Clive Barker's Jericho Review

By Kristan Reed Published 24 October, 2007

Knee deep in the dead.

Version tested: Xbox 360

Pity the poor publisher which tries to sell a first-person shooter right now. At a time when gamers are positively drowning in 10/10 games in the shape of Bioshock, Halo 3, the five-pronged Orange Box (and another half dozen highly impressive also-rans), anything that's scoring less than a 9 is likely to get short shrift from anyone with a wallet. Either Codemasters is supremely confident about Clive Barker's Jericho, or someone forgot to look at the release schedule.

And you know what? If Jericho sinks without trace, it won't be because the game didn't offer something new and inventive. Spanish developer Mercury Steam has evidently put a huge effort into differentiating the game from the tired masses of done-to-death sci-fi and military-themed titles, and deserves a lot of credit for that - even if sometimes the actual execution leaves a little to be desired.

The core premise for this squad-based horror title is to see off an ancient evil that has "broken through into our world". As with all ancient evils, it's, mwhahaha, determined to "spread its taint across the whole of the earth". Sent into 'ground zero' in a Middle Eastern city is a secret seven-man strike force called Jericho, which "protects government interests from paranormal threats". Schooled in arcane arts and military savvy, each member of the team has his or her own para-psychological speciality, and carries their own specific weaponry with which to take out the dark denizens that await.

Halls of the damned

'Clive Barker's Jericho' Screenshot 1

Even paranormal soldiers have eating disorders.

To begin with, you control generic grizzled squad leader Captain Devin Ross through the ruined streets of Al-Khali - a city destroyed by a massive sandstorm. With suspicions running high that a former Department of Occult Warfare agent known as Arnold Leach is behind the storm, you spend the first few hours of the game trudging through the doomed city in search of evidence of paranormal activity. Certainly, for the first six chapters or so, it's hard to find anything special about Jericho apart from a decent game engine. It really struggles to get into its stride, coming across as little more than a gory, overly linear fantasy shooter with gruesome enemies and the novelty value of fighting alongside six squad-mates.

But if you stick with it beyond the dreadfully tiresome early levels, something entirely unexpected happens in the plot (which we won't reveal here), and the game goes from boring, linear trudge through predictable encounters armed with an assault rifle, to gradually giving you an assortment of toys which freshen up the gameplay no end. The main change that we don't mind spoiling for you is how the game suddenly turns into a proper squad-based shooter, as opposed to a game where you and a bunch of other guys in black coats and American accents run around shooting scary monsters.

Okay, so that's still true when the game suddenly gives you the ability to play as the squad member of your choosing at any given moment (by cycling through a menu via the d-pad), but what soon becomes apparent is the dramatic impact each member's special abilities have on the amount of fun you'll have with the game.

Slough of despair

'Clive Barker's Jericho' Screenshot 2

The arse end of nowhere.

Take Lt. Black, for example. Armed with a sniper rifle, she boasts the rather nifty ability to telekinetically steer her bullets in slow-motion to their destination, and - better still - strike up to three targets with a single shot. Admittedly, games like Stranglehold have already allowed you to steer a bullet to its target, but Jericho manages to make the sickening process of popping demon skulls that little bit more satisfying. And then there's 'reality hacker' Corporal Cole, with her terrifically useful ability to slow down everything around her for a brief period - allowing her to get the jump on enemies and either pump them full of lead before they get a chance to attack, or throw a few well-placed grenades and leg it before time returns to normal speed.

Elsewhere, you can call on Sgt. Church with her blood magic abilities, which not only allow her to drain energy from any enemies in the vicinity by slicing into her own hands, but also set up a 'fire ward', which effectively sets any enemy on fire for a few crucial seconds. Not only does this help drain the energy of any incoming hordes, you can finish them off easily with your sword, which is nice. And while we're talking about fire, Sgt. Delgado's usefulness as a heavy weapons specialist is aided no end by the ability to unleash "creatures of living flame" - effectively parasites that reside in his arm, while he can also shield himself from fire and, you know, burning hot lava, because he's that hard. Cool wet grass cool wet grass...

