24: The Game

"Great fun for fans of the series, but not for anyone else."

Let me start off by saying one thing: Fans of the series should play this game. If your a fan of 24 and you haven't already played it, then go out and rent the game as soon as possible.

If your a not a fan of 24, then your probably not going to get much enjoyment out of this game.

PLOT: This game's story, written by an actual writer of the series, tells the untold story that occurred between season two and season three of the show. For fans the story is rather well written, answers some questions about what happened between those two seasons, and is filled with the twists and turns they've come to expect.

On the other hand, for non-fans, the story is confusing and not all that interesting. The game assumes that everyone who plays the game already knows who all the characters are; As such there's no explanation of events that actually happened in the series, no attempt to tell you who these characters are, and no attempt to help non-fans understand what's going on. Your just thrown into the 24 universe and expected to know everything, and if you don't, you're going to be stuck asking questions. "Who is that guy?", "What's going on?", "What are they talking about?", etc.

Provided you've seen at least the first two seasons of the show you'll find a truly enjoyable story as you watch another 24 hours in Jack's miserable, action-packed life. If you haven't seen the first two seasons the game isn't going to explain a damn thing to you, causing the plot to lose much of it's impact.

Plot: 8/10.

SOUND: The game does a rather nice job in the voice department. Several actors from the show, including Kiefer Sutherland, reprise their roles. Surprisingly enough, they actually do a competent job with their voice acting; While 24: The Game might not have the greatest voice overs, they are still well done, and hearing the actual actors speak their lines is sure to please the game's target audience.

Sadly, while the main characters have good voices, the same can not be said for the random civilians and enemies. It sounds as though they just had a few guys in the office record a small handful of voice samples for the generic characters. Hearing a terrorist say "Who are you?" in plain, emotionless English in response to Jack shooting him is ridiculous and pulls you out of the game's world. Worse yet, the generics don't have many voice samples--meaning that you can expect to hear every other terrorist say "Who are you?" in the same emotionless voice every time you run into them.

The sound effects, while not great, are still done well enough. The sounds of gun-fire and explosions are clear, loud, and sound as they are supposed to.

The game is almost completely devoid of music. Usually you'll be hearing silence, broken up only by gunfire and random terrorists asking who you are. When the game actually has music, it's little more then background noise that you won't even notice. Of course the same complaint about music can be applied to the TV show itself. As such the lack of music isn't a flaw, rather it is the game staying true to it's roots.

Sound: 8/10.

GRAPHICS: The graphics are bland and unremarkable. While they are not particularly bad, there's nothing here that we haven't seen a hundred times before. If you've played any generic third-person shooter on the PS2, you know exactly what to expect from this game.

The interior environments in the game are all bland, uninteresting, and so similar looking that you can barely tell them apart. The city itself is filled with many generic, similar looking buildings and devoid of any point of interest.

While some character models are done well and look like the actual actors on the show, other models seem to have slightly deformed faces that could've used more polish and detail. The game's environments are rather plain and lack any details that would make them particularly interesting or noteworthy. The cars and buildings in the driving section are, likewise, pretty average; They're not good, but they're not terrible.

Graphics: 5/10.

CONTROLS: The controls are simple enough to grasp, for the most part. You can easily move and aim with the dual analog sticks, fire your guns at the push of a trigger, and go into a precision aiming mode to make sure you hit your targets. There are, however, a few problems.

For example, sometimes you have to climb on top of objects to proceed. The climb button is the same as the roll button and your character is prone to just randomly rolling into any object you try to climb onto. At points, you practically have to struggle with the controls to get your character to actually climb onto the object in front of him.

Then there's the precision aiming, which isn't always so precise. When you hold the L1 button, the game will move the camera into a close-range "over the shoulder" perspective. The rapid camera switch can be a bit disorienting at times, especially if it forces the camera to spin around. While in precision aiming, your current target will be surrounded by a massive cross-hair and you'll be auto-aiming at their chest. You can slightly tilt the analog stick to aim at specific body parts or, if you quickly flick the analog stick, you can cycle to another target. Problem is, there's a very thin line between "tilting" and "flickting" the stick. When you try to aim, you may find yourself accidentally switching to a new target. Other times, you'll try to switch targets, but the game will refuse to acknowledge that your flicking the stick and you'll just stand there like an idiot.

