Overwritten.net

Games => General Gaming => Topic started by: Xessive on Tuesday, October 31, 2006, 09:31:47 PM

Title: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Xessive on Tuesday, October 31, 2006, 09:31:47 PM
Here are some new screenshots:

Clive Barker's Jericho @ 3D Gamers (http://www.3dgamers.com/screenshots/games/jericho/)

This might make it into Scariest Gaming Moments list later :P
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Quemaqua on Tuesday, October 31, 2006, 09:34:07 PM
Holy crap that's looking good.  I've been watching this for a while... nice to see some progress.  Those screens are amazing.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: MysterD on Saturday, February 10, 2007, 05:57:31 PM
Is this a sequel to Undying????
Or some sort or spiritual successor (a la like what Bioshock will be to SS2)?
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Xessive on Sunday, February 11, 2007, 07:40:18 AM
Is this a sequel to Undying????
Or some sort or spiritual successor (a la like what Bioshock will be to SS2)?
I think it's just a "spiritual successor." As far as I could tell the story had nothing to do with Undying.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: MysterD on Sunday, February 11, 2007, 07:50:44 AM
Ahhh...thanks, buddy.

I never played Undying...dammit, I can add that to the list of PC games I miss'd that are kinda' hard to find at local stores, such as BG&E...

Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Pugnate on Sunday, February 11, 2007, 10:36:55 AM
What engine is that using? Oh and those screenies look orgasmic especially in terms of art.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: MysterD on Sunday, February 11, 2007, 10:43:50 AM
What engine is that using? Oh and those screenies look orgasmic especially in terms of art.

According to the Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Barker%27s_Jericho), Mercury Engine.


EDIT:
Is the Mercury Engine some developer's homebrew?
Or is this another LithTech engine w/ some "planetary" name??
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Pugnate on Sunday, February 11, 2007, 10:55:33 AM
Never heard of Mercury Steam or this engine. I just looked them up and it seems they made Scrapland, which doesn't boast a lot of confidence.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: MysterD on Sunday, February 11, 2007, 11:00:59 AM
Never heard of Mercury Steam or this engine. I just looked them up and it seems they made Scrapland, which doesn't boast a lot of confidence.
Ooooh, I got Scrapland; installed and everything.

I still ain't played that damn game.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Xessive on Sunday, February 11, 2007, 11:27:05 AM
Initially I thought "Mercury" engine was another of Lithtech's engines (as MyD mentioned), but apparently it's a whole new thing (at least as far as I can tell). I also discovered that Lithtech is now "Touchdown Entertainment."
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: MysterD on Sunday, February 11, 2007, 01:34:14 PM
Initially I thought "Mercury" engine was another of Lithtech's engines (as MyD mentioned), but apparently it's a whole new thing (at least as far as I can tell). I also discovered that Lithtech is now "Touchdown Entertainment."

Who bought them?

Peyton Manning???
Title: Clive Barker's Jericho -- DEMO RELEASED, 1.1 GB Download
Post by: MysterD on Wednesday, September 26, 2007, 01:45:51 PM
Jericho Demo = RELEASED

1.1 GB Download (http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=81290)    

Quote
Clive Barker's Jericho Demo [September 26, 2007, 2:19 pm ET] - Viewing Comments
The promised playable demo for Jericho is now available, providing a sample of the upcoming horror-themed shooter that bears the name of popular author Clive Barker. The demo premieres on GameSpot (registration required), where word is: "This demo includes an introductory Jericho video and lets you play as three of the Jericho squad members through the sewers of Al Khali." The 1.1 GB download is also mirrored on 3D Downloads, ActionTrip, ComputerGames.ro, FanGaming, Gamer's Hell, and PixelRage.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Quemaqua on Wednesday, September 26, 2007, 06:46:52 PM
Damn, that came out of nowhere.  Somebody try it!  I don't feel like downloading.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: scottws on Wednesday, September 26, 2007, 07:01:33 PM
Whatever happened to 3dgamers doing Bittorrent downloads?  That was awesome.  No way I'm taking a chance downloading this any other way.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Xessive on Wednesday, September 26, 2007, 11:10:49 PM
Whatever happened to 3dgamers doing Bittorrent downloads?  That was awesome.  No way I'm taking a chance downloading this any other way.
Yeah, they took that option down ever since IGN became in-charge. Shame.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: scottws on Thursday, September 27, 2007, 08:52:00 AM
I don't understand why?  Don't they like not having to pay for huge bandwidth?  I guess they are trying to push people to pay for the special servers or something.  Do people actually do that?
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Xessive on Thursday, September 27, 2007, 09:41:08 AM
I don't understand why?  Don't they like not having to pay for huge bandwidth?  I guess they are trying to push people to pay for the special servers or something.  Do people actually do that?
Yeah, that's probably what IGN is pushing for, considering how many of the online services they bought out. The line-ups are pretty huge so I wouldn't be surprised if people get frustrated enough to just subscribe.

I generally search the torrents for any demo or particularly huge patch downloads before I go for direct downloads.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: scottws on Thursday, September 27, 2007, 10:50:13 AM
Yeah exactly.  What happens when I'm 1.0GB through the download and the transfer fails?
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Xessive on Friday, September 28, 2007, 02:00:46 AM
Yeah exactly.  What happens when I'm 1.0GB through the download and the transfer fails?
Hehe happened to me a couple of times already with a few other big downloads. Gotta start over and hope it works this time. At my connection speed a gig will take at least 7 hours, so it's usually an overnight thing. It can be disappointing :P  I wake up like it's Christmas, run to my PC only to find no presents.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: MysterD on Tuesday, October 23, 2007, 08:33:37 AM
GOLDEN.

Due out this Friday, October 26th. (http://bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=82103)
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Xessive on Tuesday, October 23, 2007, 11:31:26 PM
I was impressed with the demo. It really went above my expectations!