And for the sake of completion, Captain Jones' ability to project himself into another host's body offers a new neat moments later in the game - even if, in general he's the least useful character alongside Father Rawlings - a 67-year-old pistol-wielding man of the cloth whose main talent is healing the rest of the squad en masse, as well as being able to inflict an energy-draining curse on enemies.

The shores of hell

'Clive Barker's Jericho' Screenshot 3

Ian Brown's looking a bit rough these days.

So, at the risk of sounding like the game manual, these abilities go some way towards making the gameplay very different from your average run and gun. The difficulty you might have to begin with is realising the importance of utilising these abilities as often as possible. Played as a standard shooter, it's quite likely you'll find yourself utterly overwhelmed by the speed and ferocity of the enemies that pour towards you. Merely emptying clip after clip into their fleshy innards isn't good enough to see off the odd one or two enemies - and backing away all-guns blazing only works if you're vigilant enough to remember to have reloaded, while also lucky enough not to have something else chasing you down.

One thing Jericho is absolutely rubbish at is giving you any kind of useful advice, and with no tutorial included, and no expectation of the kind of gameplay scenarios you're going to face, it's one of those games where you'll very much learn about as you go along. In a sense, this becomes part of its charm in retrospect, but while you're repeatedly being slaughtered and cursing the rather inconsiderate checkpointing, all you can think about is 'why am I so rubbish at this game?'. Admittedly, playing it on hard was partially the reason for so many deaths, but the way the Achievement points are distributed, Jericho doesn't give you much choice but to do so.

While it might seem as if all your problems are down to being some kind of gaming masochism, the truth is that you just have to get good at knowing when best to use everyone's speciality, and get good at making the most of them. In particular, Black's 'Ghost Bullet' ability became our staple tactic for most of the game, continually popping heads three at a time and cutting a swathe through what would have otherwise been difficulty and protracted encounters.

As if pre-empting gamers' tendencies to rely on doing the same thing over and over, a few plot twists here and there ensure that your numbers are reduced, forcing you into using dramatically different tactics to survive, and, better still, forcing you to go it alone and really fight for your life. Not only does this give you a much broader impression of what the game has to offer, by forcing you to learn each character's hidden depths it helps encourage you to change your approach as and when it's required. The chances are, by the time you really need to use a specific character, you'll already be proficient in how they operate, and how best to utilise their speciality.

Firstborn, last to die

'Clive Barker's Jericho' Screenshot 4

"Help! Can someone show me the way back to Quake, please?"

But as admirable as this constant need to adjust your playing style is, it can't quite paper over the cracks in some of the weaker elements of the game design. For a start, your team-mates aren't anywhere near as savvy as you are when it comes to utilising your special abilities, and tend to get incapacitated an awful lot. To make up for this rather annoying habit, the developers basically 'fixed' this tendency by giving you the ability to just walk up to anyone out for the count and heal them. Likewise, when your currently selected character dies, you end up switching to someone else, running over to your prostrate body, healing, then switching back. It might make sense in terms of the 'rules' of the character's abilities, but in gameplay terms it becomes a bit of a clumsy way of making sure you're not heading back to the load screen too much. At its most frantic, you end up running around like a headless chicken healing, healing, healing with so many of your AI buddies getting killed literally seconds after being revived it's a bit of a joke. So many times, you'll scrape by, not actually fighting, but just making damn sure that there are other people in the scene so that if you end up getting cornered by an enemy, it won't result in a restart.

And it bears repeating that even when you've mastered the game, and even when you're enjoying it, some of the checkpointing is absolutely awful, forcing you back ages for no good reason. Not only is it annoying to find yourself repeating large sections over and over again, it pads out an eight to ten hour game by about 50 per cent, so there's a mark knocked-off right there.

