Metareview: Clive Barker's Jericho (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Oct 24th 2007 at 3:57PM }
- GamePro (90/100): "While the stage design is awesome, there are some horrendously long load times involved. It makes sense given the game's graphical prowess but it really cuts into the sense of immersion that the game's atmosphere does such a great job of instilling. ... Jericho still manages to shine bright. Its slick style, amazing graphics, and dark atmosphere really make it stand out."
- Game Informer (60/100): "If broken gameplay mechanics and community college acting didn't weigh down the game, it might actually be worthwhile. Each environment features a macabre twist on a historical period, and they rival Painkiller in their haunting heavy metal video backdrop appearance. Unfortunately, the creepy locales and ultraviolent action don't translate into a frightening experience. And isn't that where Clive Barker is supposed to shine?"
- 1UP (30/100): "I'm also perplexed by the absurdly long (and frequent) load times, given that the game looks like complete garbage. Every level feels like it was made with an FPS construction set: boring, ugly, bland, ugly, dark, and ugly. (Did I mention ugly?) And yet, you work through the stages in ridiculously short chunks, as though the system can't handle the massive amounts of blandness. It's mysterious. ... But the thread holding Jericho above that pit of legendary awfulness is thin and fraying. Mr. Barker, you're better than this."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
JL @ Oct 24th 2007 3:59PM
Another one that's all over the board. What the hell?
JL @ Oct 25th 2007 10:58AM
Just so everyone knows, I bought this game because I am tired of all these bullshit reviews. After playing through a few levels, there is no way this game deserves the low scores it got. This is a solid 7/10 game. The graphics look pretty good and the weapons and abilities are fun to use. The story is cool but the actual presentation is lacking. The voice acting just isnt that good. Longer than usual load times, but if you played the darkness, they are about the same. Actually, if you take out the voice acting, this game is just as good as the Darkness. Im glad I ignored the horrible review. (3/10) I like Clive Barkers ideas, and this is a fun game to me.
GRANTED @ Oct 24th 2007 4:00PM
haha at least you covered all of your bases.
i have no complaints: all 3 reviews are probably right.
mr nimblewick (SegaDF - Jogurt Ring) @ Oct 24th 2007 4:02PM
I'm inclined to trust 1up on this one.
Victor @ Oct 24th 2007 5:02PM
I'm not :P
I mean, the game doesn't look ugly at all, from screenshots at least. i can't think of why someone would say the game was ugly, besides personal frustration.
no offence meant (:
Victor @ Oct 24th 2007 5:04PM
@myself,
they're probably right about the whole rest, though :P
slacker164 @ Oct 24th 2007 5:08PM
Having played some of the game via Gametap, I have no idea what the fuck 1up is talking about. The graphics are very good. The only way ugly could ever describe this game is if they mean in the horror, gory monster type ugly. I'm not saying the game is great or anything, but 1up is just plain blind.
Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Oct 25th 2007 12:25AM
It seems like a confusion about DS's Dementium which is "frustrating in a good sense of the word".
So the game seems to be "ugly in a good sense of the word".
Still I would rather rent and try - if reviews are so controversial. Such game might hit limiter of some people.
t_m @ Oct 25th 2007 1:02PM
they are saying the LEVELS are ugly an boring.. not the character models. (those look good in the screenshots, but the levels do look kinda quake-like. )
That said, I haven't played it, so its just from screenshots.
Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Oct 24th 2007 4:03PM
Ouch.
Matt B @ Oct 24th 2007 4:06PM
I played the demo and the only thing that was fun was steering the snipers bullet right between the eyes of some monster. Overall, it was so freaking dark that I had no clue what was going on most of the time.
JL @ Oct 24th 2007 4:26PM
I didn't have that problem. People were saying that they got disoriented or whatever and I didn't have that issue either. I actually really enjoyed the demo....I guess Im alone in this?
arrrgh @ Oct 24th 2007 4:26PM
yeah that was a blast. The game itself was a pile. You are right sir
T3H WICKERMAN (FDF) @ Oct 24th 2007 4:07PM
More bad codemasters design?
CaptainAmericaX @ Oct 24th 2007 4:08PM
The demo was pretty bad.
