name of the game
Barker’s back with Jericho
Horror author raises hell with paranormal shooter
By Scott Gardner
Clive Barker’s Jericho
PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Horror author, filmmaker and producer Clive Barker may not be as well known as Stephen King or even Dean Koontz, but his dark fantasies are just as depraved, and his best movie adaptations — like Hellraiser (1987) and Candyman (1992) — are smart, terrifying and oozing with sinister sexuality.
Not surprisingly, Barker’s already lent his demonic talents to videogames. About five years ago Clive Barker’s Undying (Mac, PC) was critically acclaimed but barely sold, and two years ago the impressive movie-game venture Demonik (PC, X360) sunk amid financing woes. This time, however, he seems pretty confident, saying his new game “promises to be the most spectacular, creative and unflinching realization of a Clive Barker nightmare.” An ominous threat considering what lurks in the shadowy corners of the man’s mind.
A squad-based, first-person shooter, Jericho is named for the Jericho Team — a seven-soldier strike force trained to contain paranormal events. While that may sound familiar, this isn’t a garden-variety run ’n’ gun game. First twist: although proficient in the usual conventional weapons, each grunt has a parapsychological ability — like clairvoyance, alchemy, blood magic or pyrokinesis — that’s vital to survive combat and solve puzzles. Second twist: you can change characters on the fly to exploit each specialty as you need it, while simultaneously ordering your squadmates around. Third twist: Jericho Team has a few of the usual looming, steroid-case jarheads found in most shooters, but adds several stylishly (okay, scantily) dressed female commandos.
“But what about the evil,” you ask, “and the horror?” Never fear — or rather, go ahead and fear because it’s big. Ground zero is a lost desert city where archaeological work has, oops-a-daisy, opened a dimensional rift and released an ancient evil predating (and none too fond of) humanity.
As the Jericho squad navigates the ancient streets and corridors they discover that warriors from earlier ages have already tried to contain the evil. But as the troopers move in, their actions unbind and reanimate the old struggles, layer by layer, having a time-travel effect as the Jerichos encounter heroes and monsters from ancient Samaria, Rome, the Crusades, WWII and a final, super-secret era. (Don’t tell, but it’s Iraq.)
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Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
PS2, PS3, Wii, X360
This series is so addictive it may soon be classified as a
controlled substance. Holding a guitar-shaped controller (a bit smaller
than a real axe) you play fret buttons on the neck and hit the strum
bar as rhythm-based “notes” scroll across the screen, and the virtual
band rocks out. When you lose the beat it sounds like those first weeks
of Idol, but keep up, work the whammy bar and you’re a god.
Legends has new multiplayer co-op and battle modes, every system
finally gets wireless controllers and more than half of the 70 songs
are from the original masters — not sound-alikes. But here’s a taste of
what devotees really care about: “Evenflow” by Pearl Jam, “She Bangs
the Drums” by The Stone Roses, AFI’s “Miss Murder,” “Cult of
Personality” by Living Colour and — break out your top hat — “Welcome
to The Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses.
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Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
PS3
Ratchet, the furry, big-eared Lombax adventurer, and his diminutive robot sidekick Clank are back for their seventh adventure since 2002, and their first on a next-gen console. And this time…well, nothing much is really different, and that’s the best possible news for fans.
Gameplay is fast, colourful and imaginative with 3D platforming, shooting and driving missions, and plenty of eccentric villains. Happily, developers Insomniac have, um, ratcheted up the comedy quotient, and dreamed up a new arsenal of weapons and gadgets, including the Groovitron — a grenade that makes enemies dance to the tune of “Stayin’ Alive.”