Technically, Jericho veers between being extremely impressive to being merely average. You can tell that certain sections of the game had a lot more love than others, with some incredibly elaborate geometry demonstrating Mercury Steam's artistic flair and eye for detail when it feels like it. Elsewhere, though, the game's reliance on ridiculous colour saturation as an atmospheric design decision starts to irritate, as does some of the game's cut and paste level design, and over-reliance on basic corridor linearity. On a few notable occasions, too, some basic signposting wouldn't have gone amiss - such as the game's repeat failure to acknowledge that it's asking you to do something it has never asked you to do before (and often, never will again), and proceeds to waste the player's time barking vague, patronising hints at them, when what was actually required was possibly as simple as walking one specific character up to one specific item of scenery. Such minor niggles, individually, aren't a big deal, but over the course of a game they chip away at your overall impression, and make it feel like a game that could have done with a little bit of extra polish to smooth over such kinks.

Over and done with

'Clive Barker's Jericho' Screenshot 5

I wonder what Freud would have made of Clive Barker?

Another criticism, albeit minor, is the game's utter lack of replayability. Once you're done (especially if you've played it on Hard from the start), there's sod-all reason to go back and do it again, and with no multiplayer options to speak of whatsoever, you won't even be able to try out these interesting weapons and abilities against one another, or in co-op, say. Admittedly, the very nature of the gameplay would throw up all manner of technical headaches, but nevertheless, set against some stiff competition, Jericho needs all the selling points it can get.

On the whole, Jericho is an intriguing experiment that almost comes off for Codemasters. Clive Barker's contribution to the concept and narrative direction of the game will certainly help get the attention of horror fans, and few who put the time into exploring Jericho's intricacies will come away disappointed. With its unique squad-based focus and the huge combat variety on offer, it breaks plenty of new ground for the genre - and were it not for a few rough edges would have been bordering on essential. As it stands, Jericho is definitely one that all horror fans should check out - if your bank balance can cope.

7 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (82) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • UncleLou #1 4 years ago

    The arse end of nowhere.

    Hehe. :)

  • Kryon #2 4 years ago

    So, better than Resistance then.

    /coat

  • Lukus #3 4 years ago

    Sounds (and looks) pretty decent.

  • Cloudane #4 4 years ago

    In the storm of quality FPS on the Xbox 360 at the moment, this would be an ideal January Sales pick-up.

    I'm glad it has turned out well though.

  • the-fell #5 4 years ago

    Looks well worth a shot for some single player horror shenanigans.

    \o/

  • Hangman #6 4 years ago

    yeah i enjoyed the demo, it's a really beautiful game in it's own sick way, played the demo straight after Halo 3 and it looked so much more detailed , almost a first person gears in it's colour scheme and grittiness.

  • TriggerHippie #7 4 years ago

    Demo is fun. I might stick this on my Santa list. On the pc or PS3 though, my 360 having been returned to me repaired but now broken in all new ways (good job repair dudes).
    Edited by 1 at 24/10/07 @ 11:51

  • repairmanjack #8 4 years ago

    Arrived today. Found the first half-an-hour to be really engaging. Looks good, some nice mechanics. Hard as nails, though. I really feel like I'm fighting for every inch of ground.

    Oh, one thing: don't people replay games just for the fun of it these days? What other reason would you need?

  • bioreit #9 4 years ago

    @ Krudster

    "colour saturation as an atmospheric design design"

    So good they named it twice? ;-)

    Edit 1"cutting a swathe through what would have otherwise been difficulty and protracted encounters"

    Superfluous sub-vowel (should be 'difficult' instead of 'difficulty').

    /Yes, I'm avoiding doing proper work - what of it?

    Downloaded the demo ages ago, but never played it - might give it a go, but what with Halo 3, Orange Box and all the other games I have yet to complete, it's not really that high on my priority list...
    Edited by 1 at 24/10/07 @ 12:01

  • zuljin #10 4 years ago

    @Kryon
    Actually to be pedantic, Resistance got a seven in the US review.

    Oh no he di'nt.

