XHitoshuraX
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Mr_Furious said:
LE?
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The Official Clive Barker's Jericho: Here is a List of Fearful Things
- Thread starter XHitoshuraX
- Start date
LE?
I just got this and am loving it so far. I'm at the pill box "boss". I really hope there are more situations where it's the whole team in a large arena map holding off against monsters.
don't know what people are talking about with the load times. they're fast as anything with me and my comp's not exactly a beast.
don't know what people are talking about with the load times. they're fast as anything with me and my comp's not exactly a beast.
Bought this yesterday and I've played a fair bit of it now.
First, it's not as bad as the demo.
Secondly, it's still hilariously bad in many parts. Like, so bad that you can't help but laugh at it. How in the world they ever thought half the things in the game was a good idea I'll never know. The controls are horrible, the movement horrible, the combat incredibly horrible.
Yet, I'm still enjoying the game. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's like enjoying a bad movie simply because it's bad. The bad being so bad, that you take some sort of perverse enjoyment out of it. The characters are great. The game looks fantastic. Some of the dialogue can be rough, but others downright hilarious. Like when you 'enter' Black for the first time. One of your team mates comments about something like "how many sniper lesbians do you know" and "at least she knows now what it feels like having a man inside her". That actually made me laugh out loud.
Some of the worst design decisions in this game is when it forces you to do something for the sake of mixing up the gameplay. For instance killing these giant beasts, you have to take out these runes around their head (not a spoiler, they tell you that when you see them). You kill them all this way except you get to the last one and for no reason other than to mix it up a bit. You aren't allowed to shoot the last rune. It's in plain sight and you can shoot it with every weapon and guy you have. But no, these have no effect on the rune. The game wants you to pick Church and run up and do a QTE on its head. Not only that, but the cue to start the QTE it is so brief and position situational that the first time I went to do it I missed the cue because it came and went in an instant. I didn't see it, and so ran around wondering what the hell to do. Then I got stomped and died. It's shit like that which will make you wonder what the hell drugs the devs were on.
The pill box 'boss' was like this too, but not in an obvious way. I was going around the left and getting my ass kicked every time. After maybe half an hour I decided to try going to the right instead (it's one big open area, there's no reason you have to go a particular way), and I did it all on the first go without problem. It's like they made it so you could only do it one way, for no reason at all.
The switching of players is a fantastic idea and it almost works. This game could have been a billion times better if it chose the Bioshock method of changing weapons, and froze the world as you brought up the menu. As it is there isn't any time at all to select the character you want in any meaningful way. You could really do some awesome shit if you could switch in an instant and combo your characters powers and weapons. Instead, in the heat of battle you are left floundering through a menu to choose a character, meanwhile the character you are controlling is getting killed standing doing nothing, and the one you wanted to choose is probably dead by then anyway. So most times the game will just auto switch you to whoever is alive.
It's very linear. You walk down a path until you fight some guys, then move along and fight some more guys. In this way it's very much like Gears of War. Unlike Gears though, I'm actually enjoying this mechanic in Jericho. Gears bored me to death, whereas Jericho might control like shit, but it's actually interesting choosing characters and abilities for any given encounter. Even if it is a frustrating mess.
So in the end, this game deserves all the bashing it gets. It's laughably horrible. But I'm still enjoying it and glad I spent money on it. There's something in this game that's agreeing with me and I find it hard to say what that is. I cringe at the thought of my wife sitting down next to me while I'm playing. She'll probably think it's the most retarded thing she's ever seen in her life. She'd be right of course. But sometimes the stupidest shit will entertain me for reasons I and no one will ever understand.
First, it's not as bad as the demo.
Secondly, it's still hilariously bad in many parts. Like, so bad that you can't help but laugh at it. How in the world they ever thought half the things in the game was a good idea I'll never know. The controls are horrible, the movement horrible, the combat incredibly horrible.