While I might not pick this one up on release it is on my list, at least for some time in the future.. After Gears of War, UT3, NWN2:MotB, and The Witcher.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Quemaqua on Saturday, October 27, 2007, 12:17:40 AM
Well, reviews for this are literally all across the board.  A couple 90s, a smattering of 80s, 70s, and 60s, and even some as low as 40 and 30.  1Up gave the 30 review, though, and I read it... and after playing the demo, I can only conclude that this fucker doesn't know anything about anything.  Right out of the gate he says he doesn't understand the long load times because "the game looks like garbage", and it takes about 10 seconds with the demo to see that not only does the game look good technically, there's some nice attention to detail there.  Monster designs are also aces as can be seen from whatever screens you find around.

General consensus seems to be that the game isn't perfect and has a few rough edges, but on the whole is pretty cool.  It isn't super deep, but it *does* make good use of the squad combat stuff.  Where it lacks depth is simply the combat itself.  It's a pure shooter, probably closer to something like Painkiller than something more tactical.  It's definitely fast paced if the demo is any indication.  It also apparently isn't very scary, unless you happen to find crazy monster designs and boatloads of gore scary.  I don't even care about that, though.  The aesthetic is what I enjoy, not the act of being scared.  If you can give me dark, sick, crazy, and over the top without scaring me... sign me up.  I like cool monsters, that's about all I need.

The demo had one major glaring error that bugged me - I couldn't complete the little quick-action scene with my altered controls.  Worked just dandy with the defaults, but my alterations to the movement keys (I don't use the WASD standard, I use ESDF, which gives better access to a wider variety of nearby keys) wouldn't take.  So I used the defaults... fortunately, those didn't bother me at all.  The game actually doesn't have that many controls.  It's pretty streamlined.  You can't even jump (which was initially a WTF moment, but then I realized the gameplay doesn't need it at all).  So it worked out okay.

So, demo impressions - I'm with Xessive.  I was impressed.  The game looks very, very good, all things considered, and ran pretty decently for me even at 1280x1024.  I wasn't quite happy with it, though, so I knocked it down to 1024x768 and that was clean and pretty smooth.  It's a little bit effect heavy, but on the whole I think the look works.  Also, the camera work is extremely well done.  Could make the more sensitive out there a bit sick because it moves a lot, but the feeling of kinetic motion is there.  I was particularly impressed by the little touches there.  They did their homework on that stuff.  I loved the way Church's katana connected with the enemies and you'd get this moment where you knew you'd hit instead of missed just because of the way the animation would combine with the camera movement.  Pretty cool.

So judging from what the reviews so far have said, I think I have to get this.  It's basically just a standard run and gun shooter with high body counts, extended gunplay, and relatively target-practice AI, but it's got the cool squad member mechanics, the ability to switch between the different characters (who really do play completely differently from what I understand, and the demo would confirm that), pretty cool self-motivated squad mates (who impressed me with the way they moved and worked in the demo), and it's got awesome monster designs and supposedly a pretty good plot.  Some people have complained about the acting and the writing, but what was present in the demo was just fine.  Humorous when it was supposed to be, and the acting was decent... far from bad.

Anyway, yeah.  PC version is 40 bucks, so I'll be grabbing it tomorrow.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Pugnate on Saturday, October 27, 2007, 01:52:34 AM
I was impressed with the demo. It really went above my expectations!

While I might not pick this one up on release it is on my list, at least for some time in the future.. After Gears of War, UT3, NWN2:MotB, and The Witcher.

You sound like a guy whose got a new video card. :D

That 1up review sounds awful! 30 out of 100? Insane... it can't be that bad.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Cobra951 on Saturday, October 27, 2007, 06:26:46 AM
Hmm, they say there's a 360 demo.  I'm sure there's no way I can run the PC code, so I'll try that.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Quemaqua on Saturday, October 27, 2007, 08:34:40 AM
Let me know what you think if play it within the next couple hours, Cobra.  I'm debating whether or not to get the PC or 360 version.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: shock on Saturday, October 27, 2007, 09:59:19 AM
Funny that Jericho is just coming out... I have been playing through Undying for the past little bit.  It is a fun game.  I'll have to pick up Jericho when I am back home and I can play it on my desktop
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Pugnate on Saturday, October 27, 2007, 10:34:54 AM
Gameinformer didn't seem to like the game either. Haven't gotten anything yet from IGN or Gamespot, but I'll hold judgment till some of you play it. It looked really promising from the previews though.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Cobra951 on Saturday, October 27, 2007, 11:55:05 AM
Bah.  I don't like it at all.  Pretty graphics, so one plus anyway.  Stick sensitivity has 3 settings: way too low, too high, and way too high.  That doesn't affect the mouse-privileged, though.  It's scripted every step of the way, and features the deal-busting Lara Croft Legends stupid button-press sequences to get through  areas in the game in a semi-brain-dead, one-handed way.  Just watch yourself die over and over again until you become a good trained monkey.  Squad mechanics are decent, but I'm not a fan of squads.  You can basically inhabit the body of any team member.  I never got the feeling that I could really hold any enemy at bay.  If they decide to charge me, they get to me.  That could be just inexperience.  Don't know, and in the end, don't care.  Pass.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Quemaqua on Saturday, October 27, 2007, 12:24:16 PM
Well, I picked up the PC version today.  I wanted the extra shit for the LE that they were selling for 360, but I couldn't justify an extra 30 bucks for it when I didn't even know how good the game would end up being.  So PC it is.  It's installed now, and I'm about to give it a run.  Will post impressions soon as I have any to post.

I think already, however, that this is just a pure love it or hate it game.  There are some niggles everyone seems to have (everyone hates the button-press sequences), but it's amazing how subjectively disparate all other opinions are, and from legit sources, too.  I'm very curious now.