  • tobsen #11 4 years ago

    Does anybody know whether the version that will be on sale in Germany will be censored in any way? The demo seemed pretty gory and I hope the full game stays that way ;)

  • Darren #12 4 years ago

    I quite enjoyed the demo (except for the tediously overlong QTE bit) but, sadly, there are far too many other better games out that I want on three formats pre-Christmas so I won't be buying this until next year, if I do at all that is. I've read a number of 7/10 reviews, and while that isn't a bad score, it doesn't scream must-buy either.

  • onyxbox #13 4 years ago

    I played the demo of this and thought it was a bit rubbish really. Linear, bad voice acting and the wepons that lacked any weight/punch.

    I realise you can't always go on the demo tho'

  • tobsen #14 4 years ago

    Oh, and what about differences between the Xbox 360 and the PS3 versions?

  • Darren #15 4 years ago

    Incidentally, OXM360 said in their 7/10 review that the 360 version is graphically inferior to the PS3 and PC versions, something which comes across as an odd admission in a dedicated official magazine. Of course, they didn't bother explain why the 360 version was inferior, that would be beyond their capabilities (as well as space considering many of their reviews are a mere half a page of text).

  • Sid-Nice #16 4 years ago

    I want Linda Barker's Geriatric Hole.

  • krudster #17 4 years ago

    Minimal differences, take your pick, really.

  • Kryon #18 4 years ago

    @zuljin

    "Actually to be pedantic, Resistance got a seven in the US review. "

    Yes but a six and a seven equates to a 6.5...

    Oh yes he di'd :)

  • Les #19 4 years ago

    For some reason I know this game just sucks. So I never downloaded the demo (never mind that demos "are a total and utter waste of time in that it's usually a) in an unfinished, unoptimised state, b) from a really early point in the game when it's too easy and gives no impression of the depth.";).

    And now it turns out to be even worse than Stranglehold! So I was right all the time! :p

  • SomaticSense #20 4 years ago

    "So, better than Resistance then."

    Yes, actually.

    Anyway. Definitely getting this at some point, as from the demo it came across as Gears of War, but with more originality in the character's abilities and the ability to switch character. A lot of the critisicms levelled at this could also be thrown at GoW as well ("Linear, bad voice acting and the wepons that lacked any weight/punch.";). Although I'm not liking the sounds of the checkpointing system at all, as when they are unfairly spaced is something that never fails to infuriate me.

    Not getting it at the moment though, as while I enjoyed the demo, it certainly wasn't as good as Bioshock, Halo 3, or Orange Box. With the need for something different to another FPS in mind, I'll be leaving it until the inevitable gaming drought at the beginning of next year, where it should hopefully be cheaper as well.

  • miiiguel #21 4 years ago

    I'm a Lovecraft and sons fan, and had high hopes to this, but, the checkpoints annoys me, and have too many quality FPS's now (Halo3, CoD4 pre-ordered). I need a fighting game - VF5 ?

  • Chufty #22 4 years ago

    Does anyone else get disappointed when they're reading an interesting review and they suddenly read 'd-pad' or 'left trigger'?

    /wubs mouse

  • Darren #23 4 years ago

    krudster - "Minimal differences, take your pick, really."

    I noticed when I played the demo on the PS3 that it ran at 1080p, which was surprising really. Since the PS3 doesn't upscale its own games like the 360, I presume that means its 1080p native? Is this the reason perhaps why OXM360 state that the PS3 version is better? On the 360, you can't really tell whether a game runs at 1080p natively as all games are upscaled to that resolution regardless if you set the Display mode to 1080p.

  • Les #24 4 years ago

    "A lot of the critisicms levelled at this could also be thrown at GoW as well ("Linear, bad voice acting and the wepons that lacked any weight/punch.";)."

    I don't understand people complaining about linearity in a story-based game. Linearity is the only way to tell a story. If you don't like linearity in a story-based game, go play something else. And btw, doing linear subplots in a linear main plot in random order is still linear.

