Post by Gilvan Blight on Aug 6, 2008 13:26:13 GMT -5
Quickly: gross and disturbing but a lot of fun.
[glow=blue,2,300]Summary:[/glow]
This is a squad based, horror, first person shooter. It start off in the modern day in an area called Kalli. There is some odd disturbance there, potentially supernatural. Team Jericho is sent in to investigate. Jericho is comprised of a motley crew of psychics, priests, possessed, techies, thieves and witches. The player starts off as Ross the leader of Jericho, a Psychic.
Soon after starting the investigation Jericho finds out things aren't at all normal. The team finds out that Kalli is the place that the Firstborn of God was imprisoned thousands of years ago (basically some messed up being made before humans that god discarded, which really pissed this being off and made it hate the creations that god does love, us). The entire area is a Pandora Puzzle box that is threatening to expand and cover the entire world. Jericho needs to unravel the puzzle by exploring 'the box' going further back in time, first to WWII, then the time of the Templars, then Roman times, then Ancient Times and finally the beginning of time.
Very quickly after starting the game Ross, the main character is killed, somewhat. See his body dies and he becomes incorporeal and able to posses any other member of his squad. So you continue to play Ross but can take over control of any other member. This is the fundamental gameplay element, knowing which character to swap to and when. Each character has their own style of fighting, weapons and unique powers. For Example Black is a Sniper who also has Telekinesis. She can hit guys far away, she can use her powers to guide her bullets or she can use her power to knock down blocked doorways. Another Example is Delgado. He's a huge Marine type with a Gatling Gun who is possessed by a Fire Demon. He can lay down an insane amount of fire, he can unleash his demon to burn foes, or he can use his demon to protect him from fire damage.
Most of the game is a mix of shooting and puzzle solving. The shooting is more like Gears of War then say Call of Duty as it takes many shots to take an enemy down. You will spend a lot of time emptying clip after clip into baddies as you backpedal to cover. Between the fights are puzzles that usually just require you to figure out which characters special abilities will get you past them. For example the Thief can climb and sneak up on people, so she may be required to climb through a hole and battle through some enemies to open a gate for the rest of the team. Or you may need to go through an area aflame as Delgado so you can turn off the fire so the squad can continue.
One addition to the gameplay is the fact that the 8 man team (technically 9 counting the disembodied leader) is split into two squads, Alpha and Omega, you can give orders to either such as hold ground, charge or cover. Using this well is necessary to get through some of the puzzles and is a great help when in combat.
There is online multiplayer play, but it's just the usual fps fare, with nothing really special.
[glow=green,2,300]The Good:[/glow]The whole playing around with a bunch of different guys with different powers was very cool and very different from any other FPS I have played. Each character was truly unique and each played very differently. Another advantage of this system, was that, unless you were in a puzzle area that needed a specific character, you could generally play a character that matches your preferred play stile. Like to Snipe, play as Black for most the Game, Like playing Healer, play as the Priest, etc. The story was rather cool, especially as you got deeper in and met all of the past squads who have failed through time. The templars now worshiping Winged Horrors and calling them Angels was the most interesting and an good example. You couldn't save anywhere but checkpoints were frequent enough that there was very little repetition after you died. The variety of enemy types was interesting and varied enough so that just when you think you have the perfect strategy to use a new mob shows up that makes you change your plan. It was a nice balance.
[glow=yellow,2,300]The Bad:[/glow]Random Difficulty. Some levels in this were such a cakewalk that it's not even a challenge or fun, while others are controller tossingly frustrating. Levels where you have to use the psychic character to project yourself into a mob then use a power to say hit a switch are the worst. There was one level where two mobs are on top of a Castle tower where you have to posses one, then another and then use a power to hit a button. This in itself is pretty annoying, but even worse there are only two guys you can posses and the rest of your squad keeps killing them. It took me weeks to beat this as it would piss me off so much I would take a weeks break from the game. This isn't the only place your squad acts stupid though. They generally aren't much use except to keep the mobs busy while you kill them all. This was most obvious in the later levels with mobs that could only be hurt from the back. They always faced the character you were playing and even if led directly away from the rest of the team, for some reason your mates could never hit. You would have to swap to a member behind the mob and hit it before it turned to face the new character you possessed.
[glow=red,2,300]The Ugly:[/glow]Knowing this is a Clive Barker game this pretty much goes without saying, but it's really sickly gross at times. My wife refused to watch me play this, and also would never allow me to play it with my daughter in the room. Even I was repulsed by some of the graphics. This is by far the goriest nastiest game I have played. Besides just looking nasty the concepts in it are also pretty messed up and mess with your head if you give them too much thought. If you don't want to see halls covered with refuse and blood, people in the middle of being diced alive, people going through unending bloody torment this game is most definitely not for you.
[glow=purple,2,300]Overall:[/glow]I really enjoyed this. It's definitely not for everyone due to the Mature rating and sheer messed up grossness of it. If you like or don't mind gore and horror there's a great game here. The squad based combat is done in a way where you can swap between characters at any time and each character is truly unique and all are fun to play. I suggest at least a rental on this one for anyone who likes Horror.
