It was only a matter of time before a series as highly acclaimed, as 24 would be adapted into a game. 24 has been the darling of critics and television audiences alike since its arrival on our screens.  Hitting UK PlayStation2’s on the 17^th of March, 2006 , 24: The Game has been hailed by publishers SONY as “set to become the biggest action adventure of the year”.

            The game is set in a day in between the Second and Third Seasons. As per usual it focuses on the life of the L.A. Counter Terrorism Unit, and the character Jack Bauer in particular. The game promises to spring many surprises for fans of the series, with the answers to several questions being released in the game. The most explosive of which being: who was actually behind the attempt upon President Palmer’s life?

            The game itself boasts over one hundred Missions with the opportunity to play as multiple characters, each with their own individual plot variations. As you would expect shooting and sniping are big elements of the game with liberal dashes of puzzle solving and driving missions. Naturally, a degree of stealth is required whatever the mission, from tailing cars to sneaking around inside buildings. In addition, interrogation has been included, so you can extract the information yourself.

            Series Scriptwriter Dunny Demetrius has written the game story, and the music produced by Sean Callery who produced the series’ award winning music.  In an attempt to appeal to fans of the series, 24: The Game will feature the likeness and voices of much of the cast; claiming to have assembled the most Hollywood actors to appear in a single videogame to date. The suspense of the series seems perfectly matched to adaptation for the videogames industry, hopefully the videogame will live-up to this and be able to emulate the atmosphere boasted by the series.

            Whilst the fans will be eagerly awaiting this title, it remains to be seen whether or not the game will be able to appeal to a wider gaming audience. This will largely depend upon the success of the aforementioned Demetrius in writing a compelling standalone story, and not falling into the trap that other television writers have seen as their destiny, leaving the gamer with a poorly worked storyline, as in 50 Cent: Bulletproof. If 24: The Game can appeal beyond its television fan base, then it might bring something new to the PlayStation2. The idea of a whole game being based in a 24-hour period, and the time pressures this inherently forces upon the gamer to complete the various tasks, should lead to an intriguing game structure. However it does lead to questions about how long the game will actually last, and whether there will be enough differentiation between the various characters storylines to provide adequate replay value. Now that we have entered the last days of the PlayStation2 it is time that games finally show what the console is truly capable of, and to start to get gamers truly excited about the forthcoming PlayStation3.

CJ

02/02/06

Return to the Articles Archive 2006 here.

 Each of these articles has been written either independently of Electronic Theatre or by an external viewer. The opinions discussed in these articles in no way reflects the opinions of Electronic Theatre.

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