"The most fun you will ever have playing a bad game"

For 24 fans, this game answers many questions, like what happened between seasons 2 and 3? How does Chase become part of LA CTU? Where did Chloe come from? And so on, and so on.

For gamers who are 24 fans, this game will answer a more basic question:

Can a great story and awesome presentation make up for flawed gameplay?

For that more basic question, my answer is most definitely YES.

But only my love for the TV show 24 leads me to make that conclusion.

Essentially how much enjoyment you get from this game will be based on three things:

1) How much you like the show (this is by far the most important aspect. If you do not like the show or have not seen it, forget it. Stop reading this review and read about some other game).

2) How good of a gamer you are. If you are not very skilled at gaming, you will soon get annoyed with this title.

3) How patient you are. You see, even if you are a great gamer, you will have difficulty with this game. Because not only are you going to be fighting a lot of bad guys, but you will be also fighting nearly everything wrong with gameplay mechanics known to man.

So let me elaborate on the above a bit more. I LOVE the story to this game. The writers for the game also write for the show, and they have kept the flavor and the pace more than adequately so as to make you feel like you are part of the action in an ultra-intense story line.

The challenge level is decent. Some too difficult in parts, and since the game attempts to please everyone with the variety of gameplay, you may find yourself having to muddle through some types of gaming that you are not normally accustomed to (for instance, if you play action games almost exclusively, you are going to have to deal with some puzzle solving).

The bugs? Well, to put it bluntly, the programmers should be ashamed of themselves. Also, I would like to meet the beta testers and have a word with some of them, if there even were any.

I will not bore you with listing every problem I had, but suffice it to say, there were several times I used a command for an agent to "take cover" and their way of taking cover is to run straight through shooting enemies to take cover on a wall to the side of them with their back facing the bad guys.

You can enjoy this game, but you will also have to become familiar with its flaws so that you can adapt your play style accordingly.

Graphics 6/10

Outside of the very accurate character depictions, the graphics for everything else are rather average, and in some cases pretty rough around the edges.

Sound 8/10

No complaints here as far as things sounding real. All the explosions and other sound effects are perfectly believable. If you have a surround system, you are in for a treat, just make sure you set the sound settings accordingly.

The voice acting is good as far as the professional actors are concerned, but the extras sound just plain corny, and in some cases, what they say is completely out of context.

Presentation 10/10

You will not be disappointed as far as the pacing and the content of the story and how it is presented. This is the saving grace of this game. An absolute blast, for sure. It runs just like you would expect a 24 season to go, but it is not exactly 24 hours (it ends up being about 8-10 hours) and also it is much more action oriented with less drama.

Control 4/10

While playing this game I actually got a chance to further define for myself what I consider to be good or bad in a video game. And as far as control is concerned, its like this: If your character moves as smoothly or more smoothly than you would in real life, then control is good. If your character is moving more awkwardly than in real life, then control is bad. And that is all there is to it. And the guys at CTU never looked like they were moving more awkwardly than in this game. Not 100% of the time, mind you, but enough to annoy you to a greater or lesser degree as you work through the game's bugs.

Gameplay 6/10

Most of the game is you as one of the characters running around shooting HUNDREDS of bad guys (this is not an exaggeration, you will have to kill huge amounts of bad guys to complete the game). The next-most things you will have to do are driving sequences that require you to chase, be chased, tail undetected, or simply get to a particular place at a particular time. After that are the mini-games, which consist of little annoying puzzles that either interrupt the action or are games themselves, and then there is the ultra-cool interrogation mini-game which you get to play in several different parts of the game.

So if you like 24 and want to give it a shot, here are my recommendations:

RENT THIS GAME!!!!!!! It is short, and you will not likely want to play it again. The tutorials will completely eliminate any need for a manual, so you can rent a disc with no directions and have no problems.

CHEAT!!!!!!!!!! I personally hardly ever cheat on games. But after doing the 22nd hour I lost my patience and used infinite ammo/infinite health to do the last parts just to see what is supposed to happen.

USE A GAMEFAQS GUIDE!!!! As you will most likely run into a serious bug in the game that will not allow you to progress, there is a step-by-step guide to solving that problem. Also, if you do decide to cheat, even infinite ammo and health will not be enough to get you through some parts of this game. Oh, and for heaven's sakes, DO NOT pay good money to get a strategy book.

So if you like 24, and have the skill and patience for it, play the game all the way through normally. If you lack patience, maybe cheat through it, and if you just want the story, just enter the cheats to unlock the cut-scenes and that alone is worth a rental for a 24 fan who doesn't even play games.

My hope is that a sequel will be made to this game that has just as good a story with some real solid gameplay behind it. I would even go further as to say that the "007: Everything or Nothing" game engine would work really well here for the shooting sections of the game if faithfully reproduced with the same quality. The Splinter Cell Engine could also be cool for the stealth missions.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/06/06