EDIT for IMPRESSIONS - Okay, so I gave it a little over an hour and a half, and... wow.  I really like this game.  Explaining why, and also why I think others may not have liked the game, will take some time, and really, some more time with me actually playing it.  I'm obviously not far in.

What it comes down to right now is this: Jericho is an attempt at a triple-A title from a developer that has not attained triple-A status.  Pure and simple, that's what this is.  Because of that it sometimes feels like it isn't quite on par with certain other games, but in other ways it actually manages to distinguish itself, be different, and even be impressive.  A lot of the impressive stuff is production-side.  You've got great visuals, masterful camera work in instances, and pretty damned good sound overall.  This makes even the more mundane shooter elements feel a hell of a lot more spicey than they would otherwise, much the same way that Doom 3 managed to overcome being a fairly standard shooter by having great production and atmosphere, etc.  The game doesn't feel like Doom 3, I'm just saying that Jericho is another example of where a more basic scheme was made more enjoyable because the surrounding experience was very well done.

The unique things that make the game different from other games like it are actually pretty cool.  The whole thing where you switch between squad members is actually fun to use, and each one actually does feel pretty different from the others, and I honestly have to give major credit to Mercury Steam for a job well done on that, because it would have been really easy to fuck that up and make all the characters kind of samey.  But they aren't.

For instance, Delgado actually does kill shit much faster in the ballistic sense.  His gun is huge and chews through guys much more effectively than the main character, Ross.  Delgado also has a crazy arm-demon thing that comes out and burns the fuck out of people.  Church, the little katana-wielding girl, can die pretty quick in the wrong situation, but her melee strikes are extremely quick and very strong.  She can zip in and out and take guys down very effectively as long as you aren't trying to take down the wrong guys and are careful to make sure she doesn't get rushed by tons of enemies at once.  Her powers allow her to hold enemies at bay with these blood tentacle things, so that helps with that, but you have to be smart about using it, because it drains her health.  The sniper chick also dies fast, but she can kill multiple enemies at once using telekinetic control of her sniper bullets, essentially turning them into guided missiles you can control, ramming them right through the heads of several enemies in a row (neat).  I won't bother describing each member in turn, but case in point, they each have their own weapons that nobody else uses, and their own skills that nobody else has.  This gives them identity mechanically, but it's also cool that they talk a lot.  Some phrases are definitely overused and are definitely going to get old before too much time goes by, but the audio cues are really quite well done on the whole.  They give you information, but they're also nicely tailored to whoever is talking, so their personalities come through.  Heal the tough guy, and he grunts and tells you to back off, he was just fine.  Heal one of the ladies, they're a lot more appreciative.  Some of them say stuff like "Aww, that's all?" when you clear an area, where others give you a businesslike "Area clear", or some such.  Nothing major, but nice touches that add up to make you feel like you actually have a squad of different people with unique gifts.  I like that.

I think combat will either be difficult or easy for some people.  I think the difficulty will rise sharply from what it is where I am now, but the point is that if you aren't using each individual person effectively, you're doing it wrong (i.e. make the guy with the fire shield thing protect some people that lay down suppressing fire, make sure the sniper chick gets a chance to take a few guys out while they're still too far to engage you, make sure the katana chick doesn't sit around using her gun all day since her katana is the more desirable choice).  The game seems designed around the premise that you try and use the best squad member for the job when you can, and if you can't, either heal them if they're down, or go find them and possess them so that you can make better use of their advantages.  I can't speak to this in detail yet as the option just opened up in the game.  From what I've heard, though, this is handled well, and the only people who seem to have a lot of trouble are those who don't seem to grasp the system.  And it's worth noting that the combat feels like warfare.  Very chaotic, lots of shit blowing up, blood flying everywhere, people getting hurt and needing rescue, enemies spawning from multiple points... that kind of thing.  Except it's warfare with fucking crazy zombies.

Also, the voice acting isn't bad at all.  There are a few cheesier lines of dialogue, there's some weird idiot who reads the opening fluff and just sounds way, way over-dramatic about it, but on the whole I think the voice acting is really pretty good.  This goes hand in hand with not expecting too much.  Don't expect things to be flawless and you'll be fine.  Expect a good B-movie effort that rises above its peers because it's highly entertaining even if not always completely consistent, and while occasionally a little silly or over the top, it's in that more fun Aliens (the movie) kind of way.

I'd say that Jericho on the whole feels like an intermarriage of Gears of War, The Darkness, The Suffering, FEAR, and Painkiller.  It's got the Gears of War no-health-meter thing, the squad thing, healing squad members thing, and some of the cool "zomg we're at war!" camera work, it's got The Darkness's swapping of fun abilities for use in different situations and the cool FPS camera work, it's got some of The Suffering's general aesthetic just carried into a different setting and with way, way, way better monster designs, the needs-a-couple-more-enemies-and-envionrments-but-is-still-fun thing that FEAR had, and it's got enemy counts and a cheesy premise that still manages to be fun and badass ala Painkiller.

I can't complain for 40 bucks at all.  It appears to be roughly the same length as your average FPS these days (8 to 12 hours reported that I've seen), and while it doesn't have multiplayer, a lot don't.  This is no more a worse deal than The Darkness or BioShock.

I'll definitely post more impressions after I get into it a bit more, but so far things are very positive.  I'm really having fun and am very pleased.  I didn't know what to expect, and while on some levels I was hoping for more innovation, I'm very glad that the game itself is just plain fun to play, even if not genre-breaking.

Oh, and on a last note, this game is absolutely nothing like Undying, for those hoping for something in that spirit.  This is a much more standard FPS game for what it is, and I think Barker did more work with the monster designs and stuff (explains why they're so good) than he did writing some grand plot.