  • Darren #25 4 years ago

    By the way, EG gave Resistance a 7 if I remember correctly, the same score as Jericho so I would hardly take that as admission that the latter game is better, more "as good as" if you ask me. ;)

  • Kryon #26 4 years ago

    @Darren

    EG gave Resistance a 7 for the import review but re-reviewed it later and gave it a 6.

    Edit - sixlol
    Edited by 1 at 24/10/07 @ 12:32

  • bonker #27 4 years ago

    The latest equal score wins, especially if it's a year later :)

  • Gibroon #28 4 years ago

    I'm quite glad of the score because I read somewhere it got a 3/10 but not from a major reviewer. It may have been the difficulty but not sure really.

    The demo seemed atmospheric and had a good load of gore so I'll probably end up playing it at some point.
    Edited by 1 at 24/10/07 @ 12:34

  • krudster #29 4 years ago

    Definitely better than Resistance, no doubt about it.

  • Slamhound #30 4 years ago

    Ironically, this might do a lot better on the PC sales-wise for the simple reason that it's on sale on Steam.

    A lot of folks logging in to the service to feed their Ep2/TF2/Portal addiction just might be interested in breaking out the credit card for Jericho at a cheaper-than-Woolworths price.

  • miiiguel #31 4 years ago

    Hey, Krudster, are the Achievements mean or are they doable and fun, like... say "Halo 3" ?

    Those "Complete XXX on Hard without being incapacitated" seem a bit lyric...
    Edited by 1 at 24/10/07 @ 12:50

  • bluebird #32 4 years ago

    Really enjoyed the demo of this. It kind of felt like playing the Aliens movie crossed with Hellraiser, which can't be bad... It also felt fresh compared to other shooters. The abilities aren't simply tacked on but feel integrated into the game.

  • Triggerhappytel #33 4 years ago

    Looks like a decent game, released at totally the wrong time of year.

    Shame, I hope this doesn't get too overlooked.

  • ParanoidZombie #34 4 years ago

    What about the length of the game? Since there's no multiplayer, I guess the game should be 15 hours long, at least. On the other hand, since Jericho looks kinda linear and repetitive (I mean, it's a shooter), maybe it should be only 10 hours long. Anyway, if anyone here has already finished the game, please share the intel.

  • Calgon #35 4 years ago

    Does anyone know if this is the same dev team that worked on The Undying?, obviously thats a Clive Barker game but the dev team hardly gets a mention. It sounds a bit different but Undying was "rather good" as I think EG put it, so horror fans will probably pick this up anyway.

    This year is really competative for publishers, especially on 360, remember bargain bin buys hardly count as sales. I dont think they will lower the prices too much on the good titles for the first half of 2008, because they can still sell, gamers can just get a couple of games every month instead of all at once for a change(complaining about too many good games isnt right, Id rather have that than waiting for something to play).
    Edited by 2 at 24/10/07 @ 13:06

  • krudster #36 4 years ago

    12-15 hours at a guess (I played on Hard).

    The achievements are fun, actually - kind of encourages you to use specific specilalities to reach each total, like popping 50, 100, then 250 heads :)

  • bluebird #37 4 years ago

    How can a game be too long, as long as the content remains of quality throughout the game?

    Okami did this well, splitting up the game into chapters which felt like games on their own, each coming to a conclusion. Playing through Orange Box now, and it never stales either, many hours in.

  • Dark_Stranger #38 4 years ago

    does the playstation 3 version only contain game content in page 2 of the review, where as the PC/360 contains content found in both pages of the review? So much for bluray storage capability.

  • Hughes. #39 4 years ago

    From the demo the game certainly looks better than Resistance, and from Krudster's description of how it takes a while before showing its full charms it may have something in common with it there too. Visually I'd say it's on a par with Gears a lot of the time. As far as gameplay goes, I wasn't expecting to enjoy it, but I was really getting into it the demo, right up until they threw in a stupid QTE reaction test. I hope the game isn't riddled with those.

