// sprites & bites

I downloaded the Bourne Conspiracy demo tonight from Xbox Live.  I really do not like the gamelay style at all.  Seems okay as an action game but they have tried to interlink the action with cinematic events.  I do not mean cutscenes, but you can be fighting someone and all of a sudden it changes to a cinematic mode and they take over the controls for a while while you execute the moves.  It is hard to explain to be honest.   But these cinematic events I feel get in the way of my action and are interrupting the game.

The other thing I find quite annoying is the QTE (quick time events) in the game (where you press a certain button which flashes up on the screen, it seems to be the trendy thing nowadays), these QTE’s are too quick and in some situations you have just a split nanosecond to press the button or you fail.  It took me 3-4 tries just to press a single button to slide under a closing gate.  Each time when I was a nanosecond too slow it was end game and I had to reload.  All in all it was a very frustrating experience and if the whole game is like this then I think it will end up a disappointment.  I do not mind QTE events but they have to be fair and in context.  To have a split second to press a random button I think is unfair and will lead inevitably  to people getting too frustrated with the controls.

I will be watching this game with interest to see if others feel the same.