[glow=blue,2,300]Summary:[/glow]
This is a squad based, horror, first person shooter. It start off in the modern day in an area called Kalli. There is some odd disturbance there, potentially supernatural. Team Jericho is sent in to investigate. Jericho is comprised of a motley crew of psychics, priests, possessed, techies, thieves and witches. The player starts off as Ross the leader of Jericho, a Psychic.
Soon after starting the investigation Jericho finds out things aren't at all normal. The team finds out that Kalli is the place that the Firstborn of God was imprisoned thousands of years ago (basically some messed up being made before humans that god discarded, which really pissed this being off and made it hate the creations that god does love, us). The entire area is a Pandora Puzzle box that is threatening to expand and cover the entire world. Jericho needs to unravel the puzzle by exploring 'the box' going further back in time, first to WWII, then the time of the Templars, then Roman times, then Ancient Times and finally the beginning of time.
Very quickly after starting the game Ross, the main character is killed, somewhat. See his body dies and he becomes incorporeal and able to posses any other member of his squad. So you continue to play Ross but can take over control of any other member. This is the fundamental gameplay element, knowing which character to swap to and when. Each character has their own style of fighting, weapons and unique powers. For Example Black is a Sniper who also has Telekinesis. She can hit guys far away, she can use her powers to guide her bullets or she can use her power to knock down blocked doorways. Another Example is Delgado. He's a huge Marine type with a Gatling Gun who is possessed by a Fire Demon. He can lay down an insane amount of fire, he can unleash his demon to burn foes, or he can use his demon to protect him from fire damage.
Most of the game is a mix of shooting and puzzle solving. The shooting is more like Gears of War then say Call of Duty as it takes many shots to take an enemy down. You will spend a lot of time emptying clip after clip into baddies as you backpedal to cover. Between the fights are puzzles that usually just require you to figure out which characters special abilities will get you past them. For example the Thief can climb and sneak up on people, so she may be required to climb through a hole and battle through some enemies to open a gate for the rest of the team. Or you may need to go through an area aflame as Delgado so you can turn off the fire so the squad can continue.
One addition to the gameplay is the fact that the 8 man team (technically 9 counting the disembodied leader) is split into two squads, Alpha and Omega, you can give orders to either such as hold ground, charge or cover. Using this well is necessary to get through some of the puzzles and is a great help when in combat.
There is online multiplayer play, but it's just the usual fps fare, with nothing really special.
[glow=green,2,300]The Good:[/glow]The whole playing around with a bunch of different guys with different powers was very cool and very different from any other FPS I have played. Each character was truly unique and each played very differently. Another advantage of this system, was that, unless you were in a puzzle area that needed a specific character, you could generally play a character that matches your preferred play stile. Like to Snipe, play as Black for most the Game, Like playing Healer, play as the Priest, etc. The story was rather cool, especially as you got deeper in and met all of the past squads who have failed through time. The templars now worshiping Winged Horrors and calling them Angels was the most interesting and an good example. You couldn't save anywhere but checkpoints were frequent enough that there was very little repetition after you died. The variety of enemy types was interesting and varied enough so that just when you think you have the perfect strategy to use a new mob shows up that makes you change your plan. It was a nice balance.
[glow=yellow,2,300]The Bad:[/glow]Random Difficulty. Some levels in this were such a cakewalk that it's not even a challenge or fun, while others are controller tossingly frustrating. Levels where you have to use the psychic character to project yourself into a mob then use a power to say hit a switch are the worst. There was one level where two mobs are on top of a Castle tower where you have to posses one, then another and then use a power to hit a button. This in itself is pretty annoying, but even worse there are only two guys you can posses and the rest of your squad keeps killing them. It took me weeks to beat this as it would piss me off so much I would take a weeks break from the game. This isn't the only place your squad acts stupid though. They generally aren't much use except to keep the mobs busy while you kill them all. This was most obvious in the later levels with mobs that could only be hurt from the back. They always faced the character you were playing and even if led directly away from the rest of the team, for some reason your mates could never hit. You would have to swap to a member behind the mob and hit it before it turned to face the new character you possessed.
[glow=red,2,300]The Ugly:[/glow]Knowing this is a Clive Barker game this pretty much goes without saying, but it's really sickly gross at times. My wife refused to watch me play this, and also would never allow me to play it with my daughter in the room. Even I was repulsed by some of the graphics. This is by far the goriest nastiest game I have played. Besides just looking nasty the concepts in it are also pretty messed up and mess with your head if you give them too much thought. If you don't want to see halls covered with refuse and blood, people in the middle of being diced alive, people going through unending bloody torment this game is most definitely not for you.
[glow=purple,2,300]Overall:[/glow]I really enjoyed this. It's definitely not for everyone due to the Mature rating and sheer messed up grossness of it. If you like or don't mind gore and horror there's a great game here. The squad based combat is done in a way where you can swap between characters at any time and each character is truly unique and all are fun to play. I suggest at least a rental on this one for anyone who likes Horror.