Clive Barker's Jericho Demo

Clive Barker has made a name for himself through the exceptional horror stories he authored over the years, some of which got turned into good movies and video games. Now, his latest creation revolves around a fantastical universe of magic and monsters, where danger lurks around every corner and the world is about to be invaded by powerful evil forces.

Clive Barker's Jericho is a first-person shooter that aims to introduce a few new mechanics to the genre, which is always a pleasant sight, as long as they improve the experience and make things better. The game is also built on top of Clive Barker's horror genius, with an intricate and intriguing story beneath all the action and the monsters that invade the screen from the first second of gameplay.

As far as the plot is concerned, there are many aspects of it that are related to Christianity and God himself, such as the fact that he created a powerful, but evil creature way before he made Adam and Eve. Naturally, this creature cannot be controlled properly and he makes an entire city for himself deep underground, which somehow gets buried at one point and no one hears about it for a while. When the place is finally uncovered, the armies of darkness start flooding the Earth, which calls for a team of specialists to handle to situation.

Right from the bat, you are thrown into the game together with a few companions, which are part of your team and they have different powers to fight off the invasion. Whether it's powerful magic spells, a thick armor and a big gun, or a slender body that makes acrobatics look easy, every member comes in handy at one point during the story. Naturally, you get to switch from character to character whenever the situation asks for it and witness the power of each one of them over the course of the game.

However, there are many annoyances that just do not let you enjoy the experience as you should, most of which are related to the actual gameplay choices. Thus, the introduction of quick-time events is definitely a huge bother, since they happen randomly throughout the game and they basically ask for you to press the appropriate button within a second or die immediately. This gets increasingly more frustrating as you progress, especially since these events are not even that exciting to begin with and they seriously hurt the atmosphere.

Another flaws sits in the very linear and claustrophobic level design, even of the graphics engine does a good job at portraying the environments. The enemy AI basically has only one line of code to it, which tells it to run toward you whenever you get close enough. Thus, the action turns into a rail shooting sequence for most parts and you certainly do not get the chance to be scared or frightened by anything.

While Clive Barker's Jericho is not exactly a bad game, it is definitely not a good one either, since it has too many flaws to be enjoyed thoroughly from start to finish. It is, however, quite atmospheric and Barker's signature is clearly visible, but that doesn't mean there's anything horror-related to the game, other than the silly monsters that run face first into swords and grenade launchers.