    Orang Box, CoD4 and Haze are bigger on my radar than this though, maybe when it's dropped in price I'll give it a chance.

    Edit: I was going to correct Orang box, but now I like the look of it. A box of Orangutans. I'd buy that.
    Edited by 1 at 24/10/07 @ 13:18

  • Triggerhappytel #40 4 years ago

    "1up gave it 3/10, shame of the month, Edge gavi it 5/10

    the game is shit, let's not try to pretend otherwise."

    So, how many hours have you played it for so far, Nick?

  • krudster #41 4 years ago

    Sod what anyone else thinks, it's a quality game if you give it a chance.

    There are hardly any QTEs, thankfully. Sometimes you end up grappling with enemies in a CoD 3-style QTE fashion if you let them get too close, but you're probably toast if you allow that to happen anyway.

  • ProtoformX #42 4 years ago

    Well my wish of completeing The Orange Box and Phantom Hourglass in a week isn't gonna happen so now I'm also gonna have this and Metroid to deal with. Dammit!

  • kangarootoo #43 4 years ago

    Interesting.

    I played the demo on 360 and found it to be rather characterless. Maybe it just needs more time to get into than a demo can really provide, but it just felt like I have all these characters but actually it doesn't really matter which one I use. Level design of the demo was pretty much a tunnel (as far as I got anyway).

    In the end, I switched off from boredom, which is hardly a good sign. I am sure the full game is likely to be better, but its unlikely to move past being a rental for me.

    And better than Resistance you say Krudster? I actually thought Resistance was a lot of fun once it got going. And the unlocked weapons made subsequent replay quite worthwhile.

    Resistance wasn't a brave new world or anything though, so I suppose it all hinges on how good Jericho actually is. The demo impressed me very little, but then I didn't really get into the skate demo the first time around, which shows how much of an influence my current mood is when I play demos.

  • krudster #44 4 years ago

    If the demo's from the early part of the game, I'm not at all surprised you're not impressed. The game only warms up after about Chapter 7, which is ruinous, frankly. By then, most people will have already given up.

  • login_name #45 4 years ago

    I gave it a chance, it's shit. There are so many better options out there, including Resistance.

  • GamesConnoisseur #46 4 years ago

    For me this screams rent rather than buy, replayability being an issue and I do enjoy horrors and always liked Clive Barker's vision.

    So will give it a go... via my local Blockbusters!

    Unfortunately in Jericho case there are far too many better FPS out at this time. Maybe better luck on PS3 front as not as many competition there compared to X360.

  • ParanoidZombie #47 4 years ago

    Thanx, krudster... Good review, BTW.

    @bluebird: "How can a game be too long, as long as the content remains of quality throughout the game?"

    Well, I agree in theory, but most games don't achieve this: IMO, R6 vegas was so repetitive I wished the game ended sooner, Resident evil 4 should have been shorter (the castle = boring)... A long campaign is not necessarily a good thing: it's like movies, a 3 hours long movie is not automatically better than a 2 hours'.

  • miiiguel #48 4 years ago

    krudster: thx for the info on the Achievements theme, or maybe not, because now I'm tempted again to get it.
    Decisions, decisions...

    I also find it very unpolite to imply EG and its reviwers are payed to be nice to a game, either it be Halo or Jericho or whatever. If one thinks that why use it as a source ? Better start he's own site and do their "unbiased" reviews.
    Edited by 1 at 24/10/07 @ 13:54

  • Lemming81 #49 4 years ago

    "Well my wish of completeing The Orange Box and Phantom Hourglass in a week isn't gonna happen so now I'm also gonna have this and Metroid to deal with. Dammit!"

    Christ it only got a 7. Save some money, ffs! We'd be knee deep in shit if we all bought every game that got above a 5, wouldn't we?

  • Les #50 4 years ago

    "Sod what anyone else thinks, it's a quality game if you give it a chance."

    So is Lair...

