Metareview: Clive Barker's Jericho (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)

Clive Barker's Jericho spawned from the depths of hell yesterday and reviewers are starting to chime in with their scores, which hold inconsistent numbers between outlets, but similar issues. For those who pay attention to our GameTap Thursday posts, you know you could've gotten the game on PC with almost no potential for buyer's remorse from the service for free yesterday -- well, technically, for the cost of the $10 monthly fee, but new subscribers would only pay a measly 99 cents. Jericho surprised us at E3, showing potential from a game we had heard next to nothing about. Although it's apparently not everything we were hoping for, it seems to get a passing grade -- with some angry exceptions. Surprisingly, scores seem across the board.

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 (75)

Everyone knows that Gamepro knows about as much as games as my 90 year old grandmother. I don't think I've ever seen them give a game less than an 80/100.

I picked up Jericho (For the PC) based purely on Barker's last game 'Undying'.

The demo did nothing to make me more excited for the title but it also didn't turn me away from picking it up. I was hoping for more from the demo but due to its length and presentation I just assumed the full game would be more immersive. I'll just have to find out tonight.

With some giving crap scores and others giving excellent scores, I can't help but think there might be some kind of foul play here. I'm certainly not accusing GamePro of rigging a good score or anything but I can't help but wonder if people do take bribes and what not. It just crosses my mind that this could be happen. It is clearly possible that one reviewer may genuinly have a different experience than another. I have played games that I think are fantastic but my friends say are utter crap. Each to his own. But this doesn't mean that the gaming media are immune to a bit of shenanegan's.

When I played the demo, as the sworld-wielding chick, all I could think was how perfect my life would be if the sword were a lightsaber, and instead of some crappy pistol I had plasmids-- er, force powers.

Sorry about the double post =/

this further proves that 1up quickly became the worst gaming website ever

1up is IGN nega version.

the demo showed promise, too bad they didn't take another 6 months to fine tune the game a bit more

and the levels reminded me of gears - lots of dark brown/gray (so kind of ugly) but it did it well, same as gears (good quality)

oh well, i'll probably get a bargain bin copy in a year or so during a game drought, there are far too many other great games coming out these days

i hope the demo didnt reflect the general level design: shoot 2 guys, wait a few seconds, shoot 2 more, wait a few seconds, shoot 2 more, then a gate opens, and repeat.

otherwise it has potential.

Personally, I don't see the reason for 30/100 from 1up. That's a bad enough score where it actually makes the games around it on the shelf suck.

This reminds me of Lair, a game of huge potential and high production values that ended up sucking. But EVERYONE was in agreement that it wasn't worth anything near 90/100...all 4's/10 and such.

I think that 1up guy needs to check his objectivity, and get off the rag before reviewing a game.

Play magazine gave Lair a 9.

Play gave a 9/10? Good to know, I'll make sure never to pick that rag up. The shitty flying controls alone should've taken off a few points, considering that it's the entire game.

Game Informer's review (as usual, IMO) seems to be the most credible here. GamePro's review is just kissing the developers' asses, and 1UP's is overly harsh. I mean, when one reviewer can say it has "amazing graphics" and another says that it's "ugly," it sounds to me that they're both full of s***.

I know for a fact that Gamepro only uses freelancers for their reviews, which I guess makes it hard to have any sort of real editorial continuity. As such, they reviews seem to be all over the place, with Jericho being a prime target. But then again, that doesn't really explain the overly harsh 1up review. But hey, take everyone's opinion with a grain of salt, right?

" Mr. Barker, you're better than this."

No, having read several of his books, this sounds like something he would write: slow, clunky, kind of ugly, with just enough interesting elements to make you feel bad that it actually sucks.

You obviously have never played Undying.

Wrong! While it was a _decent_ game, Undying's story wasn't much of a deviation from what I've come to expect from Barker either. It didn't help that it was essentially another FPS mod masquerading as another type of game either (see Alice, another good game that is ultimately limited by being essentially a Q3A mod, etc).

He has very intriguing ideas and concepts, he just doesn't seem to know how to deliver on their potential, either in his writing or in the games bearing his name. I try not to hate on him excessively, he's a whole lot better than, say, Orson Scott Card, but this game being underwhelming will not surprise me. With all of the other games coming out right now, it may be months before I even get a shot to try more than the demo anyway.

this game is beyond wack. when i played the demo i was like is this a joke or what..... thats all that went on in my mind

i only played the demo. but man, it was no good. ugly. broken.. boring.. nothing good there.. imo

After playing about 1.5 hrs into Jericho I can tell you that its no where near a 30% game. I think what may have happened is that the reviewers is religious (most likely christian) and dissagreed with the themes from the game and rated it down accordingly.

Even after 1.5hrs I've gotten more entertainment out of this game than a true 30% game would provide throughout its entire experience.

I'll try and post more when I've had more playtime with it. Locales are a little repetetive so far, but atmosphere is atmosphere so well see...

i just read EGM (get it for free, woot) and their review scores were all low too

pass on this one i guess

I like the Gamepro review that says the game stands out with its "dark atmosphere."

Uh, hello? Where have these guys been since Doom? You couldn't throw a golf ball in a gaming store without knocking over a bunch of generic games with dark atmospheres.

Sounds to me like the most accurate reviews are the ones in the middle 60-70 range. Thank God for Metacritic. It really helps judge which gaming sites are worth consulting and which ones are utterly horrid.

@ Shawn, note sure what Hellagte your playing but the one I played was a carbon copy of Diablo and a BAD one, paper-thin NPCs, horrible textures, and weak and lame story and play mechanics.

Maybe you played the Bizarro world version that does not suck goats. ;)

even the demo alone should have scored better than a 3/10. As far I'm concerned a review for that is for a broken game. Not a hint of that in the demo.

Previous 50 Comments

Metareview: Clive Barker's Jericho (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)

Reader Comments (75)

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