Yet, I'm still enjoying the game. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's like enjoying a bad movie simply because it's bad. The bad being so bad, that you take some sort of perverse enjoyment out of it. The characters are great. The game looks fantastic. Some of the dialogue can be rough, but others downright hilarious. Like when you 'enter' Black for the first time. One of your team mates comments about something like "how many sniper lesbians do you know" and "at least she knows now what it feels like having a man inside her". That actually made me laugh out loud.
Some of the worst design decisions in this game is when it forces you to do something for the sake of mixing up the gameplay. For instance killing these giant beasts, you have to take out these runes around their head (not a spoiler, they tell you that when you see them). You kill them all this way except you get to the last one and for no reason other than to mix it up a bit. You aren't allowed to shoot the last rune. It's in plain sight and you can shoot it with every weapon and guy you have. But no, these have no effect on the rune. The game wants you to pick Church and run up and do a QTE on its head. Not only that, but the cue to start the QTE it is so brief and position situational that the first time I went to do it I missed the cue because it came and went in an instant. I didn't see it, and so ran around wondering what the hell to do. Then I got stomped and died. It's shit like that which will make you wonder what the hell drugs the devs were on.
The pill box 'boss' was like this too, but not in an obvious way. I was going around the left and getting my ass kicked every time. After maybe half an hour I decided to try going to the right instead (it's one big open area, there's no reason you have to go a particular way), and I did it all on the first go without problem. It's like they made it so you could only do it one way, for no reason at all.
The switching of players is a fantastic idea and it almost works. This game could have been a billion times better if it chose the Bioshock method of changing weapons, and froze the world as you brought up the menu. As it is there isn't any time at all to select the character you want in any meaningful way. You could really do some awesome shit if you could switch in an instant and combo your characters powers and weapons. Instead, in the heat of battle you are left floundering through a menu to choose a character, meanwhile the character you are controlling is getting killed standing doing nothing, and the one you wanted to choose is probably dead by then anyway. So most times the game will just auto switch you to whoever is alive.
It's very linear. You walk down a path until you fight some guys, then move along and fight some more guys. In this way it's very much like Gears of War. Unlike Gears though, I'm actually enjoying this mechanic in Jericho. Gears bored me to death, whereas Jericho might control like shit, but it's actually interesting choosing characters and abilities for any given encounter. Even if it is a frustrating mess.
So in the end, this game deserves all the bashing it gets. It's laughably horrible. But I'm still enjoying it and glad I spent money on it. There's something in this game that's agreeing with me and I find it hard to say what that is. I cringe at the thought of my wife sitting down next to me while I'm playing. She'll probably think it's the most retarded thing she's ever seen in her life. She'd be right of course. But sometimes the stupidest shit will entertain me for reasons I and no one will ever understand.
I nearly didn't buy this, thanks to one or two crappy reviews. Even though I liked the demo, I thought something must have gone horribly wrong.
The older I get, the more I realize that half of the so-called "critics" out there have no idea what they're talking about.
So I bought the game yesterday (360 version) and have played about four hours of it this afternoon. My opinion? Jericho is a good game. Sure, the premise of "commandos with witch powers" is a little goofy, and the opening screen with the poor voice actor delivering sub-par backstory is enough to send up a red flag right away. But get past that, and there's a lot to like here.
Let's get the obvious out of the way first. Anyone who says the graphics in Jericho are bad is either blind or pushing an agenda. This game looks spectacular. Upon playing the demo, I wrongly assumed this title was using the Unreal engine, so shiny was the team members' armor and convincing were the "wet" rock textures.
Now I understand that this is a proprietary engine, and technically, it's quite good. Perhaps even better is the Hellish art direction, which drips atmosphere and foreboding and really helps immerse the player into the game. Character models are detailed and the frame rate keeps up a peppy pace even when the air is filled with bullets and explosions.
I love the subtle depth-of-field effects on architecture in the distance as well as the slightly jittery light from the team's flashlights. The blood splashes look great and the game even features some very convincing weather effects (rain) in some locales.
