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24: The Game - First Look Preview
Jon Wilcox
21/05/2005
We take a first look at Jack Bauer's longest day debut on the PlayStation2...
With the 24 TV series now more than half way through its fourth series on UK television and close to finishing on Fox in the US, SCEE Cambridge have taken the opportunity to showcase and demo 24: The Game at E3. Set in between the second and third series, 24: The Game puts players right into the heart of the action. The E3 demo previewed some of the key gameplay elements that are set to feature in the final version with third person action sequences, interrogation scenes, and analytical elements all coming together to emulate the style of the show.
The demo opened with gamers taking the role of Jack Bauer himself with the objective of taking into custody a suspect to find out more information about a future assassination attempt on the US Vice President. During the course of the demo, players were certainly able to get a pretty good feel for how the game is shaping up, and the combat systems certainly seem to be solid enough. Using environmental objects and walls for cover, players can aim and switch targets by using the shoulder buttons and right thumbstick before targeting a specific body part with the left thumbstick, with the actual character movement seeming quite fluid. That said the system does have to be tightened for close-quarter situations, which felt a little haphazard at times during the demo.
The sequence was broken up with a pre-scripted element in the form of a mobile phone call from CTU that updated the player on mission objectives and the overall story arc, with visual reminders of the time at the bottom of the screen and of course the split-screen elements, coming together well to replicate the style of the TV series. Having said that the level did seem to be quite linear with only one path really available for players, with a series of doors all locked off from use, and it will be interesting to see whether that levelās design sets the tone for the rest of the game.
There certainly seems to be a lot of variety in terms of gameplay with perhaps the interrogation sequences standing out the most. In true 24 split-screen, gamers (as Bauer) have to interrogate a suspect to discover more details of the attempt on the Vice-Presidentās life by managing the stress of the suspect. Using the triangle, square, and cross buttons gamers can either make Jack act aggressively towards the suspect, try to coax the answers from him, or try to calm him down if heās getting a little too stressed. At the end of the interrogation scenes players then have to pick the right moment to break the suspect and get the information they need. It has to be said that this sequence in particular managed to get across the sense of urgency in the situation with the tension building as the interrogation proceeds, although it was a bit strange sometimes to see Bauer change from good cop to bad cop and back again in the space of three questionsā¦
One of the other missions in the game saw players play as one of the analysts in CTU itself as they try to identify potential assassins in three buildings ideally placed to carry out the assassination by Using satellite thermal imaging players have to go through the buildings level by level to find the would-be killers. Once again the sequence seemed to work quite well and did seem to create the sense of tension needed to successfully replicate the atmosphere of the TV show.
