24: The Game

[Yahshua]

E3 2005: 24: The Game Hands-On
Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Jack Bauer and company are PS2-bound. Show floor impressions.
by Chris Roper
May 18, 2005 - 24 has been one of the best and hottest shows on TV in some time (at least of the scripted variety). With a character as bad-*** and ruthless as Jack Bauer and storylines as tight and twisting as the show offers, it was only a matter of time until the show got its own videogame.



Developed by SCE Studio Cambridge and being released stateside by 2K Games, 24: The Game features the full principle cast of the television show, including Jack Bauer himself, Kiefer "The Man" Sutherland. The game takes place between the second and third seasons of the show and will provide tie-ins to both seasons. The development team has worked with writers from the show to make sure it perfectly blends in with the show's continuity. Additionally, the crew worked with the show during development, adding in bits to tie the game into events of the fourth season in some fashion. Conversely, the show's writer's are planning on writing content into future episodes that refer to events of the game.

24: The Game features five main types of gameplay: shooting, driving, interrogation, sniping and puzzles or gadgets. The puzzles and gadgets refer to things like satellite imagery that you can use to pick out snipers and other villains that will help make the following mission easier. All of these puzzles will be unique in that you'll only encounter each puzzle once throughout the game, mixing things up for the length of the game.

Speaking of the length of the game, it is indeed exactly 24 hours long. Some hardcore gamers or those who play through a second time may finish it in slightly quicker time, but the game follows a realtime play style. For example, one mission might send you into a warehouse to track down a suspect. If the mission is planned to be five minutes long, then you'll only have five minutes to finish it before the game's storyline continues. Fail to get to the suspect and he might escape, resulting in lost info and intel for future missions.

On the flip side of all that, if you finish the mission quicker than five minutes, the game will eventually correct the time like the show does during commercials. There are some key missions (like driving missions, for example) that require you to finish them on time or else you'll have to try again. The realtime element is certainly an interesting concept and one that could provide an extremely cool progression through the game, though it sounds like it's a lot of work to pull it off correctly.
Another cool element to bring the realtime element to life is that you'll never see a load screen during the game. Any sort of loading that needs to be done is covered either by a cutscene or by 24's trademark yellow ticking clock.

The game employs an open city design, ala GTA, which is streamed to again prevent load times. The demo that was being shown at E3 didn't include any of the open city content, so unfortunately we can't comment on that.

We did, however, spend time with a few of the game's other missions, including one driving mission and one shooting mission. The driving mission we played had us in control of Jack Bauer as he was escaping some bad guys in a trademark CTU black SUV. The driving aspect is relatively simple with basic gas, break and handbreak controls, and controls reasonably well. The controls aren't as tight as something like Burnout, though they aren't bad for a well-rounded (driving plus shooting, etc.) game like this. The vehicle did feel a tad floaty and tended to always land on its feet (or tires as the case may be) when it should have flipped over.

One thing that was pretty cool about this section is that it showed off the game's multi-angle tech pretty well. Just as the show will display either multiple people or multiple angles of a single person at once, the game does the same. Cameras were set up in the ravine pointing to places where action was to take place, like a big crash and the like. When we'd approach this area, our full-screen view would shrink a bit and move off to one corner, while another view from a different part of the ravine would appear in the upper-right portion of the screen. It's a cool effect and definitely makes the game feel a lot like the show.

The shooting mission also put us control of Jack Bauer, though we will play as other characters in the full game. Shooting missions are played via a third-person perspective that somewhat borrows from elements of Splinter Cell. You can switch to a stealth mode by pressing Circle that will cause Jack to crouch a bit and walk a bit quieter. You can also change to an over-the-shoulder view with your gun out, while still having the ability to move (it controls like an FPS at this point). Cover can be taken by pressing X near a safe object or wall, and then pressing L1 reaches around or above that object for busting a few caps.

Aiming takes a bit to get used to. By using the right analog stick, you can flick it to switch between targets or you can move it slowly to specifically aim at a body part. This works reasonably well, but targeting enemies is a bit hard in that you can't target them if they're under cover, and if they take cover then you'll need to auto-aim when they pop back out.

Fortunately the game still has a decent bit of development time left so these problems will hopefully be ironed out before release. The game is 80% complete at this point and not due out until October, so hopefully the next five months will result in a game that not only fans of the show will pick up, but non-fans will be able to enjoy as well.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

I love 24! Can't wait for Season 4 to come to Australia! Good to hear a game is in the works.

[Yahshua]

Some screenshot of the game.

[Syaoran]

This must be off of X Box right.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Dang! Its exclusive to Play Station 2! I wish it would come to PC.

[Yahshua]

More Screenshot

[GhostPoet]

I don't normally get excited over tv-show or movie games...but I am really excited for this one!! Being the 24 addict I am.

[Yahshua]

http://www.24-thegame.com/

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

That was awesome! Still, I'm annoyed its only coming to Playstation. I'm sure there are heaps of PC fans.