I could go on about the excellent lighting and smoke effects and giant bosses, but let's just say this is one of the better-looking next-gen games I've played to date.
So how's the gameplay? Fast and furious. The gunplay here is loud and bombastic, and because you get to switch to other characters at will, you're sure to find several favorite weapons and abilities to use. I was surprised to see multiple configurations for weapons; for example, the Cole character, who carries grenades, can set them to explode at three seconds, five seconds, or when somebody comes in proximity. Likewise, guns can be set to fire single-shot, multi-shot, or automatic. I really enjoy using some of the special abilities, too, such as the psychic-guided sniper shots and especially the "slow-down-time" ability.
After reading reviews, I was afraid that my team would be uncontrollable, running headlong into battle only to get themselves killed instantly. Well, they're not always well behaved, but there IS an easy way to command them to stay in place. Press down on the D-pad and they'll stay where they are until you reach a critical stage in the game's advancement. You do have to stay on top of them, guiding them into position here and there and telling them to stop often, but it works pretty well and is not nearly the problem some reviews have made it out to be.
Yes, the writing and dialog are often straight out of a B-movie, but then again, that puts it on par with most games today, and honestly, there have been a couple of clever lines and laugh-out-loud exclamations that have taken me by surprise. Some of the ladies' lines are surprisingly profane, and I can't help but chuckle when I hear one of them take down a baddie and spit, "F***er," "Pussy!" "You just got your ass kicked by a girl," or whatever.
Which brings us to the fact that this is definitely a game for mature audiences, with its nightmarish imagery and rough language. I'm surprised how many reviews have scoffed about the game's lack of scares. Well, it is a video game and yes, if you're over the age of 8, you probably realize that you're safe from harm as you sit in the La-Z-Boy with controller in hand. But the game certainly creates an atmosphere of anxiety and dread, and does so in a way that's satisfying enough for me. No, I don't feel like my heart is going to explode like I did while playing Condemned, but I'm having a blast with the game regardless.
Are there problems? Sure. Most notably, it's difficult to switch characters in the heat of battle when all hell is breaking loose. I really wish the game 'paused' while the player takes possession of a different character, as all too often, you'll zap into somebody and be utterly disoriented, struggling to face the right direction and take cover as you're likely being riddled with projectiles. The enemies take a good pounding before they go down, so you need to stay on them or they'll be on top of you in short order. And when a tight cluster of your teammates goes down, it's tough to get to them and revive them one by one without going down yourself. Again, the character-swapping idea is much more enjoyable when you're changing at leisure than when the shit is really going down.
The game's taken criticism for its QTE segments, but honestly, I don't find them any more difficult than in God of War and they're certainly easier than in Heavenly Sword. They add variety to the gameplay and often give you a nice, up-close-and-personal look at the gloriously rendered monsters.
Some reviews have mentioned intolerable load times. Rubbish. Especially after enduring the 10-second waits for a single car to que up in Motorstorm. The loading times in between levels here are absolutely not a problem.
I know there are more things I wanted to say, but now that I've typed all of this, I'm anxious to get back to the game and continue playing. I've voiced my indignation at the people who have given this game lackluster scores and will finish by saying that if you were the least bit intrigued by this game's demo, you owe it to yourself--and to the developers--to give this game a rental at the very least.
I purchased the game and I am glad that I did, as it's beautiful, fun, creepy, and quite unlike anything else in my game library. Think Hellraiser with heavy weaponry and psychic powers, and just let yourself have fun.
Back to playing...
edit: The graphics in this game keep getting better and better. Dilapitated castle architecture, skinned corpses, rivers of blood... not to mention the ever-so-slightly jiggly female character. Yes, this game looks great.
The older I get, the more I realize that half of the so-called "critics" out there have no idea what they're talking about.
