Clive Barker's Jericho

Clive Barker’s Jericho
Developer(s)	Mercury Steam
Publisher(s)	Codemasters
Designer(s)	Clive Barker
Engine	Mercury Engine
Platform(s)	Xbox 360, PC, and PlayStation 3
Release	October 23 (AU)November 2 (UK)October 26 2007
Genre(s)	Action, Horror, FPS
Mode(s)	Single player

Clive Barker’s Jericho is a supernatural horror-themed FPS computer game currently in development by Mercury Steam, with horror author Clive Barker providing the premise for the game. A demo for the game was released for the PC on September 26, 2007. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 demos were made available on the Xbox Live Marketplace and the PlayStation Store on September 27, 2007.

The game is currently in development for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 as well as GameTap. It is slated for a late October 2007 release.

Storyline

Before Adam and Eve were created, God fashioned the Firstborn. Neither light nor dark, both terrible and beautiful to behold, it disturbed the Almighty who banished this flawed creation into the Abyss. There, it waited and watched until it was able to reach out with its power into our world. Seven Sumerian priests met its arrival and fought to contain it, successfully entombing the place of its escape within a great ziggurat. Ever since that time, there would always be a secret order that would train seven warriors to await the Firstborn's attempts to escape. They would always disappear into the ruined city of Al Khalid that had been built atop this bedrock of strife and somehow succeed in banishing the Firstborn back to the Abyss. However, none of these teams have ever returned from their mission.

The Firstborn would make four attempts to escape, each time taking back a piece of the earth to add to its domain. Fragments of time and space would form layers around Al Khalid, entrapping pieces of history within its walls from the time of the ancient Sumerians to World War II. Over time, other conquerors would arrive to claim the city as their own but eventually, the city was forgotten and buried by the sands around it.

The Department of Occult Warfare was created in the 1930s to combat the unexplained and meet Nazi Germany's own research into the paranormal. One of their most brilliant members, Arnold Leach, was recruited in 1962. However, his unscrupulous behavior and nature would eventually have him expelled. He was marked for assassination, and although the operation appeared to be successful, it seems he may have survived.

Gameplay

In Clive Barker's Jericho, players assume the role of the leader of the Jericho Squad – a seven man Special Forces strike team that protects U.S. interests against paranormal threats. Each member of the squad is an expert in modern warfare as well as their own different para-psychological disciplines, including clairvoyance, alchemy, blood magic, exorcism, etc.

Players must lead the Jericho Squad into the flaming ruins of the city, moving block by block towards the dimensional rift tearing away at its heart. Along the way, they encounter the horrific armies of hellish denizens that now rule the city and corrupt everything they touch. As players incrementally approach the source of evil, they will have to rely less and less on traditional weapons and instead focus on the combined psychic talents of the Jericho Squad.

Characters

The Jericho Squad consists of several team members, each with their own special weapons and paranormal powers:

• Capt. Devin Ross – the protagonist, Jericho Squad captain, team telepath and healer
• Father Paul Rawlings – the dual-pistol-wielding priest and exorcist
• Sgt. Frank Delgado – a minigun-wielding alchemist and pyromancer with fire-demon in right arm.
• Lt. Abigail Black – a telekinetic sniper who can control bullets in mid-flight
• Sgt. Billie Church – a ninja-esque blood mage who uses her own blood to cast spells and wards
• Capt. Xavier Jones – a seer who uses astral projection for reconnaissance and possibly even possession of enemies
• Cpl. Simone Cole – the Jericho Squad's reality hacker who can alter time and teleport supplies and personnel

Features

• Codemasters has teamed up with novelist and filmmaker Clive Barker to create the story.
• Squad mechanics allow players to jump back and forth between Jericho Squad members, allowing them to use the best suited squad members in particular combat situations. Additionally, Jericho Squad members can combine their paranormal powers for even more substantial attacks. It has been suggested that the paranormal abilities will come at the price of health however, as a gameplay mechanic to prevent the game from being too easy. A perfect example is the pyromancer Delgado, whose ability will cause real-time burning damage to his arm when he uses his power and blood mage Church, whose spells require her to hurt herself.
• The ancient city of Al-Khali is formed of layers of different ages that have tried to battle the evil in the past…and have lost. Players will traverse through multiple planes of existence, including the Crusades, WWII, Rome, and more as they try and make their way to the source of evil.

Information from a recently released trailer shows that the game takes place in the fictional Khali Desert and that the Special Forces squad was sent in to investigate the disappearance of a Swiss Guard recon squad.

External links

• Revelations – The Official Clive Barker Resource Constantly updated news and archive of comments by Barker and others.
• Eurogamer news article announcing Clive Barker’s Jericho
• IGN announcement article and screenshots
• FileFront – Demo Release Video
• GameTap – OVERVIEW
• jericho.dee-london.com - Clive Barker's Jericho Fansite Jericho's Fansite Contest Grand Prize winner