 The calm before the storm. Sometimes a game developer decides to throw caution to the wind and just make something fun, regardless of how controversial it may be. Jericho is made by Clive Barker, known for his work in movies like Hellraiser. This is a game with great mechanics but an unnatural fixation on blood and torture. If there was ever a window into a truly twisted mind, this game is it.
1. Gameplay
I generally don’t like “horror” as a theme. Some people get an adrenaline rush from being scared, but personally I believe that things jumping out at me are just stressful, not entertaining. My favorite form of horror is suspense. Movies like Alien, where the mystery is making me scared, are awesome because I want to know what happens. I want to know how the story is going to play out and how the main character is going to survive a seemingly impossible scenario. This contrasts greatly with the “jumper” horror in slasher films, with scenes that feature something quickly rushing the screen accompanies by a loud, grating noise. I find it to be a cheap way to exploit our natural instincts.  Surprise! Jericho fits into a third form of horror, one that I don’t generally spend much time with. Instead of making the player fearful of the things in the dark or making the player jump when something rushes at him, Jericho puts the player in a seriously sick, twisted, demented scenario. There are some elements that the player can identify with and understand, but most of these have been mutated into a form that is almost completely unrecognizable. Blood, gore, and signs of torture are abundant in this game.  The rippin' and the tearin'. I enjoyed some of the gameplay elements, especially the ability to seamlessly jump between any of the up to 7 characters in the player’s party. Each character had a unique set of weapons and abilities. While there were some I tended to favor simply because they played more towards my playstyles, I ended up trying out every character and all of them were fairly well balanced. When the game removed a character from your party, or if the character was down, you could feel it. From a mechanical standpoint, this game was very well designed.  It's a very unique set of game mechanics. But the story is just so weird. Basically, the devil is trying to manipulate some power-hungry villain into letting him out. A special-forces like strike team of magical soldiers are charged with making sure this doesn’t happen. Unfortunately, I guess there are seven seals holding the devil in Hell, and once a seal gets broken it can’t be resealed. Six of the seals were broken before this event, which leaves the strike team no choice but to fight their way through seven levels of Hell in order to kill the devil. Parts of this story were very interesting, like how each level of hell was a twisted version of the time at which the seal was broken. One of the early seals was broken during World War II, so you see a bunch of British soldiers still fighting the same losing battle over and over again. Then there’s the crusades, roman times, and a few other time periods that I couldn’t quite distinguish.  World War II, I think... Jericho isn’t a bad game, it’s just at a level of violence that makes me feel slightly uncomfortable even describing. Trying to describe even one of the creatures in this game would probably take up a page of text. This is a testament to the creativity of the people who came up with the creatures and characters, yet I feel like it was somewhat wasted on this game and its horror.
This game took me around six hours to complete but at times it felt significantly longer. While the story and certain combat scenarios were fairly entertaining, many of the combat sections were drawn out. Since there are no decisions that the player can make in the story and no multiplayer modes for this game, the replay value is extremely limited.
The average combat scenario in this game wasn’t too frustrating. I found one or two characters with loadouts that worked well with my combat style and stuck with them for the majority of the game. Unfortunately, the boss battles were a bit difficult. This was especially true when the boss had to be killed in some particular way or with some particular character’s powers. The game would frequently fail to mention or indicate whether the boss was taking damage or whether the correct power was being used. This was especially true for the few times I was supposed to run up to an enemy to finish it off, which was very counterintuitive. 2. Parental Notices
I cannot even begin to describe how brutally violent this game is in a horrifically twisted way. It may not be the most violent, gore-filled game I have ever played, but it is definitely high up on the list. If anything it constantly embodies a sort of cruel, twisted nature that few in their right minds could ever envision.  Where few men dare to tread... The easy part is the violence the player can deal to creatures. The player will have access to an arsenal of firearms, each with its own unique attributes and effects. While I tended to stick to a select few weapons, the player will use every weapon at least once over the course of the campaign. They all have relatively similar effects. Hits will result in some poofs of blood, but these disappear quickly. The dark red blood can sometimes be lost in the dark environments as well.  Not nearly as much blood as I expected. One of the characters can light enemies on fire as well. The fire is bright and contrasts well with the dark environment, but the enemies hardly even react to this.  Who wants toast?! If the player gets a headshot with a powerful weapon, the enemy’s head can explode into blood and bits. While this was sometimes difficult to accomplish with normal weapons, this was extremely easy to accomplish with the sniper rifle’s secondary ability, which allowed the player to guide the round in slow motion.  BOOM! Headshot! If the violence in this game ended there, this game wouldn’t be horrible. Unfortunately, this game goes much, much deeper down the “rabbit hole”. Clive Barker, the creative mind behind this game, also worked on movies like Hellraiser, which is seriously dark and twisted. This game takes violence-based horror to a whole new level. I couldn’t possibly describe everything that this game offers. The images I include should hopefully tell most of what this game holds. However, seeing creatures chained to poles, clearly having been brutally beaten and left extremely bloody, is not something that can be taken lightly by anyone. Sometimes I can entertain the argument of “it’s not so bad, it depends on your perspective” even though I may completely disagree with someone. This is not one of those times. This game is seriously messed up.  Throat sliced, left to bleed out in front of the player. Classy. Some of the images I am posting, like the one below, are common. You will find characters impaled by spikes, chained and left completely naked.  Ew. Oh yes, and don’t forget the creatures that have been crucified for so long that their skin has stretched.  This is what happens when you're out in the sun too long. On a cross. Without the sun. One of the final bosses is hanging from the ceiling by meathooks driven through the flesh on his shoulder. While the player is shooting him, this boss opens a huge rip in his stomach, exposing his internal organs, and sprays blood on the player.  Who comes up with this stuff? Seriously.
