24: The Game

6.0
Mediocre

Gameplay	5.0	"24: The Game will please fans of the series."
Graphics	5.0
Sound	9.0
Value	6.0

By Morgan Bates

24 is a hit prime-time action series, so one would think it would suit the action genre perfectly. Although it does to an extent, a few things have gone to the terrorists.

In this series-to-game tie-in, you play through a day in the life of Jack Bauer, for whom killing terrorists and saving the world is all in a days work. It's set between seasons 1 and 2 and, although not essential, knowing a little about the TV show would help to get into the game. They even got a show writer in to write the story for this game.

Missions are straight action affairs with the occasional puzzle thrown in. Since the enemies are usually terrorists, you do a lot of bomb defusing too, meaning missions are generally about running through bases shooting every enemy in sight, stealing their gun, searching their body for ammo and playing a block puzzle to defuse the bomb, with a dash of stealth gameplay that never amounts to anything other then another way to walk.

Although 24 uses a lock-on system, the weapons are near hopeless at hitting the target with any accuracy, resulting in more shots taken than necessary. There is a driving section where you get to drive a jeep in the second or third mission; however, it would have been just as easy to walk through shooting everyone as you go.

The character models are true to their TV counterparts and the only issue with the graphics are some self-repairing pipes - you can shoot a pipe and it will spray its contents out for a while, then the bullet hole disappears for no reason. There we have it folks - self-repairing pipes! The bad guys could give up on terrorism and make millions selling these!

Making the most of the license, developers Sony Cambridge managed to get stars of the TV show to do voice-overs in the game, adding to the authenticity. It could have gone either way, but the voice acting is good with every character, sounding the same as they do in the show.

There's no doubt that 24: The Game will please fans of the series with its authentic voice-overs and plotline; however, it has little to offer action gamers in general.

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