fight them in the right spot.

Despite the impressively skilful execution High Moon runs short of inspiration before the five hours is up. Fans of the films will be disappointed with the lacklustre car chase; it will be viewed as a vital opportunity for diversity squandered, and rightly so. If High Moon had delivered here as in the rest of the game, and perhaps added another hour of varied gameplay, the number at the top could be one, even two points higher. We sincerely hope that High Moon gets its chance to do so, and that’s more than we can say for Mr Bond.

Matt Handrahan