24: The Game
Platform: PlayStation 2
Publisher: 2K Games
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Retail
I was doubtful that a game could recreate the realtime tension of 24. Most games are played at a pace. I, like many gamers, like to ransack every room for ammo and secrets, drawing the time I spend on each level out to patience-testing limits. But as Jack Bauer, I always felt like I had a clock -- some ticking timebomb (quite often not metaphorically) that drove me to move a little swifter. Ammo and health seemed to be in good supply, so I didn't feel too compelled to hoarde. But when I did feel like searching the corpses of my kills, the action was swift and always productive.
Like the show, the game is split into hours, each containing several action set-pieces or technical minigames. There's a good deal of variety in the play. Sometimes you find yourself embroiled in a gun battle, others a car chase or a foot chase. And then there are bombs to defuse, people to interrogate and data systems to hack. All are nicely tied into a narrative that has the look and feel of prime time action. I credit the games emotive, but still useful shakey camera (it jostles like a hand held when you bolt) for maintaining the feeling of immediacy. Clever split screen editing livens the visuals, especially during gameplay.
I wonder a bit about 24, a program I rarely (if ever) watch. Do all the bad guys usually look like the thugs from a Stephen J. Cannel show? I made it halfway through the game and it seemed like most of my enemies were burly American dudes in bandanas. I guess I missed a plot point, but who exactly are we fighting here? And does the show really have that many contrived countdowns? On several occaisions it seemed like they were scraping the bottom of the excuse barrel for reasons for me to make with the quicky.
And finally, when they make the feature film will it be called 2?
Publisher: 2K Games
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Retail
I was doubtful that a game could recreate the realtime tension of 24. Most games are played at a pace. I, like many gamers, like to ransack every room for ammo and secrets, drawing the time I spend on each level out to patience-testing limits. But as Jack Bauer, I always felt like I had a clock -- some ticking timebomb (quite often not metaphorically) that drove me to move a little swifter. Ammo and health seemed to be in good supply, so I didn't feel too compelled to hoarde. But when I did feel like searching the corpses of my kills, the action was swift and always productive.Like the show, the game is split into hours, each containing several action set-pieces or technical minigames. There's a good deal of variety in the play. Sometimes you find yourself embroiled in a gun battle, others a car chase or a foot chase. And then there are bombs to defuse, people to interrogate and data systems to hack. All are nicely tied into a narrative that has the look and feel of prime time action. I credit the games emotive, but still useful shakey camera (it jostles like a hand held when you bolt) for maintaining the feeling of immediacy. Clever split screen editing livens the visuals, especially during gameplay.
I wonder a bit about 24, a program I rarely (if ever) watch. Do all the bad guys usually look like the thugs from a Stephen J. Cannel show? I made it halfway through the game and it seemed like most of my enemies were burly American dudes in bandanas. I guess I missed a plot point, but who exactly are we fighting here? And does the show really have that many contrived countdowns? On several occaisions it seemed like they were scraping the bottom of the excuse barrel for reasons for me to make with the quicky.
And finally, when they make the feature film will it be called 2?
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