[Warning: Possible spoilers.] About a year ago I read some reviews for the game Jericho that I was not happy about. I’m a big fan of this game and think it’s really quite a masterpiece (I suppose the game would fall into the “cult classic” category). So, if at times it sounds like I’m not so much praising the game’s features as I am defending them, it’s because I am. This is not so much a review as it is a rebuttal, but you can take it for what it’s worth.
Jericho is a first person “squad-based action horror game based on an original concept and story by acclaimed horror writer and filmmaker Clive Barker.” (official website) Your squad, Jericho, is a team of talented, skilled individuals trained in conventional and occult warfare, or, to put it plainly, “witches with guns”. As a secret division of the US Special Forces, Jericho has been sent to a city in the Middle East, Al-Khali, to perform Operation Godseal. The story, based closely on a Gnostic belief, is that, before man, God had created a perfect being, the Firstborn, but was so disturbed by His creation He forsook it and banished it to a prison known as the “box” or Pyxis (God = Frankenstein!). Throughout the time of man, the Firstborn had seduced many to try and release him—to open a breach into our world so that he could wreak havoc on all of God’s creation. But repeatedly the world was saved by a team of mystics who closed the breach. In the present, a man named Arnold Leech and his followers have committed terrible evil acts such as mass killings and suicides in order to create a “karma bomb” that would effectually reopen the breach. Despite Jericho’s mission, and the past teams of occultists who have saved the world, Jericho was not formed for this purpose; there’s a whole other backstory for that! This is all just a small piece of the intriguing, bold, and believable story in Jericho. What makes the game so believable, and what I love most about the background story, is that many things are taken from real life people, events, sculpture, etc, and are either taken to another level or put in a different context. If one knows a little bit about anthropology and the humanities it becomes very evident that the writers did their homework.
Not only is the story itself brilliant, but the characters are original and highly developed, having unique relationships with one another and characteristics specific to their personalities, although, unfortunately, this is not revealed very well in gameplay. It’s like when you see a movie that’s based on a book. It may be great as a movie alone but usually a lot of good information can be left out. Jericho tries to circumvent this by putting information about the characters in the extras, which can be unlocked with certain achievements (“get 50 headshots”, or “beat this level on hard”, etc). I think, considering the story might be better suited for a novel, Mercury Steam (the developer) has made it work rather terrifically as a game. And, luckily, some of the extras are unlocked simply by passing a level on any difficulty. What is interesting though is that reading some of the information in the extras can give the player more insight and a greater appreciation for the characters. For example, Father Rawlings is sometimes seen ingame as being particularly protective of Billie Church, and it's revealed in the extras that he spent a lot of time training Billie in particular and helping her overcome psychological traumas. It’s also revealed in the extras that Simone Cole had been diagnosed with autism at an early age. She was asked to join the Jericho squad because of her gifted ability with numbers (her skills the player can utilize all are technologically based). Interestingly, in the game, she is seen exhibiting obsessive compulsive habits and some other mild social traits common to those with autism. This is seen not only in an ingame cinematic but also is subtly evidenced even by her very appearance. She has intricate braids set in her hair and one can only imagine she probably counted each and every knot exactly, row by row. –Perfect, no other type of hair would have been more suitable for this character. The NPCs are also very well developed, each having its own history and reason for being. The boss enemies are among the most interesting, and are some of the most evil looking creatures you’ll have ever seen.
Now then, we’ve covered the plot and characters, let’s get onto the nitty gritty, starting with the visuals. The graphics are pretty good by today's standards. The game seems pretty well optimized too and shouldn't be too hard on your cpu. The bump mapping and specular show in just the right places; surfaces like sand have little specular, but blood and wet rock have a lot more. It can be easy to take this for granted but a lot of games, without naming names (despite the urge), have too much specular or bump mapping on everything, or not enough. And for a game like this, where there is a lot of blood and gore, it's necessary to get this right. Jericho offers a very dynamic POV. To some, the slight, constant movement of the screen might feel awkward at first but you get used to it to a point where it's no longer noticeable (the auto aim helps too though). And even if one finds it annoying it can't be denied that it gives it a very realistic and movie-like feel (as if your character is looking around while listening to others or talking).
