As you know, a demo for Clive Barker's Jericho hit Xbox Live Marketplace this morning. Unlike our compatriots at Joystiq, we did not have a chance to test the game at E3, so this was a fresh experience for us. It's clear that the folks at Codemasters really want players to like Jericho, as the demo comes loaded with a very lengthy video explaining the premise and gameplay features of the title. You learn about the character switching dynamic as well as the abilities of the seven squad members. Unfortunately, you only get to utilize three of these squad members during the demo, but we still got a decent idea of how the full game should play.
In the demo, you are given command over the sniper, heavy weapons expert, and a close combat specialist. The combat specialist utilizes a katana and a severely underpowered machine pistol, and she possesses the power of bloodscribing. Basically, she activates powers by carving symbols into her flesh. Most of the time, this power acts as a net, tangling enemies and locking them in place. The heavy weapons expert carries a gatling gun, a pistol, and possesses the ability to summon fire to do his bidding. The sniper, as you might expect, packs a sniper rifle that has a somewhat unusual addition: a grenade launcher. The sniper also possesses the power of telekinesis, allowing her to push enemies away and -- much more intriguingly -- guide sniper bullets with her mind. Using this power, she can kill several enemies with one bullet by changing its trajectory after each kill.
The action takes place in an ancient Middle Eastern city that supposedly sits atop the resting place of God's aborted attempt at creating the first human being. As you can imagine, it's not exactly a friendly place. It's all very dark, at times so dark it's literally impossible to see. Such times require players to use their flashlight, which does just enough to light the way. We're sure the weak flashlight was designed to increase the tension, and it works pretty well as enemies can get the drop on you if you're not careful.
Speaking of enemies, they are quite the grisly bunch. The ancient city seems to be populated mostly by the undead Crusaders we've seen in earlier trailers for the game. The types of Crusaders varies. Some of them are simply charging targets, while others change things up with shields that block incoming fire. Remember the weak machine pistol we mentioned? Don't even think about it on these guys. We've emptied a whole clip on unshielded enemies with no effect, so stick to the katana if you want to bring them down. Of course, the gatling gun and sniper work just fine as well.
Honestly, the demo is short enough that we never really felt the need to switch characters, except for two scripted instances that required their abilities. The sniper has to use telekinesis to clear a blocked tunnel and the katana wielding member is needed to climb a wall. Also, we're not sure if difficulty was turned down for the demo, but it seems difficult to die. In fact, the demo informs players that the bloodscribe power drains health points. At one point we just sat there casting spells to see if we could weaken ourselves to the point of death, but no dice. Even with several spells active simultaneously, it hardly seemed to effect health at all.
Still, as we said, the demo is short and what's there to play is enjoyable. We actually enjoyed one scripted sequence that prompted us to input the correct buttons or face death. We failed several times, resulting in a long fall onto hard stone, where we actually watched the blood pool around the character's body from a first person point of view. Mr. Thompson, we think we found your next target. At any rate, the demo is certainly entertaining, and we're looking forward to the opportunity to try out the full game and the remaining squad members.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-27-2007 @ 6:20PM
xenocidic said...
oOo can the katana cause bleed outs? =]
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9-27-2007 @ 8:37PM
juliodfw said...
No bleed outs just slice and dice. Sword sucks though. Also This game is so awesome. The graphics I think are alot better than Bioshock, although I can guarantee the story will suck and bad. I just hope they brought in online Co-op because the whole Team Mate dynamic would just be wasted.
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9-27-2007 @ 10:02PM
OTAM said...
This game is very strange feeling. I don't know what it is about it,but the game just feels very "muddy" or sluggish. That may not even be it,but it's the closest I can come to describing what I mean.
It just plays weird. Is it just me?
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9-27-2007 @ 10:43PM
MDJ2010 said...
I just gave it a run through and Im with OTAM, it is very slow and mundane. The idea that the graphics are better than Bioshock are crazy to me. Amongst all the other great FPS games this one will get lost.
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9-27-2007 @ 10:51PM
heishiro said...
Played the demo, sluggish play, sloppy character movement, aiming is not precise...
and the over the top demon/horror/gore motif
seems to have been pulled from all of the 80's gorefest movies I watched as a teen...
Want a good example of a modicum of gore/horror /suspense with an EXCELLENT non-hackneyed story like "OH NO! demons are going to infest the earth from another demension!!! yawn...) I have one word for you BIOSHOCK
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9-27-2007 @ 11:26PM
NukeAssault said...
I thought the demo played great. Quite the opposite. I loved the way the charactes moved. It just felt good lol. Framerate felt smooth too and it looked awesome. =)
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9-27-2007 @ 11:55PM
Tony said...
I had no real problem with it either, and honestly, I don't know how much you can pull from its story in a 15 minute demo that features absolutely none of it.
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9-28-2007 @ 2:08AM
petersjov said...
Hi, great demo, i dont really like to play those games the focus only on blood & splatter..... , but i did play bioshock, it had great gameplay. Back to the demo, very very great gameplay, it really drawed me in, I spc liked undead with shield, the way the bullets hit the shield, you really have to aim a bit *S* - i got lost, lost my way, in the tunnel at the locked door, great!. seems like a thought through plot.
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9-28-2007 @ 2:31AM
Mikeawesome said...
Demo was not bad, especially considering I was writing this off entirely.
Honestly, though, I feel sort of on the same level as heishiro, it's very heavy-handed in the way it presents the "horror". Blood splatter, "Undead", People with "mystic" or "Magical" powers. It's just very cliche. I'd love Condemned type games, where it's not quite horror, but it's suspense and there's instances of psychosis and general "Mind-fucking". I think Condemened, though early on in the 360's life with some hackneyed characters and a storyline that didn't feel too complete, was probably the best game to come out on launch.
It's for this reason that I'm so excited for it's sequel. Monolith will have time to treat this game right, it will be able to add more to the story and complete Mr. Thomas' journey, and by god it allows for some more psychotic gameplay. I mean, seriously, how many times do you get to talk about "psychosis" when you're talking about a video game? That in and of itself should be enough! :D
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9-28-2007 @ 3:01AM
D dogg said...
It's a CLIVE BARKER game (for everyone screaming its a 80's cliche game. Sure, he can NOT make that type of story... but then he wouldn't be CLIVE BARKER).
At any rate, I thought the game was really good. It was a little dark for my taste but it is only a 10 minute demo so I wont draw a final conclusion.
I think what some are experiencing is a slow paced movement with a high sensitivity for looking around. It was a pain to kill some of the guys using the Katana.
Anyway, if the storyline is as good as "Undying", we're in for a good game.
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9-28-2007 @ 3:51AM
AtomicAgeZombie said...
Wait until the FINAL version comes out before you start complaining about the story. The overall plot of everything (movies and games) sound very boring and mundane. It's all about how it's delivered.
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9-28-2007 @ 10:03AM
Bennyishere said...
I enjoyed the "wobbling" of the camera and the way you move when reloading, etc. Still, the levels are stupid and so are the enemies. Also, the women on your team are what, 2 feet tall?
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9-28-2007 @ 10:25AM
ANt said...
I thought the demo was very cool. Bloody and psychotic, two great qualities in any game.
Look forward to this one.
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9-28-2007 @ 10:40AM
dunnypop said...
no online co-op. no sale.
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