Good thing PES 2008 was there to pick up the fun factor.
arrrgh @ Oct 24th 2007 4:27PM
I thought FIFA 08 slayyyyed PES
David @ Oct 24th 2007 4:11PM
In this case, 1up is way lower than all the other reviews... in the Olympic diving event, 1up and Gamepro's scores would be disregarded for the average =P
But it's definitely a big spread! cool.
Mr Khan @ Oct 24th 2007 4:13PM
Is today "National Zero Consensus Day?"
Next we'll see Zack and Wiki get a 98, 73, and 42
Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Oct 24th 2007 4:13PM
So I guess Gamepro is biased/wrong this time.
j-marr @ Oct 24th 2007 5:14PM
Cliver Barker talks a big game when it comes to pioneering the march towards games-as-art and whenever I hear him doing that, I feel like we got a creative, smart and influential guy on the gamer's side... then he has the balls to slap his name on crap like this.
I'll rent it and attempt to play through it but I'm only going to try because I like Undying (game) and Hellraiser (movie) so much
BananaBoat @ Oct 24th 2007 4:22PM
No, Gamepro is a sellout this time. It's discrepancies like this that make it obvious which magazines DO take money from game publishers (Gamepro) and which magazines don't.
This is disgusting, and if anyone from gamepro is reading this, it's why I canceled my subscription 2 months ago. Once you lose all the trust, you might aswell close up shop.
Knight Marquise @ Oct 24th 2007 4:31PM
Thank Goodness for demo's. This game was on my radar until I played the demo. 1UP's review pretty much mirrored my own opinion of this game.
Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Oct 24th 2007 4:33PM
sigh.
Can you please just say you don't agree with the review without all the added bullshit? At least I won't get a headache reading your post.
Geoffrey Sperl @ Oct 24th 2007 4:24PM
I played the demo and can say that there are flashes of potential goodness in there... but not many.
Really, the basics of the characters aren't that interesting even (didn't we already play this sort of elite military unit in F.E.A.R.?), though the ability to switch between them was interesting (though not unique) after more than a few FPS games out there that haven't had that ability.
I don't know. I want to like Barker and his projects, and I salute him for being one of the few known authors out there to embrace gaming... but I have yet to see a good video game project from him. Ever.
Maybe he just needs to quietly work under a pen name so the creative teams don't slack off just because Clive Barker is attached to the project.
arrrgh @ Oct 24th 2007 4:29PM
I enjoyed Undying thoroughly. And it looked wayyy ahead of its time in the visual department.
I just hope we can all forget this game and move on
NATO_Duke @ Oct 24th 2007 4:53PM
Undying was a pretty fun game. Not earth shattering or anything, but still quite enjoyable. I would rather he went in that direction again.
This game's demo left me feeling flat and uninterested. It won't be more than a rental or a bargain bin buy for me.
Shagittarius @ Oct 24th 2007 5:05PM
Clearly Geoffrey you've never played Undying.
Geoffrey Sperl @ Oct 24th 2007 5:44PM
Wow... clearly I haven't given Undying enough of a chance. I read the synopsis and was underwhelmed - I never tried it out.
Guess I'll give it a shot. I think I have a copy of it somewhere in the house...
Shagittarius @ Oct 24th 2007 6:03PM
Awesome man, the graphics won't impress anymore but play it at night with the volume up and the lights down. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
arrrgh @ Oct 24th 2007 4:26PM
played the demo. Some decent ideas on character classes and powers.... but man was that the most mediocre POS FPS MFBBQ that I've ever played. Thank God for XBL demos
zRar @ Oct 24th 2007 4:35PM
This game is seriously terrible. I can't believe the person who created it is the one big pundit for videogames as art. That's like someone discovering the doctor from Brain Age has an IQ of 46.
FidliousWong @ Oct 24th 2007 5:03PM
That's hardly relatable. Clive Barker has never called himself an artist or even a high artist. In his own words, he's an entertainer. Big difference. So his own creations should have little reflection on his opinion. Unless, of course, you're willing to disregard Ebert entirely due to Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.