With that said, I’d like to segue into gameplay. Some reviewers have complained about the load time—something I entirely disagree with (no one ever complained about the loading in games like Crysis—that’s hella longer than this—oh right, but that was published by EA, oops, sorry, I forgot). The loads are often, but take little time, and they even offer information on the load screens for the player to read to learn more about the story and perhaps feel more immersed in the game. As for the squad mechanic, let's face it, even if you've played other games that gave you the freedom to switch between characters in a squad, it's never had such a good reason as in Jericho; having a soul jump from body to body is a lot cooler and more immersive than simply having the camera change from person to person. Plus the characters don't all feel the same, and while you don't necessarily always need to be switching between them (wouldn't that be annoying?) I think the main reason for it is to give the player options and make him feel more comfortable and unique, not to mention to add to the story.
There is also good voice acting, and this is yet another thing we often can easily take for granted. The shout outs (statements your allies speak when they perform an action or are idle) aren't annoying at all to me as it's not too often you'll hear the same line. I'd often keep my ears open to hear which character was injured; they do a good job at notifying the player of prudent information like that. It is true that they do give hints to the player far too soon, but not too often, so again, you won't be annoyed. Some reviewers, such as Gamespot, have said the script was corny, but I disagree. One thing Gamespot pointed out as corny is when Delgado (a member of the Jericho squad) threatened to eat someone’s soul. I can understand why one would see this as corny, but one needs to realize that the suspension of his disbelief is important in order make the game enjoyable, and this is true for any science fiction work. I mean, come on, the guy has a fire demon housed in his arm. How picky can you be about eating souls when actual demon spirits (and plenty of other paranormal things) exist in this fiction? And the last thing I’ll mention about the script is that the way the characters interact with each other can be funny, but it's not out of place, it serves well as comic relief; this can be appreciated because it’s evident that they are in fact serious when necessary. And hey, if you were battling horrific hellspawn and demons, wouldn’t you want to crack a joke every once in a while so you don’t go out of your mind?
Jericho is a first person “squad-based action horror game based on an original concept and story by acclaimed horror writer and filmmaker Clive Barker.” (official website) Your squad, Jericho, is a team of talented, skilled individuals trained in conventional and occult warfare, or, to put it plainly, “witches with guns”. As a secret division of the US Special Forces, Jericho has been sent to a city in the Middle East, Al-Khali, to perform Operation Godseal. The story, based closely on a Gnostic belief, is that, before man, God had created a perfect being, the Firstborn, but was so disturbed by His creation He forsook it and banished it to a prison known as the “box” or Pyxis (God = Frankenstein!). Throughout the time of man, the Firstborn had seduced many to try and release him—to open a breach into our world so that he could wreak havoc on all of God’s creation. But repeatedly the world was saved by a team of mystics who closed the breach. In the present, a man named Arnold Leech and his followers have committed terrible evil acts such as mass killings and suicides in order to create a “karma bomb” that would effectually reopen the breach. Despite Jericho’s mission, and the past teams of occultists who have saved the world, Jericho was not formed for this purpose; there’s a whole other backstory for that! This is all just a small piece of the intriguing, bold, and believable story in Jericho. What makes the game so believable, and what I love most about the background story, is that many things are taken from real life people, events, sculpture, etc, and are either taken to another level or put in a different context. If one knows a little bit about anthropology and the humanities it becomes very evident that the writers did their homework.