  • ParanoidZombie #51 4 years ago

    "I don't know if they're being overly harsh, or Eurogamer is being to nice to this game, (the Jericho adverts are paying the bills this week it seems)"

    Blah blah blah. Is 1up an advert-free zone? Or maybe the game's publisher refused to pay for an advert in 1up, and the reviewer gave the game a 3/10 as retaliation.

  • Kryon #52 4 years ago

    "We'd be knee deep in shit if we all bought every game that got above a 5, wouldn't we?"

    Agreed, we'd all have to suffer Resistance:FOM (the video game equivalent of Darius Danesh).

    sixlol.

  • jonnyreb #53 4 years ago

    That's it....I have totally had enough of crappy checkpoints in games.

    There is no reason whatsoever to still have checkpoints in 2007.......from this day I vow never to buy another PC game with fucking checkpoints.

  • krudster #54 4 years ago

    Nick, sounds very much like the 1up guy got through the first few levels and thought it was cack. I'll say it again, it gets so much better when it gets into its stride.
    Edited by 1 at 24/10/07 @ 14:41

  • Kryon #55 4 years ago

    "So is Lair..."

    Les exclaimed in a high pitched voice, a solitary tear rolling down his rosy cheek :(

    4/10 Lairlol.

  • Les #56 4 years ago

    "You can do multi-linear as well - I.e. you can change the storyline, etc."

    You can do that but there's a reason it's hardly ever used in the ultimate story based media (books and movies): They generally suck. A branching story isn't a single story but actually a collection of stories artificially tied together which almost always (I know of no exception but that of course doesn't mean there isn't any) leads to weak plots in every branch or at least one branch having a plot that's significantly better than the others.

  • GamesConnoisseur #57 4 years ago

    Visit Game Rankings or Metacritic to give you a more fairer idea of what the average rating is across all the magazine/webzine.

    FYI: Metacritic currently stands at 70 out of 100 inc 1up but without 1up would be 80 out of 100. I ll suggest to check back when 20 plus reviews in.

    Still gonna rent and not buy!

  • urban #58 4 years ago

    deserved a 6 tbh

  • miiiguel #59 4 years ago

    I like linear, I like free-roam.

    Hybrids, not so much.

  • Kryon #60 4 years ago

    "You can do that but there's a reason it's hardly ever used in the ultimate story based media (books and movies)"

    Yeah the reason it's not widely used in other forms of media, games are interactive by nature, books and films are not. There have been plenty of decent games with multiple endings and splintered story lines.

  • space_ace #61 4 years ago

    ian brown is great; he did look like that when i met him though... (in daylight, in an airport)

    link :)
    Edited by 1 at 24/10/07 @ 14:50

  • jachap #62 4 years ago

    Is the place really called Al Khali? This game takes place in Klatch?

  • john_silence #63 4 years ago

    To someone who asked if the dev team also worked on Undying: no they didn't. Their previous game was a quirky GTA3-style game involving robots. It was called Scrapland, and it was chaperoned by American McGee instead of Clive Barker.

    It was OK, a pure 7/10 game, but a bit vulgar, which, from the looks of the PC demo, is also the case here.
    There are nice touches to the writing - I like the very first dialogue, when one of the characters says he hears something nearby is "marching". But, did anybody listen to the voiced tutorials and presentation (which were a good idea in principle)? Whoever thought entrusting the part to a macho US soldier with an IQ in the 80's, was WRONG. It called for something in the vein of the British actor voicing the briefings in Hidden & Dangerous 2.
    Anyway, I'm not buying this though it sounds mildly attractive: I'll get it from Metaboli where it's already announced for the next few weeks.

  • john_silence #64 4 years ago

    Also, to the people who are into branching storylines and the narrative possibilities distinguishing games from other forms of art or entertainment: we should all be very wet and excited when thinking about The Witcher.

  • Masarin #65 4 years ago

    Ian Brown's Jericho?

  • Hughes. #66 4 years ago

    Nah, Ian Brown did F.E.A.R.