So I bought the game yesterday (360 version) and have played about four hours of it this afternoon. My opinion? Jericho is a good game. Sure, the premise of "commandos with witch powers" is a little goofy, and the opening screen with the poor voice actor delivering sub-par backstory is enough to send up a red flag right away. But get past that, and there's a lot to like here.
Let's get the obvious out of the way first. Anyone who says the graphics in Jericho are bad is either blind or pushing an agenda. This game looks spectacular. Upon playing the demo, I wrongly assumed this title was using the Unreal engine, so shiny was the team members' armor and convincing were the "wet" rock textures.
Now I understand that this is a proprietary engine, and technically, it's quite good. Perhaps even better is the Hellish art direction, which drips atmosphere and foreboding and really helps immerse the player into the game. Character models are detailed and the frame rate keeps up a peppy pace even when the air is filled with bullets and explosions.
I love the subtle depth-of-field effects on architecture in the distance as well as the slightly jittery light from the team's flashlights. The blood splashes look great and the game even features some very convincing weather effects (rain) in some locales.
I could go on about the excellent lighting and smoke effects and giant bosses, but let's just say this is one of the better-looking next-gen games I've played to date.
So how's the gameplay? Fast and furious. The gunplay here is loud and bombastic, and because you get to switch to other characters at will, you're sure to find several favorite weapons and abilities to use. I was surprised to see multiple configurations for weapons; for example, the Cole character, who carries grenades, can set them to explode at three seconds, five seconds, or when somebody comes in proximity. Likewise, guns can be set to fire single-shot, multi-shot, or automatic. I really enjoy using some of the special abilities, too, such as the psychic-guided sniper shots and especially the "slow-down-time" ability.
After reading reviews, I was afraid that my team would be uncontrollable, running headlong into battle only to get themselves killed instantly. Well, they're not always well behaved, but there IS an easy way to command them to stay in place. Press down on the D-pad and they'll stay where they are until you reach a critical stage in the game's advancement. You do have to stay on top of them, guiding them into position here and there and telling them to stop often, but it works pretty well and is not nearly the problem some reviews have made it out to be.
Yes, the writing and dialog are often straight out of a B-movie, but then again, that puts it on par with most games today, and honestly, there have been a couple of clever lines and laugh-out-loud exclamations that have taken me by surprise. Some of the ladies' lines are surprisingly profane, and I can't help but chuckle when I hear one of them take down a baddie and spit, "F***er," "Pussy!" "You just got your ass kicked by a girl," or whatever.
Which brings us to the fact that this is definitely a game for mature audiences, with its nightmarish imagery and rough language. I'm surprised how many reviews have scoffed about the game's lack of scares. Well, it is a video game and yes, if you're over the age of 8, you probably realize that you're safe from harm as you sit in the La-Z-Boy with controller in hand. But the game certainly creates an atmosphere of anxiety and dread, and does so in a way that's satisfying enough for me. No, I don't feel like my heart is going to explode like I did while playing Condemned, but I'm having a blast with the game regardless.
Are there problems? Sure. Most notably, it's difficult to switch characters in the heat of battle when all hell is breaking loose. I really wish the game 'paused' while the player takes possession of a different character, as all too often, you'll zap into somebody and be utterly disoriented, struggling to face the right direction and take cover as you're likely being riddled with projectiles. The enemies take a good pounding before they go down, so you need to stay on them or they'll be on top of you in short order. And when a tight cluster of your teammates goes down, it's tough to get to them and revive them one by one without going down yourself. Again, the character-swapping idea is much more enjoyable when you're changing at leisure than when the shit is really going down.
The game's taken criticism for its QTE segments, but honestly, I don't find them any more difficult than in God of War and they're certainly easier than in Heavenly Sword. They add variety to the gameplay and often give you a nice, up-close-and-personal look at the gloriously rendered monsters.
Some reviews have mentioned intolerable load times. Rubbish. Especially after enduring the 10-second waits for a single car to que up in Motorstorm. The loading times in between levels here are absolutely not a problem.