Not only is the story itself brilliant, but the characters are original and highly developed, having unique relationships with one another and characteristics specific to their personalities, although, unfortunately, this is not revealed very well in gameplay. It’s like when you see a movie that’s based on a book. It may be great as a movie alone but usually a lot of good information can be left out. Jericho tries to circumvent this by putting information about the characters in the extras, which can be unlocked with certain achievements (“get 50 headshots”, or “beat this level on hard”, etc). I think, considering the story might be better suited for a novel, Mercury Steam (the developer) has made it work rather terrifically as a game. And, luckily, some of the extras are unlocked simply by passing a level on any difficulty. What is interesting though is that reading some of the information in the extras can give the player more insight and a greater appreciation for the characters. For example, Father Rawlings is sometimes seen ingame as being particularly protective of Billie Church, and it's revealed in the extras that he spent a lot of time training Billie in particular and helping her overcome psychological traumas. It’s also revealed in the extras that Simone Cole had been diagnosed with autism at an early age. She was asked to join the Jericho squad because of her gifted ability with numbers (her skills the player can utilize all are technologically based). Interestingly, in the game, she is seen exhibiting obsessive compulsive habits and some other mild social traits common to those with autism. This is seen not only in an ingame cinematic but also is subtly evidenced even by her very appearance. She has intricate braids set in her hair and one can only imagine she probably counted each and every knot exactly, row by row. –Perfect, no other type of hair would have been more suitable for this character. The NPCs are also very well developed, each having its own history and reason for being. The boss enemies are among the most interesting, and are some of the most evil looking creatures you’ll have ever seen.
Now then, we’ve covered the plot and characters, let’s get onto the nitty gritty, starting with the visuals. The graphics are pretty good by today's standards. The game seems pretty well optimized too and shouldn't be too hard on your cpu. The bump mapping and specular show in just the right places; surfaces like sand have little specular, but blood and wet rock have a lot more. It can be easy to take this for granted but a lot of games, without naming names (despite the urge), have too much specular or bump mapping on everything, or not enough. And for a game like this, where there is a lot of blood and gore, it's necessary to get this right. Jericho offers a very dynamic POV. To some, the slight, constant movement of the screen might feel awkward at first but you get used to it to a point where it's no longer noticeable (the auto aim helps too though). And even if one finds it annoying it can't be denied that it gives it a very realistic and movie-like feel (as if your character is looking around while listening to others or talking).With that said, I’d like to segue into gameplay. Some reviewers have complained about the load time—something I entirely disagree with (no one ever complained about the loading in games like Crysis—that’s hella longer than this—oh right, but that was published by EA, oops, sorry, I forgot). The loads are often, but take little time, and they even offer information on the load screens for the player to read to learn more about the story and perhaps feel more immersed in the game. As for the squad mechanic, let's face it, even if you've played other games that gave you the freedom to switch between characters in a squad, it's never had such a good reason as in Jericho; having a soul jump from body to body is a lot cooler and more immersive than simply having the camera change from person to person. Plus the characters don't all feel the same, and while you don't necessarily always need to be switching between them (wouldn't that be annoying?) I think the main reason for it is to give the player options and make him feel more comfortable and unique, not to mention to add to the story.
There is also good voice acting, and this is yet another thing we often can easily take for granted. The shout outs (statements your allies speak when they perform an action or are idle) aren't annoying at all to me as it's not too often you'll hear the same line. I'd often keep my ears open to hear which character was injured; they do a good job at notifying the player of prudent information like that. It is true that they do give hints to the player far too soon, but not too often, so again, you won't be annoyed. Some reviewers, such as Gamespot, have said the script was corny, but I disagree. One thing Gamespot pointed out as corny is when Delgado (a member of the Jericho squad) threatened to eat someone’s soul. I can understand why one would see this as corny, but one needs to realize that the suspension of his disbelief is important in order make the game enjoyable, and this is true for any science fiction work. I mean, come on, the guy has a fire demon housed in his arm. How picky can you be about eating souls when actual demon spirits (and plenty of other paranormal things) exist in this fiction? And the last thing I’ll mention about the script is that the way the characters interact with each other can be funny, but it's not out of place, it serves well as comic relief; this can be appreciated because it’s evident that they are in fact serious when necessary. And hey, if you were battling horrific hellspawn and demons, wouldn’t you want to crack a joke every once in a while so you don’t go out of your mind?
Like most any game, it's not without it's flaws, but Jericho is a brilliant game and has been truly underappreciated by most critics. But if in games you appreciate a well written fantasy fiction with macabre religious and historic overtones, or are simply looking for an exciting fps, you’d definitely get your money’s worth with Jericho, and perhaps a new favorite.
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