  • krudster #67 4 years ago

    F.E.A.R. Arf. That Ian Brown pic is tragic. That man used to have the coolest hair ever, now he looks like a greasy old tramp. :(

    Sort it out, Brown!

  • Optyk #68 4 years ago

    The sewer level in the demo didn't do the game any justice. Especially after watching the long intro to the demo.

  • Feanor #69 4 years ago

    "Yeah the reason it's not widely used in other forms of media, games are interactive by nature, books and films are not. There have been plenty of decent games with multiple endings and splintered story lines."


    Like the brilliant Odin Sphere.

  • Les #70 4 years ago

    "Like the brilliant Odin Sphere."

    Haven't played the game myself but aren't the 5 story lines linear and don't they collectively make up a single (therefore also linear) story?

  • Machetazo #71 4 years ago

    Les wrote: b) from a really early point in the game when it's too easy and gives no impression of the depth.";).

    If you'd downloaded the demo, and watched the introduction movie, you'd know that the demo starts from a point approximately half way through the game.

    @tobsen: In Germany, Jericho was denied a rating on consoles, so your only option is either import if you want a console version, or get the unedited PC version.

  • deaner #72 4 years ago

    Played the demo.

    It was bloody awful!

  • marilena #73 4 years ago

    I only now realized this game is made by Mercury Steam! If I remember correctly, they are an offshot of Rebel Act, who made the very good Severance: Blade of Darkness.

  • repairmanjack #74 4 years ago

    "On another note, did you know Clive Barker was married to a man."

    Yes. The clue is he's a gay man.

    You should really post this on gamefaqs, too.

  • absolutezero #75 4 years ago

    Say what you will about the more schlocky elements but Im about half way through the Crusader area and some of it is pretty grim stuff.

    Maybe its going to get worse and there have been times that Ive sworn like a mad man but the check points are'nt that hard. Its also been great being drip-fed new powers to play about with.

  • whome #76 4 years ago

    fair review imo, but not surprised this is dividing opinions, as for 1Up, based on their scores Hour Of Victory is better than this.... ok.....

    1UP reviewer got his arse handed to him in early levels = bad review.

    it's not that bad IF you spend some time getting to grips with the squad system and weps/powers, oh and the music is awesome at times.

  • spookyzombie #77 4 years ago

    Played the full version last night. To be honest it's not very impressive. The premise of having a team of different characters that you can swap between at any time to use their individual abilities is a good one, and yes, Clive Barker designed the inventive looking baddies very well, but this game just isn't fun.

    The graphics are extremely drab and very dark and not very impressive, but it's more the actual gameplay that lets it down. It's just really average and definitely a rental title in my book. I rented it and still have until till tomorrow morning to take it back, yet won't be playing it at all today. I'd rather play other titles. As FPS's go, I'd rate COD2 a 8/10, FEAR a 6/10 and Hour of Victory a 3/10. I'd give this a 5.5/10

    Edited by 1 at 25/10/07 @ 09:55

  • miiiguel #78 4 years ago

    "It's true Kristan, You ARE a Gamerscore whore ;-D"

    Not the correct term, we just like to embrace the challenge.

  • Les #79 4 years ago

    "Les wrote: b) from a really early point in the game when it's too easy and gives no impression of the depth.";).

    If you'd downloaded the demo, and watched the introduction movie, you'd know that the demo starts from a point approximately half way through the game. "

    If you'd read my comment you would have noticed this was a quotation. In fact, a quotation of krudster commenting on the uselessnes of game demos in general back in the Stranglehold review...

  • Christafo #80 4 years ago

    eg giving jericho a 7/10 is more horrifying than this excuse for a game could ever hope to be.

  • morriss #81 4 years ago

    One of the worst games I've played all year. 5/10. 'Maybe' a 6.

  • Darth_Flibble #82 4 years ago

    7/10 is about right, got it for £19.99. i wouldn't pay any more than that. Its fairly good but the squad AI is a bit crap when fighting the exploding monsters