To end this, I'll also give you all some screens to chew on.  Surprisingly, these aren't very good.  The game looks way, way better in motion.  My recommendation is to take these and zoom them in to fill your whole screen.  That seems to help.  Also, keep in mind that I've only gone through a small portion, so you've got the same enemies and the same areas all shown here.  The screens help demonstrate too that the game is extremely dark in spots, though you can have your flashlight on and have a weapon out at the same time, unlike Doom 3.

(http://www.theflyingmonkeyapparatus.com/Jericho001.jpg)
(http://www.theflyingmonkeyapparatus.com/Jericho002.jpg)
(http://www.theflyingmonkeyapparatus.com/Jericho003.jpg)
(http://www.theflyingmonkeyapparatus.com/Jericho004.jpg)
(http://www.theflyingmonkeyapparatus.com/Jericho005.jpg)

EDIT x2 - Forgot to add that the game doesn't feel like a bad console port on PC.  Menus could use some help and stuff, but the engine itself is very stable and hasn't fucked with my system at all, and the graphics look beautiful.  No errors so far except that there's a problem with the game not recognizing my "S" as "left" when doing the little button-press things.  It still sees that as "A".  This could easily be patched, and is so far the only thing I've noticed that's an actual bug.  This doesn't make a bad PC game at all so far, and the mouse control seems nicely done.  Load times were also very fast for me, and many complained about that (some of the levels are very short, so there's a lot of loading, but for me these times were all under like 5 to 7 seconds).  What does annoy me about loading is that it "types" background info on the screen that I want to read, but it types it so slow I have to wait until well after the level has been finished loading.  That kind of sucks, but it's a really minor complaint.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Cobra951 on Saturday, October 27, 2007, 03:24:23 PM
It didn't strike me as a standard FPS at all.  It's a heavily scripted squad game, like Gears of War.  Playing the different characters yourself is a nice touch, but this is still not my thing.  The press X X A B Y Y crap is what totally killed it for me.  I had mixed feelings until then.  I hope you enjoy it, since you plunked down the cash.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Quemaqua on Saturday, October 27, 2007, 09:49:11 PM
Well, I'm pretty good at the button-pressing things.  I've played so many games that do that it just doesn't bother me anymore.  And these just restart you at the beginning of the scene, so it really isn't so bad (unless they happen in combat when an enemy grabs you or something, in which case you take big health damage, or maybe instant "death", not sure).  So I can't comment on that.  I've done several so far and they've been pretty much a non-issue.

And what do you mean by "heavily scripted", exactly?  You run into an area, tons of enemies spawn, you kill them, tons more spawn, you kill them.  Once they're dead, you go to the next area, rinse and repeat.  The fact that a squad is involved generally just dictates who you're going to use for what situation, i.e. using certain characters to attack or defend against certain enemies, manipulate the environment in certain ways, occasionally make one character get forced to operate alone, or remove a few characters to reduce your options, that kind of thing.  But the action itself is just good 'ol FPS blast-o-rama!
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: MysterD on Saturday, October 27, 2007, 10:05:10 PM
Sounds like a fun FPS romp, to me. I figured this one would be decent.

Oh -- and those screenies look pretty sweet.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: idolminds on Saturday, October 27, 2007, 10:15:08 PM
Quote
I'd say that Jericho on the whole feels like an intermarriage of Gears of War, The Darkness, The Suffering, FEAR, and Painkiller.
Fucking SOLD!
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Pugnate on Sunday, October 28, 2007, 12:35:17 AM
Oh

My

God


Those visuals made me shed tears of delight.

Quote
The press X X A B Y Y crap

That's a bit of a turn off for me as well.

Looks sexy though.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Xessive on Sunday, October 28, 2007, 12:51:01 AM
I've only played the demo and I really liked it.

I actually enjoy the "interactive cutscenes" with the "Push >, Push ^" though God of War and God of War 2 made them quite challenging :P

I agree with Que on all his points, at least as far as I experienced in the demo.

I'm looking forward to the full game!

P.S. Love the new look Idol :D
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Quemaqua on Sunday, October 28, 2007, 01:09:22 AM
And actually, there are codes you can "unlock" by calling some help line and paying a 3 bucks a minute or whatever, and one of them lets you automatically pass those button-press sequences.  I imagine the codes will somehow get out at some point and you can get them all for free.  Or there'll be a trainer or something.  So hopefully those sequences won't deter people too much.

I put several more hours into it tonight and I still love it.  This is a game where you should definitely try the demo.  It's very indicative of the final product.  If you like that, you'll love it.  If not, maybe not.  I don't know that not liking the demo is a guarantee that you won't like the game, because I guess it depends on what you don't like about it... and it does just kind of throw you in there a bit.  Still, I think you'd get a good indication either way.  So try it first.

But yeah, the game actually feels less standard to me now that I've played it more.  The dynamic of using different characters to help keep your other members alive is really cool and fun.  There are a lot of points where everyone is basically pinned down, and while your mates can easily help you dispatch normal enemies, there are some that need to be taken down in specific ways, or defended against with certain abilities... so using the right person for the job then comes into play.  Like right now there's this area where a lot of guys have explosive ranged weapons, so I'm using Church to run really fast behind the enemy lines, letting the other guys deal with the grunts, and am then taking out the ranged guys with her katana quickly so they don't kill my buddies.  But there were other times when it was a much better idea to use Black to take stuff out with the sniper rifle for a while, and then switch to Delgado when some guys got too close and you needed a big gun to cut them down quick.  Then Cole has the grenades, so there have been numerous times when whipping those out has been real handy.  So yeah, the combat has focused a lot on giving you a fortified location, then throwing various enemy types at you, and if you don't deal with some of them quickly they can just swarm you and kill all your guys one after another... so you use your fortified position to swap between the different guys as you need them.  Your mates perform all basic functions pretty well (barring only a couple instances where the priest guy just let himself get shot for some reason), so you don't have to babysit them overmuch, you just have to make sure that when you've really got to do something specific, *you* do it, you don't rely on the others.  The game wouldn't be any fun if they did everything, after all, so it's nice they balance it well for the player.

