Clive Barker's "Jericho" a Failed Success
I’m a big Clive Barker fan.
Lots of people know this. As I do have many of his earlier works proudly displayed on my bookshelf and the imaginative works of his poetic language often nitpicks my thoughts with his intimate violence. Reading one of his stories is like getting a first hand experience in surgical study. There’s plenty of blood everywhere.
I’ve been first introduced to his world through the raw, creative stories of the Books of Blood series. Some of the stuff is just plain creepy and still stays with you long after you put down the books. Stories like “In the Hills, The Cities” and “The Midnight Meat Train” have been long a corner of my nightmare paradise. They’re beautifully crafted literature that shows his immense talent for creating memorable characters.
That’s why I was rather interested in picking up one of the more recent games on the x-box 360 called “Clive Barker’s Jericho.” The cover of the video games shows a rather graphic monster design with chomping teeth and potholes for his cheeks.
The game is something of a disappointment. It falls flat on many expectations between moments of video game triumphs. There are some good stuff. And some sections of the games really has its shortcomings. It’s too bad because the game does have some potentials.
Starting at the beginning of the game, you learn that you are a commanding officer who leads an elite team of supernatural fighters into a walled city established in northern Africa after a solid storm blacks out the skies in the most biblical fashion. You find out that there’s been a breach between worlds and many dangerous souls and demons push their way into the real world here.
Barker’s writing is always dependable. Very intense, like reading poetry of horror. He delivers a masterful plot that is broken into many different levels. You must go through several different time periods such as World War II or the Sumerian age loaded with nice historical backgrounds. Barker does have a great imagination, a landscape of great threats, lurking inside the back of his head and it might be difficult to translate his concepts into a working game. But there are some grisly interludes of gothic terror that lures you into the lower levels of his hell. You start to wonder where such a nice guy like Clive get his ideas from.
There’s plenty of elbow room for darkness, long tunnels, wondering what’s around the next corner. One of the better effects is the use of the flashlight when peering into the wounded blackness. It’s a nice gaming technique picked up from the more successful horror series “Silent Hill.”
Another nice idea for the game is this: the main guy Ross, your character, is the first person to bite the big one in the beginning of the game. Not often that a hero would be utterly trashed right away by demonic attacks. So he does his Meeting-With-Jesus and dies. But it allows for you to become a kind of guiding spirit or ghost who transfers himself into the other major characters of the group. Goodbye Ross, hello team. It gives you a chance to work out other character strengths and techniques.
“Jericho” has a good set-up and creates an atmosphere of foreboding doom right away. Though not all of the team characters seem to be very useful. The sadder part is that some of them are not very well developed as I would like them to be… such as the supporting characters of “Star Wars: The Knights of the Old Republic” are filled with history and past lives, making their lives seemingly immersed. You only get chops and pieces of the character’s life… and some of them you don’t really get to know. My favorites would be Church who is a Japanese girl with a sordid past… having been raped by her father at an early age, thrown into an asylum. But her powers are pretty good and you can use the sharp-fitting Katana sword for close melee attacks. It cuts deep. The other one is Cole who is afraid of the dark and recoils from being touched. But she is the smartest one of the group who can help get through some puzzles. The lesbian sniper Frank is very good and helpful too. However, I would have liked to see very thick and interesting stories surrounding each of the characters.
They all look like they walked out of a late night party from a Goth Club. If you like that kind of look. I think it’s spot on. I don't mind at all.
The greatest triumphs of the game is mired by the worst defeats. The clumsy movements in tight corners and hallways makes for frustrated plays. Worse, it simply feels like the old mashing the buttons routine that gets a little tiring after a while. I would prefer a major story peppered with action scenes. The more story, the more interesting the characters are. And they could help with the tension of the horror story. They should have allowed for Barker to develop a more sturdy plotline and side quests. His writing is unique. And the game should have taken advantage of it.
After a few levels of the game, you begin to feel the repeated frustrations as you run into the same spot of trouble… too many enemies crowding you as you can’t get passed certain game points. Therefore the game often runs into a dead end. And I do mean that literally.
The game is filled with plenty of dust. As you are venturing into the desert which may hold the cradle of humanity in its hand. There’s some nice horror effects throughout the game far and between. There are some news of having a sequel to “Jericho” coming out on the horizon. Perhaps they will need to get a better engine for the game play that can be more sophisticated and demanding of thought. And it would be better for them to get Barker to writer a fuller story for the next entry, perhaps allow for greater portions of the story to develop between action scenes. Otherwise, it really becomes a shoot them all mentality. I would prefer more story than anything else.
It’s not bad. But it wears somewhat thin after a while. Which is unfortunate. There are not many horror games series out there that can leave a satisfactory impact. “Jericho” falls into the category of the mediocre. It leaves you wanting for more. But here’s hoping to a possibly better sequel with more effort put towards subscribing a storyline.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea making a game into a kind of horror novel. Pass that glass of blood, will ya? I think I’m getting thirsty.
