The high action of 24 is coming to your PS2 later this February. For those that don't know, 24 is a highly popular action-packed show featuring main character, Jack Bauer a CTU agent (counter-terrorism-unit) has become of the biggest TV/Movie/Video game characters associated with the term "badass". Jack Bauer uses torture, including shooting a terrorist suspect in the knee to find out about a kidnapping of the Defense Secretary and his daughter. Despite the many things going on at CTU in 24, 2kgames actually may be able to represent a solid amount of the show.
For fans of a show that becomes a videogame, the number 1 concern is that quite simply the game will either suck and/or won't represent a show, including lack of voiceovers and other key things. Luckily in 24: The game 2kgames had gotten voiceovers from characters ranging Jack Bauer, Michelle and many others which helps the game greatly, especially having Keifer Sutherland (Jack Bauer) onboard. What could be the best aspect of the 24 game is the similar setup of things, having the infamous time and what surprised me was the outstanding way they worked the multi-panel windows into it. In the demo I got a taste of being plain old jack and shooting terrorists, interrogation, locating snipers via SAT tracking (body heat in buildings with a satellite, to explain it simply) which all worked well.
Although, in the demo, the panels (so you can see all what's going on) did not show up in the action area it was only a demo, however when racing they showed up allowing me to see who was behind me and resembled the show very much. Talking about the car sequence, it is also done well with just simple controls but definitely a fun aspect of the game.
The biggest part was easily the action, I mean, come on. Jack Bauer in the game can do numerous moves, the main thing is cover which is actually done extremely well unlike many action games. Jack can cover behind everything, ranging from just a wall, to a couch or even a corner table. Despite some issues with the camera (which you will get used to) the aiming system is also very nice, allowing you to shoot an enemy using sort of a sniper zoomed in type system (circle with 2 lines and a dot) so you can shoot them wherever, but at the same time doesn't over-complicate just shooting a bad guy if you don't care about headshots. The other big move is the stealth mode which is pretty self-explanatory. The action was definitely prevalent as the strongest part of 24: The Game, thus far.
Lastly the most unique aspect of the game so far is easily the interrogation. When I first heard about it being a feature I was very skeptical to say the least, but it is a simple system. You see the persons heart beat and you can be "tough" (ex. cock the gun and hold it out and yell), "calm" (ex. hands on persons shoulders demanding) or if you want to wimp out, you press X. (very calm question, never use it) Despite sounding boring it is actually very entertaining since you can't pressure them too little or too much. What is really interesting is sort of a "finishing move", in the demo this was putting the gun on the terrorists forehead and telling him its his last chance. So what makes it difficult? Aside from needing to pick the right balance of questions, if you miss the finishing move it becomes extremely tough to convince the culprit to give it up, I had a minute left and missed the finishing move, I couldn't get him convinced until there were 2 seconds left.
Of course 24: The Game could bomb but at this point it has every key needed to succeed. It is based around a great show, it has the actors/actresses voiceovers, it seems to represent 24 extremely well already and just looks like it will end up being a very good action/adventure overall. Look for its release on the 28th of February.