Sexuality is mentioned two times in very specific sections, both dealing with antagonists. The first is some sort of female Nazi zombie-like thing. She basically taunts one of the characters by saying the character’s father was a child molester or something to that effect. I’m not sure if it was true or not (the game never really specifies), but it was one of those “that escalated quickly” moments.  In this case, a picture isn't really worth a thousand words. You're going to have to just believe me. The other, and much more obvious, has to do with the ruler of the Roman section of this vision of Hell. This character is a huge “man” who openly discusses how he is going to enjoy raping the main characters. He specifically mentions the women because he says something along the lines of “it has been a while since I have enjoyed the flesh of both sexes”.  There's probably a good reason for that. There are a number of “common” environmental elements that depict people who have been brutally tortured and left naked. Images of these can be seen in the “violence” section.
There are a few very mild references to drinking over the course of the game, but they are quickly lost in the slew of other mature content present.
Gambling is not a factor in this game. 3. Other Factors
There are no modding tools available for this game.
Religion plays a pivotal role in the plot of this game. The story sort of mashes a bunch of different “Mesopotamian” religions, myths, and creation stories together. In the end, this collaboration is a story where God created Earth but his first creation, a “dark child”, is too evil to let loose upon the world but too perfect to destroy. So God locks him up in some alternate universe where he constantly tries to goad humans into releasing him.  Why's the child gotta be dark? Religion, allegedly religious symbols, and other similar elements are constantly present and frequently discussed by the different characters as they progress through the different circles of what is almost certainly Hell.  Symbols, symbols everywhere.
Anti-law is not a factor in this game.
There are no multiplayer elements to this game.
Extreme sports are not a factor in this game.
Magic plays a major factor in this game since most of the characters will have some sort of magical secondary ability. While these have a variety of effects, some will be more frequently used than others. Eventually, though, the player will have to use all of the powers at least once.  Kame...hame.... My most commonly used powers are the “revive” ability used by the stereotypical southern preacher and the “guided bullet” ability that the sniper had, since it could kill up to three enemies at once.  The player can also revive characters, but only from up close. The game does not attempt to hide the fact that these abilities are magical in nature and on numerous occasions draws attention to the fact that they characters are performing magic. The most obviously magical ability is the “blood magic” that one character is able to use. In order to cast a spell, the character has to carve a symbol into her palm. How she is able to do this multiple times and still have a palm is beyond me.  Must carve faster...
Torture Torture was a major element throughout the entire game. Most of the enemies are either being tortured by some piece of equipment they wear or the other enemies around them. Torture, sado-masochism, and other forms of deriving “pleasure” from pain (assuming that is the actual goal) are constant elements throughout the game.  What's wrong with your face? I would have also included an “execution” section for this category, except that none of the would-be execution targets are actually killed. This is especially obvious in places like the Roman Hell analog, where people are crucified by their skin and left to hang completely alive.  And then there's this guy. The depictions of torture in this game are enough to single-handedly push this category to the limits.  Welcome to Hell. Human Disfigurement Most enemies in this game are clearly modeled off of humans. How many of them were or are actually human is sometimes difficult to tell. However, there are definitely enemies that were human at one point and have become grossly disfigured by their various sins.  What's wrong with your FACE?!
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