Lots of people know this. As I do have many of his earlier works proudly displayed on my bookshelf and the imaginative works of his poetic language often nitpicks my thoughts with his intimate violence. Reading one of his stories is like getting a first hand experience in surgical study. There’s plenty of blood everywhere.
I’ve been first introduced to his world through the raw, creative stories of the Books of Blood series. Some of the stuff is just plain creepy and still stays with you long after you put down the books. Stories like “In the Hills, The Cities” and “The Midnight Meat Train” have been long a corner of my nightmare paradise. They’re beautifully crafted literature that shows his immense talent for creating memorable characters.
That’s why I was rather interested in picking up one of the more recent games on the x-box 360 called “Clive Barker’s Jericho.” The cover of the video games shows a rather graphic monster design with chomping teeth and potholes for his cheeks.
The game is something of a disappointment. It falls flat on many expectations between moments of video game triumphs. There are some good stuff. And some sections of the games really has its shortcomings. It’s too bad because the game does have some potentials.
Starting at the beginning of the game, you learn that you are a commanding officer who leads an elite team of supernatural fighters into a walled city established in northern Africa after a solid storm blacks out the skies in the most biblical fashion. You find out that there’s been a breach between worlds and many dangerous souls and demons push their way into the real world here.
Barker’s writing is always dependable. Very intense, like reading poetry of horror. He delivers a masterful plot that is broken into many different levels. You must go through several different time periods such as World War II or the Sumerian age loaded with nice historical backgrounds. Barker does have a great imagination, a landscape of great threats, lurking inside the back of his head and it might be difficult to translate his concepts into a working game. But there are some grisly interludes of gothic terror that lures you into the lower levels of his hell. You start to wonder where such a nice guy like Clive get his ideas from.
There’s plenty of elbow room for darkness, long tunnels, wondering what’s around the next corner. One of the better effects is the use of the flashlight when peering into the wounded blackness. It’s a nice gaming technique picked up from the more successful horror series “Silent Hill.”
Another nice idea for the game is this: the main guy Ross, your character, is the first person to bite the big one in the beginning of the game. Not often that a hero would be utterly trashed right away by demonic attacks. So he does his Meeting-With-Jesus and dies. But it allows for you to become a kind of guiding spirit or ghost who transfers himself into the other major characters of the group. Goodbye Ross, hello team. It gives you a chance to work out other character strengths and techniques.
“Jericho” has a good set-up and creates an atmosphere of foreboding doom right away. Though not all of the team characters seem to be very useful. The sadder part is that some of them are not very well developed as I would like them to be… such as the supporting characters of “Star Wars: The Knights of the Old Republic” are filled with history and past lives, making their lives seemingly immersed. You only get chops and pieces of the character’s life… and some of them you don’t really get to know. My favorites would be Church who is a Japanese girl with a sordid past… having been raped by her father at an early age, thrown into an asylum. But her powers are pretty good and you can use the sharp-fitting Katana sword for close melee attacks. It cuts deep. The other one is Cole who is afraid of the dark and recoils from being touched. But she is the smartest one of the group who can help get through some puzzles. The lesbian sniper Frank is very good and helpful too. However, I would have liked to see very thick and interesting stories surrounding each of the characters.
They all look like they walked out of a late night party from a Goth Club. If you like that kind of look. I think it’s spot on. I don't mind at all.
The greatest triumphs of the game is mired by the worst defeats. The clumsy movements in tight corners and hallways makes for frustrated plays. Worse, it simply feels like the old mashing the buttons routine that gets a little tiring after a while. I would prefer a major story peppered with action scenes. The more story, the more interesting the characters are. And they could help with the tension of the horror story. They should have allowed for Barker to develop a more sturdy plotline and side quests. His writing is unique. And the game should have taken advantage of it.
After a few levels of the game, you begin to feel the repeated frustrations as you run into the same spot of trouble… too many enemies crowding you as you can’t get passed certain game points. Therefore the game often runs into a dead end. And I do mean that literally.
The game is filled with plenty of dust. As you are venturing into the desert which may hold the cradle of humanity in its hand. There’s some nice horror effects throughout the game far and between. There are some news of having a sequel to “Jericho” coming out on the horizon. Perhaps they will need to get a better engine for the game play that can be more sophisticated and demanding of thought. And it would be better for them to get Barker to writer a fuller story for the next entry, perhaps allow for greater portions of the story to develop between action scenes. Otherwise, it really becomes a shoot them all mentality. I would prefer more story than anything else.
It’s not bad. But it wears somewhat thin after a while. Which is unfortunate. There are not many horror games series out there that can leave a satisfactory impact. “Jericho” falls into the category of the mediocre. It leaves you wanting for more. But here’s hoping to a possibly better sequel with more effort put towards subscribing a storyline.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea making a game into a kind of horror novel. Pass that glass of blood, will ya? I think I’m getting thirsty.
posted by K.M. Paters at 11:51 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home