I can kind of see why some people might not like the game, but I also sort of think they're crazy.  I'm in love.  The plot isn't terrible, either.  Well, it isn't anything special or whatever, but the concept is carried out well so far.  It uses too many cliched devices, but they all end up serving the game in some way, so I'm not complaining.  And whoever said the game is ugly must be blind or a monkey.  Or maybe a blind monkey.  There are definitely parts that stand out as less awesome, because again, this isn't a triple-A developer, but for the most part I find everything to be very good looking, and there are times when the way the chaotic combat works with the camera just totally bowls me over at how cool some basic thing ends up looking.  The melee combat is single-button basic, but it ties into the gunplay well, and it feels truly dynamic just because of the way the game can slow down for a millisecond when you connect a hit, and the way guys respond to hits when they aren't killed by them, and the way corpses go flying and slam against walls and all that when you do kill them with a hit.

The difficulty for me is just right, too.  I've lost a few times, generally when I only had a 3-man squad, but checkpoints aren't very far apart and the levels are fairly short in their own right.  It hasn't been frustrating at all.  Though do be careful if your system sucks, as load times are frequent.  Death loads are nothing, but new levels come up much too frequently and on systems that load slowly could be annoying.  As mentioned, though, it loads very quickly for me, so I really don't care.

A little rough around the edges, but I'm having loads of fun with this.  It's easy to grasp if you like FPS games, but it definitely rewards you for learning to move to its own groove, and the combat is just great.

It's true that the game isn't scary, though.  You've got your buddies around at all times and there are just too many enemies, so unfortunately the truly gruesome horror look doesn't serve anything but your bloodlust.  Although really, that isn't such a bad thing, and killing swarms of enemies along roads made of human bodies and rooms covered in guts just makes you feel like a hardcore badass.

EDIT - Oh, and that bug with the button pressing being off if you customize your controls is still there, which sucks.  At first I thought it was just my new controls were fine except with the LEFT press as being A like the default instead of S like my new setup, and then after that stopped working and it seemed like just using WASD for all of them worked perfectly.  Then later it switched back to the first.  So that's a little stupid, but so far it's the only bug of any kind I've encountered, either related to the game directly or related to anything technical.  Everything has worked fine with that exception.  Hopefully they fix that shit in a patch, though it hasn't impeded my progress at all, so I don't care too much just now.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Cobra951 on Sunday, October 28, 2007, 06:51:47 AM
And what do you mean by "heavily scripted", exactly?  You run into an area, tons of enemies spawn, you kill them, tons more spawn, you kill them.  Once they're dead, you go to the next area, rinse and repeat.  The fact that a squad is involved generally just dictates who you're going to use for what situation, i.e. using certain characters to attack or defend against certain enemies, manipulate the environment in certain ways, occasionally make one character get forced to operate alone, or remove a few characters to reduce your options, that kind of thing.  But the action itself is just good 'ol FPS blast-o-rama!

What I mean is that you may as well be in a straight corridor the whole time, with openings for the bad guys to attack from, and doors to block all progress until you figure  a way to get through them.  Every last thing you do from beginning to end is in response to scripted events.  There is no real freedom to work out the world on your own, in your own way.  Gears of War did this school of game design very well, and I enjoyed it for what it was.  But I was wishing it were a different game as I was going through it, and I'm in no rush to play it again.  Bioshock is much closer to what I want out of a first-person shooter.  While the story elements need to be addressed, they don't hold you captive every moment.  You are generally free to explore, practice, discover, and finally use your own wits to get through the challenges.  Aping button presses is about as far from that as I can think of at this moment.  As I said, it was this alone which made my mind up to pass on the game.  Everything else I might have been able to get in the mood for; and if the game had been Son of Bioshock with the silly button presses  inexplicably thrown in here and there, I might have been able to forgive them.  As it stands, not enough draws me in, and too much pushes me out.

Edit:
And actually, there are codes you can "unlock" by calling some help line and paying a 3 bucks a minute or whatever, and one of them lets you automatically pass those button-press sequences.  I imagine the codes will somehow get out at some point and you can get them all for free.  Or there'll be a trainer or something.  So hopefully those sequences won't deter people too much.

And this is a good thing?!  What a cash cow, eh?  Let's throw in dumb button sequences no one wants to do, and then charge to make them go away.  Brilliant.  Where can I buy stock in this idea.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: MysterD on Sunday, October 28, 2007, 07:36:38 AM
I've only played the demo and I really liked it.

I actually enjoy the "interactive cutscenes" with the "Push >, Push ^" though God of War and God of War 2 made them quite challenging :P
Ain't played Jericho yet....
...but I like interactive cut-scenes, like those found in say Indigo Prophecy and Res Evil 4.

Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Quemaqua on Sunday, October 28, 2007, 12:20:10 PM
Oh come now, Cobra, it isn't like charging for that shit is a new idea.  It's really more of a throwback to days of yore when it was common to have "hint line" numbers and such on the backs of boxes.  I haven't seen that much recently, but it was once frequent.  Of course it's completely stupid and anybody idiotic enough to participate with their wallet deserves to be charged for being stupid, but it's hardly a new concept.  Again, I'm sure people will either share the information or just break the game open to unlock it in either case.

