But has thou the faith to survive the onslaught of evil ?

Sometimes I’m in the habit of buying a game, and then getting side-tracked with either a newer game or an old one I start replaying. So I end up uninstalling the game and putting it on the shelf for a later stage. But I do get to these titles at some stage. No matter what, I have a strict policy of finishing every game I own. One such game, is Clive Barker’s Jericho.

Way back when the game was announced, I was jumping up and down like a kid before Christmas at the thought of a new Clive Barker inspired game. Still fresh in my mind was Clive Barker’s Undying. A game overlooked by, I’d wager, 90% of gaming population. For whatever reasons I cannot fathom. Undying was to my mind, a masterpiece. It had atmosphere, a fantastic story, intriguing gameplay and did I mention atmosphere ? It was a game ahead of it’s time, maybe. And it’s lack of popularity could also be because of it’s lack of advertising. I’ve always been a gatherer of gaming news, but I never once saw as much as a glimpse of Undying. Yet when a friend introduced me to the game, I was drawn to it immediately. Even though Undying is an old game now, it’s definitely still worth a play-through by anybody interested in the horror FPS genre.

The announcement of Jericho then, meant another game from the mind that brought us the Hellraiser movies. Another game stepping into twisted reality and blowing our minds with images and ideas so horrid and terrible that they seem plausable. So does Jericho live up to that reputation ? Thank goodness, yes it does.

What’s it about then ? To quote wikipedia : “Certain Apocryphal and Gnostic texts speak of a being created by God, in His own image, before the creation of Adam and Eve; according to legend, this being was abandoned by its own Creator…The Firstborn, too powerful for even God to keep from breaking into the mortal world, would make seven attempts to escape, each time taking back a piece of the earth to add to its domain and each time sent back to the Abyss…The Jericho Squad is sent to Al-Khali to prevent Leach from opening the breach and unleashing the Firstborn upon mankind once again“.

A thrilling story unfolds from there and the world your eyes are bombarded with from the word go, is realized in perfect graphical splendour. Even though the game is near on a year old, the graphics still surprised me. Lighting is used in such a way as to bring the world to life and add that extra level of atmosphere. Not that the game needs it. Jericho is literally oozing with atmosphere. Throughout the game, you get to control all the different members of Jericho squad. Each member with his / her unique abilities. Ranging from Abigail Black’s “Ghost-bullet” ability where you get to telekinetically control a bullet fired from her sniper rifle in order to kill up to three enemies with one shot, to Simone Cole’s “reality hacking”. Allowing her to affect reality using complex mathematical equations. She’s also charged with keeping ammo levels high, effectively “rewinding” time in the team’s ammo belts to the point where they were full.

The deeper one delves into Jericho, the more intruiging the story becomes and the more you start to ponder on “What if this were all true…”. Some of the game’s reviews I’ve glanced at on the net, mention bad level design. I think it’s not so much bad level design as part of the linearity of the game that shows. But the game being linear doesn’t hurt it at all. It still remains an experience to run around the guts-infested levels being assaulted by creatures straight out of hell and your worst nightmares.

Some reviews also have bad mention of the timed events. These are somewhat of a cut-scene where the player gets to view the events from one of the teammates’ viewpoint and having to press buttons as they are flashed on the screen in order to get out of sticky situations. Press a wrong button, and it always ends in death or something horrible happening. True, some of these scenes end up leaving one frustrated because you really have to be quick and accurate in most of them. But to me, it just adds that extra sense of accomplishment once you get through a particularly difficult situation. Also, it adds to the reality of “being there” even more.

Sure, this kind of game isn’t anybody’s cup of tea and most people want freedom in a game. But if you’re interested in experiencing a horror story as it unfolds and feeling as if you were truly there, Jericho does this masterfully and really brings it’s twisted world to life. I’m actually dreading getting back to the game. Not for fear of what lies next, but for fear it will end. That’s the kind of imprint it’s leaving on me already.

In closing, Jericho goes straight to my column of “Must buys” for any horror FPS fans out there. It lies there right next to Undying and Call of Cthulhu. If you enjoyed a game like F.E.A.R, you will most definitely enjoy Jericho. It’s pacing is perfect, it’s story leaves you wanting more, it’s controls are intuitive and most of all it’s a lot of fun to play. From steering a bullet through three skulls in a row leaving them in smithereens, to engulfing enemies in flames as a result of blood magic. It all fits together nicely like a well-oiled machine and apart from the often difficult timed events, the player feels as if they’re in control all the time.