Clive Barker's Jericho

I bought this game full price so any advice and words of wisdom i am about to give should be ignored at all costs. Now we have that out of the way gather round children for i shall tell you a tale of the newborn and the Jericho team. Gather in suspense as i talk to you about the boring enemy's, the bland uninspired level design and a story that goes absolutely no where! behold the 6 characters each with fantastic and mind bending powers (you will mostly use only 4) and of course the most cryptic of puzzles to test even the most intellectual like minded individuals (use TK power where it says use TK power) in short this game is nothing short of tedious and boring.

I can't possibly say this game is bad, because it isn't, but it is hugely disappointing. Lets start off with the positives...the graphics are brilliant, the lighting, the gore and the monsters and fantasically created and really does help to make the game even more disturbing. Its not necessarily scary but you find yourself in strange awe of Clive Barker's somewhat frightening attention to detail to such a violent premise. Furthermore, despite what others have said, the script and voice acting really do help you differentiate between each character, a trait which really helps bolster a powerful, unique and dramatic plot. The ability to change players to play out a level with varying tactics does provide a certain degree of innovation but you'll find yourself choosing one or two characters for different situations and stick to that, unless a specific event requires you to change to a different player. For me the most powerful part of the game is the story, you find yourself wanting to carry on playing just to experience the developing plot, however this also leads to the games biggest downfall. There are significant faults with the game, such as friendly AI being pretty stupid and therefore the "squad-based" aspect of the game becomes pretty ineffectual. There is also a large amount of repetition within the levels and you'll find yourself coming across the same enemies over and over again, its disappointing but as I said the story keeps you going. This is why Ive become so disappointed with the game, the story starts so strong and builds up as each level is completed, suggesting that the game would end with a huge finale which would leave you stunned, saddened, but satisfied. But...well...it doesnt. I wont ruin the ending but I was honestly shocked that such potential ended so, so weakly. This is a good game definately, if this game was longer I may not be so critical of it but after completing the game within 6 or 7 hours and then being left with such a bitter taste in a mouth, I find myself feeling somewhat hard done by. With the game completed and knowing how spending another 6 hours of gameplay will end this game will find itself on a pre-owned shelf in a matter of days unfortunately. If you want to try it, rent it. You'll experience the great story and quick paced gameplay, but wont find yourself feeling so gutted with the ending (you will most probably complete it within the rental period) and therefore wont feel like you've wasted £40. Its a shame such a potentially brilliant game has ended up being so distinctively average....

There was a little hype surround this game, and to fill the gap between Medal of honour 4 and Blacksite 51 I paid £39.99 for this stinker. Uninspired story line, non-existent game play, poor level design are a few ways of describing this game. I gave this game around 45 minutes of playing time before taking it back to the shop to trade it for Kane & Lynch and take a £15 loss. This has to be the worse FPS I've ever played and it doesn't deserve to be a 360 title. To give you a general idea of the game play, run to a location, stand and shoot all the "monsters" that run straight at you, run again to another location, shoot more "monsters" that run straight at you.....it doesn't change much through the first few levels I played. I had to check several times that my "character" was actual firing his weapon as there was nothing to indicate I was hitting anything, poor weapon sound affects added to this. There was no real Character AI either, they just seem to run into walls until they find an opening and couldn't shoot the broad side of a Boeing 777 while standing along it.

I could go on all day and slate this game, don't waste your money.

Just played the demo. baldiee (review 1) must be a twonk. This game looks fantastic and I had no problems getting to the end of the demo. Perhaps baldiee should stick to pac-man or a similar entry level game. A must buy.

If you have already finished The Orange Box and Halo 3 this year and you are looking for something else of this quality and standard, then Jericho isn't it. But despite it's flaws, this game still entertains. The problem with jericho, is that it takes far too long to get going, and when it finally does, it ends with the most bizarre and unfulfilling ending I have yet to see in a game. The Ancient Rome and Sumeria levels are fantastic, but it takes half the game to get to them, and for me the early levels were tedious, and very poorly designed. They mainly consist of shooting at constantly respawning enemies for ten minutes with no checkpoints, so if you and your team die on the last enemy, then you have to start ten minutes back and shoot them all over again. This occuring around 4 or 5 times in one area can really put you off this game very quickly. The most annoying aspect of the game, is the exploding zombies. They are very simular to the enemies in Resident Evil 4, that require careful sniping from a distance to destroy various weak spots in order to bring them down. The problem is, that you can't snipe them from a distance because most of the time they attack in confined passages, along with 2 or 3 melee enemies, and by the time you have taken out the melee creatures, the exploding zombie has wandered right into the middle of your team, and detonates killing all of your team and the character you are playing as, meaning tedious replaying back to the same battle, only for it to happen again and again, until the joypad goes through the window. This sort of occurance is nothing to do with poor tactics on the players behalf, and is completely unfair when it occurs, and there is nothing you can do about it. It makes the game feel rushed, and although the graphics are excellent, it makes you feel that this is what all the time has been spent on, and that the story, level design and gameplay have all been added during somebody's lunch hour, without proper playtesting.
However, I don't want to make this game sound bad, because it isn't. There are some good ideas in there. Mainly, the ability to change between the six characters at any time during a level, without any loading or delay. As, you don't gain any weapons or powers through out the game, you find you must constantly switch between characters to use the right weapon or power for the right circumstance. This the game does very well.
All in all, it's no half life, but for twenty five quid and around 8 hours gameplay, it's not bad as a half decent fps. Problem is, it should have been fantastic, and so easily could have been.