Anyway, I do see what you're saying, but BioShock is a one-in-a-million FPS franchise.  Most FPS games *are* more "scripted", to a degree.  BioShock is the odd man out, unless you're talking military simulations.  Of course I completely hear what you're saying, and it's a valid reason not to want to play this game, but I don't think it'll bother your average shooter fan too much.  They're well versed in being forced down corridors into the next firefight.  What's cool about Jericho is that you can try to tackle things a little differently.  You can use a different character primarily through each fine, which will drastically change the outcome much of the time, you can use different abilities even if you use the same character.  Like using Church's fire and blood wards, which burn and hold enemies in place, respectively, is totally different from avoiding their use and simply focusing on rushing the weaker enemies with her katana and keeping them occupied while your other guys throw firepower out from the back ranks.  You can also have your squad follow you all the way up somewhere, or you can tell them to hold back.  There were a number of times when I changed things up in my favor by having everyone hold back, going forward to scout, unleashing some bad guys and drawing them back to a more fortified position.  I love that sort of thing.

Anyway, just trying to say I don't think the game is quite as cookie-cutter as you're making it out to be, though you're right, it's no BioShock.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: MysterD on Sunday, October 28, 2007, 01:59:13 PM
The characters in your squad sound cool -- that they got their own personalities and all.

Is the game's AI itself okay? Does the AI do any funky or odd things?? Is the AI's pathfinding okay and all of that jazz?


Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Quemaqua on Sunday, October 28, 2007, 02:40:36 PM
The AI isn't impressive because it's very straightforward.  That's more what I meant when I talked earlier about this being a pure shooter.  It's more about choosing targets and the best way to deplete the enemy ranks efficiently, and not really about outsmarting anybody's tactics.  Enemies take cover, they don't get stuck on stuff, and they will sometimes dance around you and keep in your blind spots, but they don't really work together in any obvious fashion, they don't really flank you or anything (though to be fair, the game's design doesn't give them much opportunity to do that in the first place, and sometimes guy spawn on multiple sides of whatever position you're holding), and they just... pretty much act straightforwardly.  Melee enemies rush you, doing their best to zigzag and dodge bullets, but they don't take cover and they don't do anything but rush you (except try to stand out of your line of sight sometimes if they get close), and distance enemies use cover and whatever, but they tend to be rather tank-like and just sort of advance slowly toward your position as they see fit.  There are some different enemy types that switch things up, like some guys with explosive ordnance that are weak and tend to stay in the enemy's back ranks instead of trying to push to the front, but on the whole the AI is just standard stuff.

Most of the combat variety comes from a few different enemy types that function differently, not necessarily act so differently.  There are some roman soldier type guys that have these huge shields they can deflect weapons fire with, there are suicide bomber guys that have yellow pustules that need to be shot off before they reach you in order to detonate them safely, and that sort of thing.

All this to say... the AI doesn't do anything stupid, it just doesn't do anything smart.  This goes for your squad mates (who at least use cover well most of the time, and have only on a few occasions just stood there getting shot, and it's only the healer guy that's done that) and enemies.

EDIT - Also, let me know if you guys are interested in a gameplay video.  Most of the ones floating around YouTube don't seem so great.  If there's interest, I can try to do a quick one at better resolution and stuff to show off some of what I think is cool about the game.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: MysterD on Sunday, October 28, 2007, 03:02:49 PM
At least the AI isn't too stupid -- on pathfinding and that kind of stuff. In the FPS games, for me, nothing's more annoying than you shoot an enemy in the head, and its mate right next to 'em just stands there and does...practically NOTHING. Also, it's very annoying when NPC's getting stuck somewhere, trying to figure out where to go.

Or, when an AI member gets in your way -- and bang, they're dead and you have to reload your last save b/c you need to keep that NPC alive. One thing I really liked about R6: Vegas was for my teammates, that I could bring them energy back to their feet if they get knocked down and hurt -- that's if I can get to them and get the chance to revive them. It was hard in Vegas to get your NPC to actually die, to fail the mission and all. You really had to not tend to the NPC for a while and let them to continue to be shot and hit, for that to actually happen.  I only done it like 4 times, in all my time of playing it -- though, I've revived the NPC's on numerous occasions. So, yeah -- that's a pretty good game mechanic. Also, one thing I liked about Doom 3 was if a NPC teammates died, I didn't fail the mission and have to start over -- the NPC's weren't needed to keep going; the game still went on, with or without them.

To me, Jericho does look like a fun shooter -- and the graphics do look pretty good, to say the damn least. I'll have to eventually snag it, when it gets cheaper, since my wallet is aiming towards The Witcher.

With the PC this year having STALKER, Bioshock, The Orange Box, Jericho, Crysis, GoW PC, and a handful of other shooters that have came out already this year or are coming out before the actual end of this year -- hell, this been a pretty good FPS year on the PC!!!

Quote from: Que
It's basically just a standard run and gun shooter with high body counts, extended gunplay, and relatively target-practice AI, but it's got the cool squad member mechanics, the ability to switch between the different characters (who really do play completely differently from what I understand, and the demo would confirm that)
You can switch from squad member to squad member as you play?
Hey, that sounds pretty cool -- especially since you say they play different.

Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Quemaqua on Sunday, October 28, 2007, 07:02:55 PM
Finished the game, loved the whole thing.  The negative reviews are a bunch of bull, for absolute certain.  Everything I said still stands.  I'm going to be playing through it again soon.  PC version has unlockable stuff via 360-like achievements, so I'll have to go through on Hard to get those, and also starting doing more specific things like killing enemies with melee weapons, popping heads, and making guys explode.

Also, longest credits sequence EVAR.  And the ending is sort of... not an ending.  Very abrupt, but leaving room for a sequel.  I sure hope the bad reviews don't kill this game and fuck over the plot.  It starts really generically, but what they do with it turns out to be quite a fun experience in the end.

EDIT - Also, a quick googling indicates that there's a program that unlocks all the bonus content.  Fuck Codemasters in the ass for that "hey, give me money so you can cheat" garbage.  I downloaded it, scanned it for viruses, used it... and viola, no more "survival events" (though honestly, I think the world is full of pussies -- I had next to no trouble with a single one of them).

