Clive Barker's Jericho

Jericho isn't a groundbreaking shooter, but what it does, it does really well. Sadly, there's no online content here, just a slew of production art to unlock by completing skill tests in the game - making for a sound FPS that will have horror geeks gagging for more and shooter fans reaching for the sick bag. [Nov 2007, p.92]

Jericho is not a bad game it’s just one that lost its way slightly during development. The ability to jump into other team members bodies and harness their powers is a good idea let down slightly by poor implementation and a claustrophobic level design.

Jericho is clever enough for a good time with a FPS, however as anything else Jericho should trade in this blood gushing festival of carnage for jelly donuts.

A solid shooter marred by poor design. Good visuals and some fine FPS gameplay are to be had in Jericho, but I wouldn't pay full price for it,. If you can, get the 360 or PC version.

Poor level design poisons Jericho's awesome but unrealized potential.

A handful of original ideas lost in a thick mist of generic design, and lame scares. Oh, well. [Dec 2007, p.70]

Full of gore and ideas, but ultimately it fails to deliver on its initial promise. [Dec 2007, p.80]

Clive Barker's Jericho fails to be compelling enough to escape the bonds of mediocrity.

Clive Barker's Jericho might be the most boring and linear shooter ever. The idea of switching between characters is nice, but it is wasted on dull monster design. Also, the guns are the most underpowered peashooters ever. A huge disappointment, since the idea sounded quite interesting. [Oct 2007]

If broken gameplay mechanics and community college acting didn’t weigh down the game, it might actually be worthwhile.

While boasting some uninspiring mechanics for a first person shooter, the biggest area that Jericho falls down on is its inability to produce a sense of atmosphere and suspense throughout its levels and, in a horror game, that's critical.

Jericho doesn't really bring anything new to the gaming world.

On one hand it's a near-broken video game, packed full of so many gaming no-nos that it ought never to be spoken about again, but on the other it's original, atmospheric and sickeningly good fun.

Jericho had a lot of potential, and in some ways, like jumping back and forth between squad members it actually does something different. Sadly, all of the game's set-up and backstory are essentially squandered on an over-reliance on the same constantly spawning enemies and too-obvious puzzles.

Jericho is way too ambitious and it hurts on every side. While not broken, it’s poorly designed and dull, from spawning enemies making the tactical play irrelevant, to a horror story that, despite its charm and intricacies, just isn’t scary. Jericho may be art, but not all art is good.

Clive Barker's Jericho does a few things well and a lot of things poorly. In no way can it compare to the other awesome FPSs available now (Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, for example), and when you spend more time healing than fighting, there's something seriously wrong.

Instead of getting caught up in the struggle against a demonic force that threatens the continued existence of your race, you're left with tacked-on squad elements, poor friendly and enemy AI, repetitive encounters, and unabashedly linear levels. Jericho has a few memorable moments, but they're not worth the cash.

The sheer number of things that had to go wrong to keep Clive Barker’s Jericho from being a raging success is almost unbelievable, because when it comes right down to it, this game had the makings of a real hit. The fact that the credits roll at the exact same moment you finally find yourself on the edge of your seat cements the overall feeling of incompleteness the game gives off from the beginning.

Jericho lacks any real defining features - it's just a mass of clichés, tried and true genre elements and technical issues.

It’s important to stress that Clive Barker’s Jericho is really not a bad game. It’s just nowhere near as good as the top shooters that surround it. [Dec 2007, p.124]

The short answer to the question, "Why isn't Jericho a fun game to play?" is that the AI is broken and the hackneyed horror stylings would barely have raised an eyebrow back in Barker's '80s heyday. [Dec 2007, p.104]

Clive Barker's Jericho is as run of the mill as you'll find in a next-gen game.