GamerNode: Previews - Hands-on: Clive Barker's Jericho

Hands-on: Clive Barker's Jericho

Wow, color me pleasantly surprised. Codemasters released a demo for Clive Barker's Jericho this week and I was blown away. Jericho is an upcoming FPS interlaced with horror elements and combines team-based combat with various paranormal powers. While I've known about the game for a little while, I was shaky about its gameplay -- especially since the game has to balance and offer fun gameplay for 6 different squad members. This game is only the second title for the game's developer, Mercury Steam, and their debut title (American McGee Presents Scrapland) was a bit mediocre.
 

But after getting some hands-on time with the demo, most of my fears vanished. I'm happy to say that your squad's AI is not stupid (Daikatana, anyone?), the game has excellent atmosphere and visuals and the controls are very tight and solid. While the game will have 6 squad members for you to control, the demo came with 3: Sgt. Frank Delgado, Lt. Abigail Black and Sgt. Billie Church. They'll react to enemies, seek cover, yell out commands and positions and will comment on whether or not you're a moron.
 

 

One of the main draws to the game is the Jericho squad, which is comprised of 6 (well, 7 if you include yourself) supernatural characters laced with paranormal powers. Each member has two specialized paranormal powers to wield along with some pretty cool weapons. Take Church, for example. She's a Christian circus-girl turned badass ninja. Her specialized powers are blood magic, one of which is a fire emblem that causes fire damage to any enemy that approaches. In a haunting fashion, she carves the symbol into her hand and then sit back to watch the fireworks. As for her conventional weapons, she has a really awesome katana along with an automatic pistol.
 

Storywise, the game's plot is penned by notable horror author Clive Barker. I, of course, have fond memories of his first produced game, Clive Barker's Undying and went into Jericho with full intentions of being creeped out, and good lord was I creeped out. As for the story, it's somewhat complex; before Adam and Eve, God created the Firstborn, who was God's first attempt in recreating himself. Of course, it doesn't turn out well and God banishes the Firstborn into the desert. Many years pass and a city called Al Khalid is built on top of the Firstborn's grounds. Naturally, creepy and deadly things occur and the Jericho squad is called in to clean house.

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