24: The Game review

24 is an intriguing occurrence. It seems like you either love it or hate it, and in my opinion the latter becomes the former as soon as they have seen a couple of episodes of the show. The ultimate in anti-terrorist patriotic thrillers, the television show takes place over the course of 24 hours (did you guess?) with each of the 24 episodes being an hour of real time action, assuming you factor in the advert breaks. The game takes the same premise; 24 hours worth of twist filled storyline, more than just akin to the show, and gives you the chance to be hero Jack Bauer.

Unfortunately not 24 hours worth of gameplay, each hour is broken up into a couple/few short missions that vary from standard hiding and shooting action to strange hacking mini-games. Each begins with Kiefer Sutherland’s trademark “The following takes place…” line. The lion’s share of the game is the shooting side of things which is overall a pretty decent stab at an action game, and while the rest fits in beautifully with the story, there is a certain amount of unrest over just how useful they are to the game. Before we can analyse whether or not Sony has made a game worth buying we have to look at the story.

Previously on 24

The story is slotted nicely between the second and third seasons of the show, and without wishing to spoil anything to those uneducated with the 24 phenomenon, it happens after that whole Max plotline of series 2, and before the whole Michael Amador events of series 3. Quite simply, saying anything else would probably give all too much away. My advice to those fair readers that are yet to experience 24 in any sense would be to buy the first two seasons on DVD, watch through and prepare yourself for the game. Those without prior Jack Bauer experience will find themselves playing through the game wondering what the significance of each character appearing is, as there are a lot of throwbacks to the series; explanations for how certain characters got to where they are, and how others found out the information they did in preparation for series 3.

The plot stays true to the tone of the TV show, but because of the lack of constraints for budget, it seems like the entire scenario is ramped up a little higher than ever before. Let’s be honest here, a lot of the reason that I was playing through (apart from to write this review) was just to see what happens next. Cinematics have always been a good incentive for gamers; a reward for some hard gaming ‘work’, and in 24 The Game, they do not fall short. Using practically the entire crew of the TV show, while they appear in polygonal format, they remain entirely faithful to the style and pace of the original. Split screen present throughout, handheld camera work and even the ominously ever present ticking clock. However you feel about the game play, the cinematics keep you playing, to expand on the universe of the show.

Presentation

We’ll get onto the gameplay later. The audio of the game is presented wonderfully with some excellent voice acting from the entire original cast (especially some surprising returns). Music fits in both style and pace, delivered by Sean Callery, the same chap as the series, and the numerous phone calls throughout each mission just serve to enhance the cinematic and story based nature of the game.

Graphically, I keep having to remind myself to get out of 360 mode since it is definitely rooted in the PS2’s standard graphical capabilities. While it doesn’t show off anything particularly special (aside from some nice explosions that have impressed me from time to time), the overall presentation is superb. Split screening in the middle of gameplay can cause the odd slowdown, but really pumps up the 24 feeling, and often gives you a little hint as to what is going on elsewhere. Finally the character models look generally spot on, with Kiefer Sutherland and co’s likenesses being very well done. So well done in-fact that when a certain familiar character appeared without even being named all the neighbourhood could hear was me shouting ‘no!’ at the screen.

Yes, I quite like 24.

Okay, It’s About Time

I was expecting rather shoddy gameplay, in the same sense that most movie/TV to game conversions are lacking in the most primal of features… fun. The truth is, I enjoyed most of the game section of 24. A map in the lower right corner of the screen makes tracking enemies and showing off Bauer’s (or whomever you may be controlling at that point) skills very intuitive and the controls reflect that well. To lock on to a specific target, you have to flick the right analogue stick in their direction, and at first it seems strange, but becomes easy very soon.

It’s nothing particularly new, but generally it is done pretty well, with the odd countdown to complete your mission to emphasize the real time aspects of the game. The driving sections give you cars that have overly excitable handling, but all in all they are a bit of fun, especially driving around the city at certain points of the game that would require a spoiler warning. The aforementioned minigames are again a welcome distraction from the shooting segments which could become repetitive if they weren’t split up with these minigames and cinematics or if they didn’t contain so many different areas to fight around. Variety is of course the spice of life. Especially in those fun interrogation games.

Rounding It Off

While 24 does focus entirely on single player (I guess everyone would want to be Jack Bauer in any multiplayer match), the story and fantastic twists make the game worth playing for any 24 fan. It won’t be the best gaming experience you’ve ever had, but it’s 24, and that’s enough to take a crack at the game. To keep you playing beyond your 24 hours (closer to 8 I’d say), each mission rates you on how you’ve done; how quickly you’ve accomplished your task (or rather how long before the timer ran out in most cases), how many headshots and general accuracy are a few of the statistics that you are judged on, and if you are rated at over 90 percent (easy on some missions, a nightmare on others) you get a bonus, ranging from a character model from the game (don’t get excited, it’s only the ability to zoom in and rotate it around, still, it’s a good chance to see how impressive the representations are) to one of three video interviews from cast members on general 24 The Game hype.

The system works as an incentive to perform well, but I’m still deciding myself whether I’ll just select those specific missions to play, or whether I’d rather go through the entire game again for the full plot. Thankfully, once it’s all over, you can select to watch all of the cinematics in one go, so even if it just serves as another series of 24 to own, I’m keeping hold of this one for the future. Ultimately however it is a game aimed specifically at 24 fans, and while it’s unlikely to draw any new ones in, if you love 24, you’ll get a kick out of the game. If you don’t know 24 from 10, then you’d better drop a couple of points from the score, start from series one, then decide if it’s your thing.