Clive Barker is one of the greatest contemporary horror writers of our generation. Terrorising us in our youth with the
Hellraiser and
Candyman movies, and haunting people’s imaginations with books such as
Imajica and
Weaveworld; the announcement of
Jericho renews his focus video games. Codemasters was kind enough to allow me some hands-on time with the recently.
Jericho is a brand new story written specifically for a video game, so this is no adaptation we’re seeing here. So, some original thinking, from an English author picked up by an English publisher. In fact, this is the first deal of its kind Codemasters has struck, and the publisher hopes that any success of this project will result in future collaboration.
The story of the game takes place in the Middle Eastern city of Al-Khali, where a series of paranormal and freak weather incidents are linked to a local death cult. Fearing the worst, the U.S. Department of Occult Warfare (oh yeah, there really is one too, honest) dispatches the
Jericho squad, a seven-man team that aims to investigate the situation. During their travels,
Jericho members realise that evil activity has been taking place throughout the ages, and must travel through time and fight ungodly creatures from eras past.
In visuals, the game is looking to be shaping up really well. Both on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, I was treated to a high-quality build that really brought a foreboding atmosphere to the dark caverns and dungeons the characters were trundling through. A horde of undead soldiers with shields and weapons come running at me - while some run for cover and try to cap me from afar. It’s down to your leadership of the
Jericho squad to overcome the different types of enemy you face.
At least, leadership might be the right word, if the
Jericho squad leader didn’t actually die at the very start. Ross – for that’s his name - remains as a spirit who can possess his other team-mates and control them to traverse certain areas. This is not only a clever way of getting around the method of switching to different characters, but also makes you aware of the other special abilities that each team member can perform. For instance, the sniper called Black can use telekinesis to control the path of some of her shots so they hit the right target; Church is a spell caster and can use some of her life force to perform various magic skills; and Delgado is a pyromancer who can cast fire from his very hands. Pretty cool stuff.
It’s not just these abilities that set each squad member apart either. Each character also holds a different weapon setup: for example, Delgado holds a massive chain-gun for those manic quick-fire moments; Church comes with a pistol in one hand and sword in the other for close range action. As you go through the ages you will have more members added to your squad as it slowly regroups. You end up ‘being’ seven people with whom you must defeat bosses.
