Review: Jericho

Jericho (Mercury Steam Entertainment, 2007) is a first person action game where you control a squad of heavily armed magic wielding mercenaries trying to stop god's first creation from destroying mankind.

Gameplay
Jericho is an FPS with a few twists. You're almost always accompanied by AI teammates. You can jump from character to character to control them. And each have different weapons and powers you can use. But basically it's a mindless run and gun. There are no cover mechanics. Your squad mates are only somewhat helpful. The levels are almost completely linear, with the occasional boss fight to spice things up.

But the game doesn't really need much more than that. Popping heads on the weaker monsters, controlling the correct squad member to take out the stronger ones with minimal fuss, running around while everything's exploding, trying to keep your squad standing, and generally just playing with all the powers at your disposal is plenty of fun. The fact that this game does not support co-op will stand alongside the lack of co-op in Republic Commando as a crime against humanity. Seriously, if Jericho had co-op and user created content, I wouldn't be waiting for Left 4 Dead with half as much anticipation.

Theatrics
Despite Clive Barker being involved in the game's story, Jericho doesn't really exceed in the theatrics department. The characters are fairly well defined. There were a couple moments when I actually cared about them. The general concept is fine. I guess if you're religious it might be citing Gnostic writings you're actually familiar with, which might add some resonance. But as an indifferent agnostic, I generally view religious texts as the worst kind of fan fiction.

Aesthetics
Jericho can be a very pretty game.


One effect I liked was that far away structures would be fuzzy until you centered your view on them, bringing them into focus. It's a small touch, but when you see it in action, it's pretty cool.


As long as I leave anti-aliasing off, I can run at 1024x768 with all the effects turned up. And while motion blur isn't always the greatest for gameplay, it looks cool in screen shots.


Also, the goriness gave me the shivers, even though the game itself was much more actiony than scary.

Final Score
4 of 5