EDIT x2 - Who wants a gameplay video? (http://www.theflyingmonkeyapparatus.com/Jericho_Gameplay.wmv)  30-something megs, pretty nice resolution, some fun and obscenely violent gameplay.  There's some weird skipping at the end because my machine was choking on something, and it doesn't run quite as smooth as it would if I wasn't taking video while playing, but it features a few cool moments that highlight the general pace and visceral feel of the gameplay pretty well.  Combine this with playing the demo and you should have a good idea of what the game is like.  Two minutes, twenty-two seconds long, featuring two different segments of the same location (and only two characters, though you get see the whole squad -- just not firsthand).

EDIT x3 - YouTube version (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4a-rhMRgfI) for those who like their videos small and blurry.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Xessive on Monday, October 29, 2007, 01:09:45 AM
I don't get most of the negative reviews. I loved the demo! The small glimpse the demo gave was a pretty good one. I was happy with the controls, graphics, sound, overall ambience and environment, and how well it immersed me!

Obviously I'm not gonna make any conclusive judgements until I've played the full game, but I am optimistic.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: MysterD on Monday, October 29, 2007, 07:59:38 PM
Que is not gonna be happy w/ this G-Spot Review for the PC version.

6.5 from GameSpot (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/adventure/clivebarkersjericho/review.html?sid=6181937&om_act=convert&om_clk=multimodule&tag=multimodule;picks;story;1)
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Quemaqua on Monday, October 29, 2007, 08:48:29 PM
Surprisingly, on the whole, I actually agree with his general assessment.  It goes with what I said - this is an attempt at a triple-A game by a non-triple-A developer, and it does feel like it sometimes forgets its own potential.  However, I don't feel that the problems are major, obviously.  A 6.5 seems quite low for how much fun I had despite the minor flaws.

However, not surprisingly, this review is by Kevin VanOrd, who I fucking hate and think is a complete idiot.  I've hated this guy for a while, and hopefully the following points show him for the fuckwit that he is.

Quote
Then, add to the mix the game's most annoying (and annoyingly common) foes: demons that explode upon death. The things lumber along quickly and take down any nearby character when they fall. And, like most of Jericho's supersturdy enemies, they absorb a good number of bullets before they die. On its own, it's a perfectly legitimate enemy design. But in a game with six squad members and the most claustrophobic levels ever devised, it's the opposite of fun. You'll watch in horror as your entire squad goes down at once and you are powerless to stop the violence. Why would you create an enemy that needs to be taken down from a distance, in a game that doesn't let you distance yourself? Maybe it's meant to be a challenge, but in reality, it's just imbalanced and cheap. We suspect it's all done under the guise of being "tactical," but this is no tactical shooter. Enemies just mindlessly traipse toward you, so the extent of your tactics is switching between characters to use their abilities in tandem.

WRONG, dickwad.  The exploding guys (who aren't demons, by the way, but corrupted cultists) can't "absorb a good number of bullets".  They are, in fact, invincible.  You can't kill them by depleting their health, only by shooting specific weak points on their bodies.  No wonder you didn't like them.  You were too stupid to figure out how to kill them.

Quote
The story itself never really takes advantage of all this thick, fearful ambience. The setup is pretty awesome on its own, though. In the beginning, God didn't create Adam and Eve--He created a sexless being known as the firstborn. Turns out that whole experiment didn't work out too well, and the thing got locked away in an alternate reality, where it occasionally gets too bored and tries to escape. The secretive Jericho squad exists to shove the firstborn back where it belongs. Too bad the script itself is just a thin slice of nonsense, featuring far too many hokey one-liners ("praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!") than good taste allows. And just when you are finally getting into it, the game ends with a lame boss fight without answering any of the main questions it raised. Leaving room for a sequel is one thing; creating a story that literally goes nowhere is something else entirely.

The story setup is actually pretty awful.  It's been done before a jillion times in various forms.  And the script itself is fine.  His single quoted line is obviously supposed to be farse, which he plainly doesn't get, and while this stuff isn't going to win any awards, it's perfectly functional, occasionally amusing, and I never found anything annoying.  Also, after the initial boring plot setup, what the game does with the plot is actually pretty fun, and while the ending is indeed terrible (cliffhanger city), it raises several points that actually make the concept of the plot seem far more intriguing than it did at any other point.  So I can't agree with him there, either, though we can both agree that it was too abrupt and could have been handled better.  I'd love to see a sequel based on where they went with it at the end.

He goes on to complain that certain animations for powers take too long, which is obviously subjective since I don't find that to be the case at all, bitches about the level design which I thought was mostly functional, if not particularly standout in any regard, and he complains that everything is very linear and close quarters, but that's where learning how to play the game properly would come in.  I found myself dying from tight areas where my guys got killed, so I learned how to direct them and spread them out a bit.  Problem solved.  Complaining about that seems to me to be like complaining about having to click on things in an RTS game.

However, he's smart when he says that this is a love it or hate it game, because that's the truth, I just don't agree that you have to "see behind the shit" to get to the good stuff.  I find the good stuff to be paramount, and the bad stuff mostly just stays in the background.

Anyway... I've rambled enough.  Case in point, I don't agree, but I do agree.  His general assessment taken as an overall thing is fairly accurate, he's just far too critical about certain elements and plainly doesn't understand why certain things are the way the are.  He's done the same thing with several other reviews, so I don't find this surprising in the least.

