Clive Barker's Jericho

Is this a review of Jricho or an excuse to rant about not liking Barkers stuff? the writer seems to spend only about a quarter of the review talking about the game and even then keeps on obsessing over the story instead than the gameplay

Fair point.. but judging from other reviews it does sound rather stodgy and bland in the gameplay department. For some reason codies external dev titles seem to be a bit naff generally.. The only genuinely good external games that I can remember published by them were Flashpoint and 2nd sight.. (I havent played the Middle Earth online title) and how long ago was that? Internally its like they can only do racing/footy sequals these days.. Im not saying reviving classics isnt bad.. but to do it every year or two is a bit sad.. and hardly genius at play. Oops, I've wandered off topic..

Hard to take the review seriously when the writer is so full of crap

e.g. "that notorious hack and paederast Oscar Wilde."
Dyson you really are ignorant (or desperately attention seeking) and homophobic. Maybe you should stop pretending to be a journo and go work for the Sun. Or try to make better use of your arts degree by writing porn?

Gay=child molester is such a tired old prejudice. Wilde’s lover Bosie (Lord Alfred Douglas) was 22 when they met – he was hardly a ‘boy-lover’. Of course you were probably just having a dig at Barker who is gay. How about throwing in some racism too? But you haven't got the balls because you'd lose your 'job' for that.....

Apparently "The problem with Barker is his lack of subtlety". Pots and kettles eh Dyson? Whilst Wilde had talent, and Barker certainly knows success, I'd guess you possess neither. That might explain why your review reads like the babbling of a bitter, pompous drama queen who’s swallowed a thesaurus. Grow up.

meh, seems like a fairly balanced review, these anonymous idjits need to get off yer nutz.

as far as the story goes....everything seems derivative and utterly predictable these days anyway, even the "twists". codemasters probably didn't expect much in the way of story, nor is much neccessary. they prolly paid him for the name to hang on it.

I am full of crap, but no moreso than the average person, and certainly no more than you.


I suspect that I am far less ignorant than you sumise. But possibly far more attention seeking.

Your screed seems to show that you do not know the meaning of paederast, or that you confuse it with paedophile.


That's interesting. What makes you think I have an arts degree? Are you perhaps someone who knows me?


But Oscar was not gay. The fact that he had children should attest to that.

And paederast does not mean paedophile. And you really should know that before you embark on a criticism based on that premise.


I was not alluding to Wilde's affair with Douglas, but instead to his self confessed - nay, self proclaimed - paederasty. You can deny it all you like, but Wilde was a paederast. History stands with me, not you. At least Time Magazine believes so. That dubious source, Wikipedia, too.


Oh, don't be ridiculous! Why should I rib Barker for being gay, which is perfectly acceptable, when I can far easier rib him for being a poor and tedious writer?


If I want to be racist, I can do so without fear for my job. But I am not racist, just as I am not homophobic, and I will be lured into neither for your entertainment.


But I am writing video games reviews, a genre that does not benefit much from subtlety. He is writing horror, a genre that does.


Then you'd guess wrong. But I'd have guessed you would.

"This is not the first time Clive Barker has been involved in the production of video games. His previous flirtations with the genre, however, have been inauspicious."

I dunno - I thought Undying was pretty damn good entertainment. And a quick trip to www.gamerankings.com shows an average review of around 85 to 90%, so I suppose I'm not alone in that camp.

Past examples suggest a "celebrity" attached to a game simply provides a broad story arc, the occasional snippet of dialog and a casual glance over content to make sure he or she is happy with how his/her intellectual property is being used. And then they walk off with the first 200 grand of the profit the game makes.

If a game is poorly realised or cliche-ridden it can't always be laid squarely at the foot of just one individual (unless that inividual was a power-mad meglomanic of a project director who didn't take anyone else's view on board). Unless Clive Barker was micro-managing the direction of the game down to the setpieces, the level design, the lighting, the sound effects, the weapon accuracy, etc etc etc, all he's probably guilty of is cashing in on his name.

Just one more thing - video games development is a team sport. If a game is a success, that success is it's down to every artist, every programmer, every tester, every producer, marketing guy, sound technician and musician who put their life into it for two long, hard years. In the same way, a failure means the blame has to be spread around a bit, from the guy who didn't get the lightning weapon effects quite right, to the musician who decided a heavy guitar track was the right way to go, to the audio engineer who didn't ask the voice actor for just one more take.

If Jericho had been a top-notch 98% rated galaxy-blowing game, would you have said it was all down to Clive Barker's involvement?