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24 the Game
This game was a
conundrum to me. I love the series 24 on TV and was keen to see what
would be made of the game. After all, it features all the real people
from the series and even voice acting was carried out by the real deals
which was pretty sweet. Unfortunately we find that 24 is trying to be
too much to too many and falls short of the massive expectation that I
had for it.
The title doesn’t take 24 hours to play which would
have been interesting seeing how you could control the player dynamic
and a predetermined storyline at the same time. I found it took about 10
and a bit hours to plow through it all and the story behind the whole
thing is very tight and worthy of sitting up there next to the
television show. All the usual drama that you get with the game is
present and accounted for and there is a real sense of tension felt
throughout.
Cutscenes in the game are well rendered and thought
through. Audio in the game and cutscenes shines and really adds to the
ambience of the experience. It’s just the actual ingame stuff that makes
you wish that you were playing a different kind of 24, possibly along
the lines of a Tom Clancy title would have made for a better game. Even
if it just stuck to being a shooter.
For the most part, you will be playing the role of
agent Jack Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland in a third person style of
gameplay. Throughout the game there will be occasion that you swap out
to another key character, however Jack is the star of the show and the
one that you will want to spend the most time with. Some of the problems
in this game take place during close quarters combat are affected to a
great deal by a niggly camera that is pretty hard to nigh impossible to
control, making it hard to draw a bead on the bad guys. If you get them
from a distance though you should be fine.
Possibly the worst part of the game is the shocking
driving scenes, these are disappointing to say the least and gamers will
be struggling to take control of their vehicles which feel like they
have been doused with grease before being placed on the road. The enemy
AI is a bit over the top too, ramming you with their cars even if it
means that they blow themselves up in the process. I really didn’t enjoy
these sections of the game.
There are a variety of other missions too which
involve you interrogating suspects and entering codes and blowing stuff
up as well. Make sure you have a pen and paper handy when you hear radio
transmissions as they will sometimes contain codes that for some silly
reason are not repeated! Failure to put a correct code into a computer
at a crucial moment will mean instant retry folks, so stay on your
toes.
Overall this is a game that has great potential that
is never fully realised. Sloppy physics, terrible camera and a not quite
right feel ensure that this is a game that you be grateful that we
played for you unless you are an absolute die hard fan of the game who
is prepared to overlook all the bad stuff just to see another “season”
of 24. |
