Jack Bauer under fire in '24: The Game'.

Canadians have every right to celebrate the '24' television series and its star Kiefer Sutherland. It is not very often that one of our cultural exports shows some testicular fortitude.

I mean, think about it. We haven't had someone to cheer on since William Shatner punked out those darned Klingons. Jim Carrey was mildly creepy as the Cable Guy. Keanu Reeves had his moments in 'The Matrix' series but did anyone take him seriously as a serial killer in 'The Watcher'? Don't even get me started on that celluloid rubbish known as 'Speed 2'. The fact is Canada is known more for our comedians than our action stars.

Sutherland kicks butt though in '24'. He is like the William Shatner of his generation. Like Captain Kirk in the old 'Star Trek' series, Sutherland's Jack Bauer doesn't take crap from anyone. Intensely devoted to his calling, he breaks rules if need be to get the job done and makes a habit of challenging those in authority who are often more of a hindrance to him than a help. I would guess that is one of the reasons the series has garnered such a loyal following. The everyday working Joe and Jane can sympathize with Bauer's plight and wish they too could give their bosses the middle finger salute and get away with it too.

'24: The Game' is the untold story of what occurred to the Counter Terrorist Unit between seasons two and three. With all that goes on in the gripping and turbulent storyline written by one of the show's scribes, it is a wonder any of the characters made it to a fourth season with their sanity intact.

And what a storyline it is. It does rival anything on the series itself. Raiding a boat secretly containing weapons and worst of all the poison Ricin, the perpetually pissed off and paranoid Bauer is drawn into another shadowy conspiracy involving the attempted assassination of the Vice-President of the United States, underhanded terror attacks on the general populace and a plot to steal information from the CTU itself. All of that is just the beginning as the plot detours through many twists and turns.

Although Bauer does dominant the adventure, at times you are also required to play as Tony Almedia, Michelle Dessler and even Bauer's daughter Kim (Canadian Elisha Cuthbert). I'll confess. I did get a kick out of arming Michelle and Kim with assault rifles and pegging off some baddies. There are some unintended chuckles to be had too especially when Kim cries out "Please, don't shoot me!" as she spits lead in what is supposed to be a stealth mission that I approached with a shooting gallery mentality instead.

I hate stealth missions unless you are armed with a silencer or some sort of covert killing weapon. I hate stealth missions. I hate them. I hate them. I hate them.

'24' is mostly a sneak and shoot format with some familiar puzzle, driving and marksmen missions mixed in. It chugs along at a breakneck pace because of this. For experienced gamers, there is not much in '24' you haven't dealt with before. Some of the set-ups work better than others though. The puzzles and sniper ones are fine. No problems there.

When it comes to the shoot'em ups that make up the majority of the game, there are occasional and galling targeting-camera issues that will cost you a health bar or two from time to time. From afar, there isn't any trouble. However, in really close combat the camera has a hard time keeping focused and thus the enemy has the advantage. All you can do to save your skin is fire or wail around like a madman and more often than not you will plug 'em in the head. Still, you are likely to lose precious health as you blindly search for a target and you stagger around like you just ingested some of the illegal substances you should be turning in as evidence.

The enemies aren't the most tactically sound opponents either. Mostly, you are fighting terrorists who appear to have been trained by that shoebomber dude from a couple of years back. The rejects just duck around corners or behind objects so all you have to do is wait for them to poke their heads out and cap them.

None of that compares to the driving missions though. They are just awful. Instead of the smooth ride you might be used to, you will feel as if you are driving on two flat tires or towing a freaking anchor behind you. The '24' world apparently has denser gravity too as it takes some real effort to make the simplest turn, keep a vehicle on course or fight off kamikaze foes. Luckily, the driving missions are very few and very brief.

What really drove me around the bend were the in-game maps. Some of them are just impossible to follow. As the clock ticks down, you will see the target area you are supposed to reach but there's no discernable way of getting there. Much of the time, I found myself blowing some levels the first time around simply because I couldn't figure out which hallway or road lead directly to where I had to go. I don't know about you but I loathe running around in circles and dropping a mission even though I am where the map says I should be but I cannot for the life of me locate that blasted glowing portal. Oh, the insanity.

Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler huddle over the evidence.

Where '24' really excels is echoing the feeling and tone of the series. The split screens during the cinematics and in particular during the gameplay, really make you feel as if you are a part of an on-going episode. Fans are gonna eat this stuff up. Even though the voice work really does draw you in, I could do without that maddening digital clock sound being tied to other aspects of the game. You know the one I am talking about. The only time I want to hear that sound is before commercial break or when I have to get my lazy butt out of bed in the morning.

It may seem like I am beating up on '24' but really I am not. That's because despite of its flaws, it still works. Maybe it's the storyline. Maybe it's the cinematics. Maybe it's because the imperfections only happen here and there. They are noticeable, sure, but they don't detract from the gameplay to the point that you want to take the disk and loft it into the next postal code. Die-hard gamers may not be able to look past the intermittent weaknesses but fans of the series like 'X-Files', 'Star Trek' and 'Star Wars' aficionados before them, surely will because 2K Games has managed to meticulously capture the spirit of the series itself.