I know there are more things I wanted to say, but now that I've typed all of this, I'm anxious to get back to the game and continue playing. I've voiced my indignation at the people who have given this game lackluster scores and will finish by saying that if you were the least bit intrigued by this game's demo, you owe it to yourself--and to the developers--to give this game a rental at the very least.
I purchased the game and I am glad that I did, as it's beautiful, fun, creepy, and quite unlike anything else in my game library. Think Hellraiser with heavy weaponry and psychic powers, and just let yourself have fun.
Back to playing...
edit: The graphics in this game keep getting better and better. Dilapitated castle architecture, skinned corpses, rivers of blood... not to mention the ever-so-slightly jiggly female character. Yes, this game looks great.
Kolgar said:
I too bought this game, and certainly did not regret doing so. While not the best single-player experience this year (AC and ep2) I found it to be a very satisfying horror experience, one of which I had been craving for since I beat RE4 many many months ago.
I agree with you 100% here - especially regarding critics/reviewers.
I felt like I enjoyed Jericho purely because I'm so starved of action horror games. There are some good ideas, but in the end actually playing felt pretty tedious. Killing these monsters just wasn't satisfying to me on any level. The gunplay feels like I'm fighting with super soakers, and the enemies just collapse on the spot when they've absorbed sufficient bullets, like sponges. Head pops and suicide cultists excepted of course - points for them. I kept coming back simply because nothing else out there offers better gameplay combined with these aesthetics. Loved the music and environments, and I even enjoyed the story such as it was. The characters suffer from a few bad lines and a lot of repeated dialogue, but overall I liked them too. This really is a genre that needs to be exploited further, because I shouldn't have enjoyed this close to as much as I did.
I see PA is selling the Asian version fro $29.90 and since it's regionfree I consider making a purchase .. however some of the reviews have been really off-putting. I'm torn :-S
Wow I didn't expect to see this thread again. Especially considering I was the only GAFfer to vote for this game in the top 10 games of 2007. I put it at number 3, and if I had that top 10 over again I'd probably move it down to number 4, after beating COD4 I decided I liked that a little better.
Since my 'review' on this very page I have completed the game and also 1kd it on achievements. I worked out what I do like about it. The characters, artistic design and story. I'm a sucker for games with atmosphere dripping off the walls and interesting characters, and this game has both in large quantities.
I'm hopeful they continue the series and make the sequel. I know it sold like shit so I wouldn't be surprised if they canned it. But it would suck to not see how the story plays out.
Since my 'review' on this very page I have completed the game and also 1kd it on achievements. I worked out what I do like about it. The characters, artistic design and story. I'm a sucker for games with atmosphere dripping off the walls and interesting characters, and this game has both in large quantities.
I'm hopeful they continue the series and make the sequel. I know it sold like shit so I wouldn't be surprised if they canned it. But it would suck to not see how the story plays out.
Lonesome_Raod
Member
I loved Jericho. Great squad interaction and a decent enough plot. I got really into it.
Lonesome_Raod
Member
I loved Jericho. Great squad interaction and a decent enough plot. I got really into it.
I actually played this on the PC and have to say that it is easily the best version to experience. When running at 60 fps with all of the blurs and such, it feels incredible. At times, certain sequences almost feel pre-rendered. In addition, the controls feel so much better with a mouse and keyboard.
Delgado: "How many telekinetic lesbians snipers does it take to clear a road?"
Black: "Same number it takes to kick your ass, douche bag."
So far, so good. I can't believe this game got 60's across the reviewer spectrum. It's definitely a B-grade shooter, but it's a different enough concept that I'm enjoying myself alot. If Steam runs another sale, I'd easily recommend it at the $10 price-point.
Black: "Same number it takes to kick your ass, douche bag."
So far, so good. I can't believe this game got 60's across the reviewer spectrum. It's definitely a B-grade shooter, but it's a different enough concept that I'm enjoying myself alot. If Steam runs another sale, I'd easily recommend it at the $10 price-point.