If you have never watched a full season of the TV show 24 you are missing out on one of the best things TV has had to offer over the last few years. Yes it's over the top, ridiculous, unbelievable and some times laugh-out-loud cheesy, BUT it has that special thing that the majority of the TV dross on the gogglebox doesn’t have – pure ‘guilty-pleasure’ entertainment…and this kind of sums up the new game from Sony’s Cambridge studios.
Set between series 2 and series 3 of the popular TV show, 24:The Game (to give it its not-very-imaginative full title) brings all the characters, locations and patently ridiculous storylines of the show to the PS2 in what at first glance (take a look at the screens) seems to be a bog standard, middle of the road 3rd person action game.
However, after playing through the first couple of ‘hours’ of the game you find yourself, as with the TV show, starting to get wrapped up in the remarkably well-written characters, the complex double crossing and the (mostly) all-out-action of the game. This is largely down to some very well polished cut-scenes with great likenesses of all the characters from the show (they all appear either playable or in the cut-scenes) and the great voice acting, all done by the actual cast.
The missions themselves basically involve you arming yourself up with a variety of weapons (pistols, semi-automatics etc) and taking out hordes of henchmen. But it isn’t all about mindless blasting. Some sections involve more patient attacks using a duck and cover system, getting off a few shots and taking down one or two of the bad guys before ducking behind corners, walls barrels etc. This works surprisingly well once you get used to the controls.
For the most part the game keeps up this frantic pace with loads of non-stop action and great scenarios to keep your interest-levels bubbling around the high mark, only occasionally dropping the pace for a few Splinter Cell-style stealth missions. These levels are acceptable but don’t really compare to some other all out stealth games on the market, such as the aforementioned Splinter Cell.
