In the course of 24 hours, I show Jack Bauer where he went wrong with 24: The Game.
Developer: SCE Studio Cambridge
Publisher: 2K Games
Platform: Playstation 2
Genre(s): Third-Person Shooter
Release Date: February 27, 2006
"First off I'll state that I never really watched 24. I know probably a shock to most reading this, but I just never caught the show on. I was usually too busty either working, or playing Ratchet & Clank. That being said I had heard all the good things about the show, so I had hopes that 24: The Game could give me a bit of the experiences that I was missing out on.
I should have known better.
I know too well the curse of Television and movie-licensed games, but I thought this could be the one that finally did it's show justice. If you read my review of NCIS for the Xbox 360, you know I was very unforgiving to that game. 24 is lucky that I didn't really watch the show, but I still cannot forgive how poorly executed this was.
That being said 24 isn't complete garbage like NCIS is. It has a pretty strong and interesting story. Complete with Plot Twists, bombs, murder all the things that make the show interesting (or so I'm told.) That being said the story and the voice-acting are the best parts of this game. The cast from the show returns to voice their characters which sounds fantastic and made this game feel very authentic to fans of the show.
However some of the voice acting is off, like at one point Jack is leading a mission with all the enthusiasm of having a midday conversation with a stranger at a bus stop. I'm not picking on the great Kiefer Sutherland here by the way, there are several other moments in the game from several other characters that has this weird feel to it.
Now the gameplay is a completely different story however. This game feels like it should have had at least another 6 months in development. It feels unpolished and unfinished the entire way through. The game tries to encompass several aspects into it. Such as Shooting, Puzzle Solving, and Driving. This would have made for great diversity, if each segment wasn't more painful than the last.
The camera for the shooting segments is disorienting and makes me want to vomit, snapping all over the place anytime I try to aim anywhere. If you mess with the aiming style you might make it bearable to play, but I promise you, you'll still feel somewhat sick to your stomach and have difficulties hitting anything more than 10 feet away from Jack.
The AI in this game is incompetent, and downright retarded at times. Sometimes enemies don't take cover, and when they decide that they are going to they have, the kindness to stand up to shoot you in the exact same spot every single time.
In the stealth sequences scattered throughout the game, the AI doesn't even seem to exist, looking at their fellows dead bodies and not being scared, intimidated, alerted, or ANYTHING! Guards are also apparently deaf, you could make all the noise you want in the next room throwing crap around, opening and shutting doors, I bet you could have relations with his wife and he still wouldn't hear a thing.
By far the worst part of this game for me was the absolutely, terrible, borderline torture driving segments. I have never played a worse driving segment than the ones offered here in 24. Every car feels like a brick on wheels. Want to pass that car in front of you? No, you'll slam into it. Delayed responses are abundant in 24's driving sequences. And the AI for the other drivers in these segments aren't any better than before. Hell if anything they're worse!
There also mini-games scattered throughout for segments like hacking a computer, decruption and so forth. These are no where near revolutionary or even enjoyable by normal standards, but in comparison to the rest of the game these are the "gameplay" moments that did not make me want to assault my genitals with a tennis racket.
Another thing that was enjoyable compared to the rest of the game was the interrogation segments. These are a nice change of pace from the horror that is the rest of the game, even though it did seem strange at times. You can push a suspect until their "vitals" are in the right spot to get information but to do it correctly, you'll be speaking calmly and the next threatening their life in a weird Bi-Polar like manner. Still as I said a nice change of pace.
The only other part of the gameplay that I enjoyed were the sniping missions. These absolutely astounded me because they work beautifully and wasn't horrible like most of the rest of the gameplay was, they are definitely a welcome addition after feeling nauseated by the horrible driving sequences.
All that being said the game sounds great the audio is very well done, everything from the voice acting, to the music, to the gunshots being fired, or even those horrible vehicles in this game does sound good at least.
In conclusion I have been very hard on this game, because I'm tired of seeing wonderful shows that could work wonderfully as video games be made pathetically and lazily. I'm tired of terrible Television and movie-licensed games there really is now reason for 24 to be this sickening to play. That being said if you're a fan of the show you might just get a kick out the story which I'm told falls in between Seasons 2 & 3, and all of the characters that appear that I didn't know or recognize. So if you're wanting a good 24 story, play this. For anyone wanting a good game. Look elsewhere.
+Interesting Story & Characters
+Well Done Audio
+Minigames aren't terrible
+Really Well Done Sniper Sections
-Nauseating Camera and Controls
-Voice acting can sometimes be "off"
-Extremely Inept Enemy AI
-WORST DRIVING SEQUENCES EVER!!!
6.0/10
Bronze Seal of Acceptance for Fans, Otherwise No Seal