'Horror from Clive Barker ?'
 Developer: Mercury Steam
Publisher: Codemasters
Category: : FPS
Multiplayer: None
Official Site
Platform: X-Box 360
Might look like: /
Date posted: 4 March 2008
Written By: Ian
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Back in time
"Clive Barker's Jericho" is the latest game written by the aforementioned horror writer, but does it live up to his classic, 'Undying' ?
The game features the Jericho team battling against an early creation of God, the Firstborn, in a plot that takes the squad through various historical eras before a climatic showdown.
However, the gameplay also takes you back in time, being a traditional corridor shooter.
Is this a game that can live up to 'Doom 3', or does it fall short?
Mixed Graphics, Sound and Gameplay
The graphics in Jericho are a mixed bag.
Sometimes the environments can look beautiful, in a kind of hideous way, thanks to the variety of disgusting elements constantly surrounding you. The enemies look fantastic, and can be pretty gruesome, but there are flaws.
Your own squad are not that impressive, and they have a cheap, shiny feel to them.
Also, background textures when viewed from very close distances, also look a bit terrible. However, you do have to get right next to a surface for this gripe to appear.
Sound is also a mixed bag. The gunfire effects are a particular weak point, but the character voices are very strong.
There is little music to speak of, which is pretty disappointing, as this could be used to great effect to exacerbate the horror setting.
  
The gameplay is pretty traditional in Jericho, to the point of being retro.
Its an old-fashioned corridor shooter with extremely linear levels, and swathes of gruesome enemies who basically just run at you until either you or they die.
However, whilst this could be pretty cool, your squad AI isn't great. Your own team need reviving so frequently that this makes the whole thing pretty frustrating.
However, there are some great moments still. There are some fantastic boss fights against some hideous bosses, and also some 'Resident Evil style' interactive cutscenes to keep up the variety. But the pacing and difficulty can be pretty frustrating, and this again, can lead to frustration.
Multiplayer
There's no multiplayer in Jericho.
This is a real disappointment, as the game could have benefited from multiplayer in 2 respects. Co-op would have been immense, either with 1 player controlling one squad, and 1 player the other, or, even better, with 6 people, each one controlling one of the team members.
  
Secondly, competitive multiplayer would have been great, as the ability to pick a player then use their special abilities would have been really cool. So it's a real shame that there is no multiplayer at all.
Conclusion
In conclusion, "Clive Barker's Jericho" could be better. A totally random level of difficulty, some highly frustrating moments, and a lack of multiplayer would drive most games into insignificance.
But an innovative story, good use of horror, and some outstanding moments mean that Jericho is certainly worth a playthrough.
It is one of the most unusual gaming experiences of 2007, and while there are far better games out there, if you crave a horror game, then Jericho is not a bad option at all.
It has some flaws, but if you can get past the frustrations, then Jericho provides an entertaining experience.
-Ian
Ratings
Manual:
80 % |
Graphics:
81% |
Music & Sfx:
75% |
GamePlay:
78% |
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This game scores
 
on our 5-point Rating System
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