CLIVE BARKER’S
JERICHO
Published by: Codemasters
Developed by: Mercury Steam
Available on
Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC
INTRODUCTION:
Back in the day, Clive Barker teamed up with EA Games to bring us Undying, a tense and atmospheric shooter that was widely regarded as one of the scariest games you could play. And chances are, you’ve never heard of it. For whatever reason, the game barely made a dime and never found its audience. Those who played it loved it, but there wasn’t enough interest to really get Undying the attention it deserved. Fast forward to today’s date, as Codemasters brings us Jericho, Clive’s latest videogame opus. Here, you assume control of a squad- not of military grunts, but paranormal specialists, stuck in the middle of the Northern African desert. Y
ou’re up against some series evil, and you’ll assume the controls of many team members in an effort to save the world from this evil force. It’s more complicated than that of course, what do you expect from the guy who brought you Hellraiser? The whole thing consists of a search for the ‘Firstborn’. God’s first attempt at creating life that went wrong, and it’s up the Jericho team to attempt to find the breach in space and time that will allow evil to escape and dominate the world. Got it? Its way more involved than that, but you’ll pick that up as you go along. It’s well written and quite compelling, and darker than black coffee.
GAMEPLAY:
Oddly
enough, although it may seem like a team-based Rainbow Six of the Dead,
Jericho
is a single player jaunt all the way. You’ll really need them too, because
different members have different abilities. Sometimes you just need to shoot
pyrotechnic blasts or stop time- it’ll be up to you to pick which member of the
squad will benefit you the most. Be aware gamers, this one packs some serious
load time, unfortunately.
And the
system works! Usually I find these games are too complicated for my 24 year old
soul, but this time the developers got it right. You won’t fumble for hours
wondering what member to pick, although the game’s lack of a map of any sort may
have you fumbling about from time to time.
Jericho will mix things up for
you and split the team up, allowing you to utilize the team member’s particular
aptitude. You’ll pick up on nuances of each character as the game goes on and
notice that they’re necessarily well developed which helps a lot. You might not
like each character, but you’ll certainly be interested in them. You’ll also
notice the occasional context-sensitive mini-game every now and then, a-la God of
War, which is fine to break up the action now and then although I find those
types of cut scenes to take me out of the action now and then.
Of course,
like any team game, you have to set waypoints and develop team strategies, which
isn’t my bag but it works. You’ll notice that boss battles will agonize you at
times. You just can’t run and gun your way through them and you just have to
devise combo attacks to take them down. That’s using your head! The weapons are
pretty cool too, I like that the guys have special abilities along with their
regular guns and grenades and such. It’s got a nasty comic-book type feel and it
works.
Gameplay: 7/10
GRAPHICS:
I thought Jericho‘s graphics looked great on the 360, although the game’s design left a bit to the imagination from time to time. Although the character models are good, you spend a lot of time in this game trudging through seemingly endless corridors that are really dim and dreary. This isn’t to say that the whole game is like this because some environments look great. There are some pretty badass bosses too. Don’t buy Jericho for its graphical capabilities, but it’s no slouch.
Graphics: 7/10
AUDIO:
Audio can
be a bit of a mixed bag. Sound effects like grunts, screams, groans and weapon
effects sound great and are right on the mark. The boo scares will be in full
effect, and the audio is what makes them work. The music is eerie and foreboding
and quite impressive as well. On the not-so-good side of things, the voice
acting can be downright awful at times and will make you cringe. You just know
that what the actors are saying could be delivered in a much better way..but you
just have to deal with it sometimes.
Audio: 6/10
FINAL VERDICT:
Jericho was a fun game, but unfortunately it has some shortcomings. Once you beat it, you’ll never play it again. It has no replay value at all. Sometimes the levels seem repetitive and shallow, and although the storyline is really gothic and dark, the gameplay itself doesn’t reflect this really well and the game doesn’t come off very scary, besides the jump scares. It doesn’t last a long time (it took me about 10 hours to get through) and doesn’t touch new games like Bioshock.
With that being said, the game is more than worth playing, but not necessarily owning. The squad system works well, and the game is fairly fun to play, with a rich story that will keep you interested. I suppose what hinges on rent or buy is how much you like Clive Barker. In the meantime, I suggest you find a copy of Undying and get to playing that.
Final Score: 7/10