Review: Clive Barker's Jericho (PS3)

Now Gamestyle has a great deal of respect for Clive Barker, and so should you, given the wonderful Hellraiser and his subsequent work. Distinctive, challenging, unsettling and bloody, are just some ways to describe his resume. He is also no stranger to video games having already given us the Undying and now Jericho.

The storyline sees you taking charge of an elite Special Forces unit known as Jericho. This team is totally different from your Tom Clancy counterparts, as each member has a special paranormal ability, which goes beyond their conventional fighting skills and enables them to investigate the occult. Essential gifts that will be tested to the full as the teams sets out to investigate the lost city of Al-Khali, that has suddenly re-appeared in the Middle East.

As Gamestyle has already stated, Barker’s influence is evident but he can only bring visual design and story enhancement, rather than the fundamental basics of how a game should play. Surprisingly the storyline as it is left us wanting more, simply because there wasn’t enough of it on show. The Jericho characters often provide interesting snippets of their past or beliefs, yet none of this is expanded upon. Literally, Jericho feels as if a trilogy has been condensed into a novella. So much is missing, and towards the end the plot feels laboured and the ending comes as no surprise.

Visually the environments are strong, memorable and make good use of the historical slant to the plot albeit devoid of colour. The temples even now remain vivid in Gamestyle’s memory and there are frequent moments when the graphics do impress. However the polish is removed by a varying frame rate and a constant stream of baddies that with the odd exception you will be fighting from day one until the end. The character design is clearly Barker, but we really expected more quantity. A few more enemy classes that brought out new tactics in the Jericho team would have been very beneficial.

By implementing a squad-based dynamic the developer has allowed for a wide range of skills and characters to be delivered. Unfortunately the squad system is also the root of technical issues including AI, which brought back horrific memories of that Goldeneye level. Too often team mates will cross your line of fire, fail to react to grenades being thrown or just fail to grasp what they are up against. Thankfully certain characters have the ability to revive fallen colleagues, and this is something you’ll be doing on a frequent basis due to the exploding opponent that appears regularly. At least the linear route means you won’t need to look very far to find a fallen comrade.

While the stream of sudden deaths is partially due to the AI, it is also fair to criticise the conventional weaponry the squad carries. With the exception of the sniper rifle, every gun feels underpowered. Arguably this was intentional to force players to frequent the special abilities more often, however the balance is pitched badly. Too often you will reach an open area and immediately seek cover and thus begins a poor imitation of Gears Of War game play.

Throughout the game you will face locked doors or a puzzle of sorts that needs to be solved. Funnily, quite often the game will just prompt you to change character when brute force or an occult spell is the necessary key. These puzzles have been watered down to the point where little imagination has been shown by the development team, or much brainpower is required from the player. Quick time events exist to offer some variety, and while we enjoyed these, they are a rarity and over in a matter of seconds.

Apart from the graphical highlights, Jericho is a sea of suffering with the soundtrack being the only piece of redemption. The accompanying track is fantastic and really heightens any tension, with the sound effects also worthy of mention. Apparently Barker picked Cris Velasco (God of War) to create the music and Gamestyle salutes him for his work here.

Shamefully when Jericho is finished there are no other modes to speak of. This is very disappointing as an online or co-operative mode would have been interesting with the occult backdrop and powers. The main story will take you only around seven hours to complete, which with the lack of options just isn’t enough. If the AI squad system stopped multi-player options, then why isn’t there further sub-stories or strands to play through? You can read up bosses and events once unlocked either by progress or meeting certain criteria, but that’s your lot for extras.

Even with Clive Barker’s Jericho now retailing at a cheap as chips price point, it is difficult to recommend this first person release. There are moments from Barker and touches of visual flair, enhanced by a marvellous soundtrack. Yet where Gamestyle asks, did the actually gaming experience end up?

Rating: 4 / 10

Words by Jason Julier