Review

For those not in the know, Jack Bauer is a government agent working for CTU in Los Angeles (a fictional organisation, thankfully) who regularly finds himself deprived of sleep for 24 hours while protecting the world from terrorist threats. Important moments in Jack’s life always seem to happen on the hour and his anything-goes methods often get him into hot water with his superiors and the government. Yet he always wins in the end.

First thing that grabs you about 24: The Game is how authentic it looks. They’ve done a wonderful job at recreating the 24 look, with plenty of split screen and quick camera movements on the cut scenes. All the major cast members have provided their voices and likenesses to the game as well, which only enhances the look further still.

Let’s not forget that Sony Cambridge, the developers, have proved their worth with graphics before on Primal and Ghosthunter but these were both let down severely by their controls. Thankfully this is not the case with 24. Jack can run, duck, hide and shoot with incredible ease and targeting the enemies is relatively simple. Unfortunately, the limitations of this system are revealed when tackling the helicopter at the end but otherwise it’s pretty successful, and more importantly, fun.

Then there’s the driving sections, which let the side down severely. The vehicle handling here is almost as bad as The Getaway, leading to restarting the mission just because you couldn’t turn a simple corner properly. It’s incredibly frustrating and thankfully these sections aren’t very long. The puzzle sections too prove to be a chore rather than fun mainly because they offer very little in the way of a challenge. Without these sections though, we’d be complaining about an overall lack of variety. The designers clearly spent more time on the shooting bits and everything else was an afterthought.

At the end of the day, what keeps you playing 24 is the plot. Provided by writers from the show itself and set between seasons two and three. It takes place on Kim’s first day at CTU and features key moments like the arrival of Chase Edmunds and other juicy tit-bits I’ll let you discover for yourself. As well as Jack, you get to play as different characters too whenever Jack needs a quick bathroom break or something! You always want to know what happens next and consequently you will battle through even the most annoying mini-game to progress. It’s not an ideal set-up, but it’s serves its purpose.

24: The Game is definitely a disappointment but one that fans of the show will still manage to enjoy. It looks, sounds and feels just like 24, it’s just unfortunate that the quality varies so wildly from one minute to the next.

About the Review

Platform

Sony Playstation 2

Developer

S.C.E.E. Studio Cambridge

Publisher

Sony Computer Entertainment

Released

17th March 2006