Let's put it this way, are ONLY the people involved with SOTC allowed to call it art? No? Then shut the fuck up.
Rubang B (NDF - Heart) @ Oct 24th 2007 4:36PM
I haven't seen 30s, 60s, and 90s this close together since I took Geometry in high school.
David @ Oct 24th 2007 4:50PM
I have seen 30s, 60s, and 90s this close together since I last wrote integer multiples of 15
danny. (fdf.) @ Oct 24th 2007 5:54PM
... or 30 if we're going all least common denominator, snap.
gonk @ Oct 24th 2007 6:10PM
yeah, you can divide all those by 2 and 3 and 10 and 5 as well
Mike-453 @ Oct 24th 2007 4:38PM
Demo was fun enough, story and character abilities are interesting. A rent for me, maybe even a cheap buy.
Sean @ Oct 24th 2007 4:47PM
The demo was puke.
NeuroMan42 @ Oct 24th 2007 4:48PM
Been playing ti since Tues, yes some issues like the load times, and the STUPID console button sequences. On the other hand, it blows that crap-fest Hellgate out of the water.
Shawn @ Oct 25th 2007 1:58AM
You are absolutely insane. Hellgate is in a whole other world. Granted, the Hellgate demo was garbage, but the beta paints a much much better picture. Jericho on the other hand, which i'm playing via gametap for 99 cents, is utter crap and I don't even think I'm going to finish it.
First off, it's a terrible shooter. On PC it feels terrible, especially the button sequences you mentioned. There's no need for a quicksave or quickload, which it doesn't have anyway, as the game is broken up into a million loading screens, which takes you out of any flow that you get going. There are a few times when I can say , hey I'm having fun and then BOOM, loading screen, all characters revive, and all AMMO is replenished. It's a joke, and it feels like a cheap arcade game that isn't worth a quarter.
As a huge fan of Undying, this game is an abomination. The good part? I'm keeping my Gametap subscription, I'm loving that at least.
Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler). @ Oct 24th 2007 4:50PM
Damn it, I was looking forward to this game but then again:
Gamepro sells itself like a dirty whore so no wonder why it got such a high score there-Never take Gamepro seriously.
Game informer-No complains so far but the fact that is owned by gamestop disturbs me-I'll take their word this once
1up-they gave both UG&G and Neverwinter nights 2 a crapola score and they often change their reviews-Screw 1up.
I'll wait for Gamespot,IGN and PC gamer reviews.
Mike-453 @ Oct 24th 2007 4:51PM
1UPs review really was garbage.
Jake @ Oct 24th 2007 6:29PM
Personally, I tend to agree with IGN's scores consistently more than any other publication out there. 1up seems to always be on an extreme end of the scale. Given what games typically are scored according to, the 30 seems ridiculous. The graphics are not worst that average so they may be smoking stuff.
I didn't like the demo and with all the other good shooters out around now this is a no-brainer non-buy. Good try though.
Mike-453 @ Oct 24th 2007 4:50PM
The 1UP review was just stupid and not very informative at all.
Ghaleon @ Oct 24th 2007 4:50PM
Does anybody still subscribe/care about GamePro? They any vestiges of credibility in the 32-bit days.
knowledge4lfe @ Oct 24th 2007 4:52PM
i actually enjoyed the game. the controls honestly couldve been better, but overall it was pretty cool. but i did only play the demo so i dont know how the whole game plays out.
Heffer @ Oct 24th 2007 4:58PM
Ouch! A 30/100?!
Somewhere Roger Ebert is smiling.
Hashbrown_Hunter @ Oct 24th 2007 6:26PM
lol yeah well he has the right to laugh at this mess.
skunkworks @ Oct 24th 2007 5:02PM
the demo didn't grab me. and with all the blockbusters out now and coming soon this one isn't really worth thinking about for me.
Hashbrown_Hunter @ Oct 24th 2007 6:35PM
Exactly. The demo had some great ideas but they were very poorly executed in my opinion. The team-swapping was awkward and clunky to use and the context-sensitive scenes were EXTREMELY frustrating. Of course, the demo is nothing to judge the entire game off of, but I knew something wasn't going too well with this.