There's also no telling when or where the game will allow you to precision aim at a target. At times, you'll be able to lock onto a target on the opposite side of the room, who is hiding behind a wall, without even having to face in his direction. At other times, you'll have to struggle to get your character to aim at an enemy standing five-feet in front of him.

While the controls aren't bad, those flaws are an annoyance that should've been fixed during testing..

Controls: 6/10.

GAMEPLAY: Sadly, I must say, that the gameplay in 24: The Game falls flat, in almost every way.

In the third-person shooting sections (The main part of the game), you control your character as they run through bland environments, gunning down random terrorists. The enemy AI in these sections is idiotic at best and completely brain-dead at it's worst. Marvel at the terrorists who just stand there and ask "Who are you?" as you unload a clip into their chests. Gaze in amazement as terrorists try to lean against objects, yet leave their entire upper-body vulnerable to attack. Watch as a terrorist walks over the corpse of his comrade, without acknowledging that anything is wrong. Gasp as a terrorist just stands there and watches as you kill a comrade standing next to him, without bothering to do anything to stop you--or even acknowledge your existence for that matter.

The blatant lack of AI in this game makes it nearly impossible to get involved in it or even care what's going on.

The game's driving sequences don't fare any better. The cars feel like they're just hovering above the road, without actually touching it. The cars don't turn as responsively as you might want. And worst of all, there's no sense of speed. The cars all feel like they're moving about 20 miles-per-hour. Rather then feeling like your speeding down the road in an exciting chase, it feels like your plodding around in a piece of crap hovercar. Your enemies in the driving sequences are still as idiotic as ever, ramming their car into yours until their car explodes. Common sense says that they would stop ramming into you once their car is on fire and about to explode; In this game, however, everyone is a suicide bomber willing to sacrifice their life for no good reason.

As though that weren't bad enough, the driving sequences are filled with random glitches. At times, traffic on the road will randomly vanish from existence. If you ram into a car hard enough, it's possible to make it stand completely vertical in a move that defies physics. At times the cars chasing you will randomly stop chasing you, allowing you to come to a complete stop and never see your enemies, until you resume driving and they magically appear next to you.

The game occasionally breaks these sequences up with some puzzles. Puzzles so easy and pointless that they are practically an insult to the player. You'll complete such exciting tasks as "enter the sequence of numbers you are told to" and "push the button on your controller that is the same color as the highlighted square". Not only are these puzzles mindlessly easy, they also don't have even the slightest basis in reality. What does pushing colored buttons on a controller have to do with repairing data files? What do any of these puzzles have to do with the events actually going on in game?

A nice touch to the gameplay is that the game will occasionally have some 24 style cutaways; For example, you could be walking through a building filled with terrorists. In the middle of gameplay, the screen will divide into two halves--one showing the normal gameplay and one showing a view from the perspective of a nearby terrorist. These moments are cool and are used to do everything from offering you hints, to letting you see and hear things you normally wouldn't notice. Unfortunately, these moments can be needlessly confusing. If I'm in the middle of a big shoot-out, I don't want two-thirds of my screen cluttered with other crap. If I'm driving on a strict time limit, I'd appreciate it if the game would not interrupt me by blocking off my view of the actual game. Still, it is an enjoyable feature and faithful to the show, regardless of how distracting it can be.

Gameplay: 4/10.

Replay Value: After each of the game's stages you're given a score, zero to one-hundred percent, based on how well you did. Getting high scores in stages will unlock some bonus features, including some short interviews with the cast and the ability to view random character models. These extras, while not particularly interesting, are a nice touch and offer some incentive to replay levels.

Replay Value: 7/10.

Closing statements: Fans of 24 need to play this game. The game has a well told story that actually fills in some gaps in the show's story. Hearing the actors of the show reprise their roles is a great treat and playing as Jack Bauer is enjoyable, even if the actual gameplay could use more work. However, the many gameplay flaws keep it from being a rental, especially since the game isn't particuarly long. Fans, do yourself a favor, rent the game before rushing out and buying it. Non-fans may also want to rent the game, but would be better off renting DVDs of the show first, so that they can fully understand what's going on in game.

FINAL SCORE (Not an average): 6/10.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 03/03/06, Updated 03/06/06