EDIT - Oh, and the other point I forgot to add was that the PC version does not have long load times as this guy would have you believe.  Mine were literally about 5 seconds long most of the time.  If you can't wait that long, you have problems.  I've heard the console times aren't so hot, though.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Pugnate on Tuesday, October 30, 2007, 11:49:13 PM
I just read IGN's review. 5.6...
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Quemaqua on Wednesday, October 31, 2007, 12:06:29 AM
IGN is full of idiots, and again, the IGN UK review was 8 something.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: MysterD on Monday, February 11, 2008, 06:51:17 PM
For those looking for Jericho PC....
Amazon got Jericho PC on sale for $16.99.
(before shipping costs). (http://www.amazon.com/Warner-Bros-117350-Barkers-Jericho/dp/B000R2W8WE/ref=pd_bbs_sr_5?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1202780520&sr=8-5)

Cheapest I seen that listed for.

Though, to get that free saver shipping, you'll also want to look for something else qualifying for free saver shipping, just to push you over that $25 minimum requirement to get you that free saver shipping.

EDIT:
Actually, according to CAG Insanity List (http://cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169458) (which is a list comprised, in which gamers jumped in on the "50% discount from games that are below $20 list"), someone got Jericho PC for $8.50.

It's all "milage may vary", of course, since some CC's have reported the same games for a little different prices at other CC stores -- but if you got a very close nearby CC, worth price checking some stuff out...
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: gpw11 on Monday, February 11, 2008, 07:03:10 PM
I am interested in a gameplay video.  I don't know why I haven't come across this before.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: MysterD on Monday, February 11, 2008, 07:43:19 PM
I am interested in a gameplay video.  I don't know why I haven't come across this before.

Game Vid:
Here ya go. (http://www.gamespot.com/video/934445/6179809/clive-barkers-jericho-official-movie-1)

Character Vids of different squad members and their unique skills:
Billie (http://www.gamespot.com/video/934445/6181234/clive-barkers-jericho-official-movie-2)
Father Paul (http://www.gamespot.com/video/934445/6181236/clive-barkers-jericho-official-movie-4)
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Quemaqua on Monday, February 11, 2008, 08:37:33 PM
Bitch, I had you covered in October (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4a-rhMRgfI)!
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: MysterD on Tuesday, February 12, 2008, 02:58:31 PM
Bitch, I had you covered in October (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4a-rhMRgfI)!

That vid's pretty sweet! :)
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: MysterD on Monday, February 18, 2008, 08:47:00 AM
This is something I think Que might really like...
Click me! (http://gamemusichall.net/music/Clive_Barkers_Jericho/jericho.php)
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Quemaqua on Monday, February 18, 2008, 11:28:18 AM
Nice link, I'll have to check that out.  I don't really remember the soundtrack if I liked the soundtrack or not.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: MysterD on Monday, February 18, 2008, 11:51:20 AM
Nice link, I'll have to check that out.  I don't really remember the soundtrack if I liked the soundtrack or not.

I started the game earlier -- and so far, I do like it quite a bit.

The gameplay and action is flat-out awesome, so far. I really like the character switching aspect a lot. And it really adds to the game that they all got their own weapons and abilities, too. The controls are excellent, too. The story and the monsters is all good stuff, too.

I really like the load times are like very quick. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about -- more games need to look at aiming for that! :P

One complaint, so far -- 800x600 was a disaster for me, staying around 15-20 frames (even on LOW). :( 640x480, it runs very well -- 25-35 frames, or so. It's really not a super-big deal really, as I'm enjoying this thing so far.

So, umm.....why the hell did this game such low scores???  :o
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: Quemaqua on Monday, February 18, 2008, 12:12:20 PM
I honestly couldn't tell you.  There were a few things that could have been improved or removed (the button-press sequences were a little lame), but it was a perfectly solid FPS that I enjoyed from start to finish.  In particular I enjoyed the little details like the way the camera moved... it had a much more organic feel to it where you got the impression of head movement much better than most other games.  There was nothing entirely revolutionary, and I can see taste dictating whether or not you'd like the mix of squad combat with the sometimes tight quarters, but the universally low scores to me are just another example of the complete lack of objectivity in the gaming press.
Title: Re: Clive Barker's Jericho
Post by: MysterD on Monday, February 18, 2008, 12:24:50 PM
I honestly couldn't tell you.  There were a few things that could have been improved or removed (the button-press sequences were a little lame), but it was a perfectly solid FPS that I enjoyed from start to finish.  In particular I enjoyed the little details like the way the camera moved... it had a much more organic feel to it where you got the impression of head movement much better than most other games.  There was nothing entirely revolutionary, and I can see taste dictating whether or not you'd like the mix of squad combat with the sometimes tight quarters, but the universally low scores to me are just another example of the complete lack of objectivity in the gaming press.
No, it's not revolutionary by any means -- but, it is pretty damn good at what it does (so far).

I really love the dynamic w/ the characters having their own unique abilities and the character switching option. I liked the game without out it when it was getting going, but once the game opens that up, it just makes the game ever better and a whole lot more fun.

I dunno, but I have no problems w/ having such tight quarters with the squad combat in this game. Were reviewers complaining too many of their squad-mates getting killed at once in a tight area? LOL. That don't bug me -- you just handles yours, then heal who you can when you can. Plus, when your current character gets swiped, it switches you off -- letting you get a chance to be other characters. The combat in this is definitely intense, too.

Funny, how nobody complained about Doom 3, when you had so many tight quarters there...and sometimes, you even had another guy w/ you. Well, it's not 6 or 7 in your party like Jericho, but still...

Oh, I like the way the characters and their personalities are always interacting in Jericho, too.

EDIT, 2/24/2008:
Just finished this thing. Yeah, it was good.

Still baffles me how the scores were so low on this one. IGN UK giving it a 8.0 or so, that's sounds more ballpark than anything else I've seen for scores.

Really though -- the presentation, voice-acting, and action was top-notch. Story was good and interesting. Loved the whole character switching dynamic.

My biggest complaints: had to run it on a low res' to get it running good and that the ending is a big cliffhanger.

So, yeah -- is there a Jericho 2 planned...?

ENDING Stuff
(click to show/hide)