A city appears out of nowhere in a Middle-Eastern desert, you're likely to stay away right? Wrong. In Jericho you are tasked with going into the city and destroying the evil that lies within.

That evil is known as the Firstborn, God's first attempt at creating a being in his own image which went horribly wrong. He banished them into the abyss but a prophecy states that they will return seven times and will either be destroyed or find freedom. You are tasked with dealing with the seventh and final breakthrough.

Clive Barker has done a great job with the storyline, but the rest of the package doesn't quite live up to the well-crafted apocalyptic horror story concocted by Barker.
Presentation wise the game ticks all of the boxes. The cut-scenes are gore-filled and set up a tense atmosphere. The in-game graphics are gritty and dark, if a little unpolished in places.

The games musical score, like the graphics, adds atmosphere to the game and picks up tempo when you confront enemies. Much of the score is an eerie sort of religious music that keeps you on your toes.

Character models are detailed, although your squad member's choice of dress is a bit questionable. Nazi-style black is the order of the day here, and you can't help but laugh at the way some of your squad dresses.

A squad based element has been incorporated into the game, giving it you would hope some depth and strategy. You can control your squad with a button press on the D-pad and also control individual members and take advantage of their abilities, which can be accessed by pressing the left and right bumpers.

The abilities of your squad members include being able to freeze enemies momentarily and the ability of telekinesis. Your squad also engage in some often funny banter during combat, including what the priest in your squad got up to in Prague.

In reality the squad gameplay becomes an afterthought, the only thing your squad is really good for is reviving you if you die. This is true in the first level, but the game takes an interesting twist afterwards, (which I won't reveal here so as not to spoil the game).

As the game progresses they become a liability, running ahead of the rest of the squad and getting themselves killed, leaving you short on numbers and having to revive them.

It is simple to revive them but it does become annoying when half of your squad dies and has to be revived at the end of every fire-fight against multiple enemies. When it comes to facing the games enemies, the experience feels shallow and repetitive. You don't feel as if your gun is actually doing much damage when you fire as it doesn't pack a meaty punch.

The enemies are gruesome and you have to use a lot of bullets to take them down, but the combat isn't dynamic, just predictable. Enemies will also stand still during fire-fights, allowing you to pick them off easily. The whole experience just feels hollow, there's plenty of blood but you just don't feel as if you're coming face-to-face with the unholy offspring of God.

Your character also seems to die pretty easily if the enemies are able to get a hit on him, but this isn't a problem as your squad members are nearly always around to heal you again. This is exacerbated by the fact that there is no clear indicator of how much health you have, which can confuse you.

This leads to a lot of stop-start gameplay on missions and can cause you to lose patience with the game. The ability to jump has also been inexplicably left out of the game and adds to the growing list of gripes already mentioned in this review.

As you progress through the game, you are also not entirely aware of the story and what you are meant to be doing in the game. The premise you are introduced to at the beginning is fantastic, but it just trails off after that.

The story also involves a lot of backtracking and the levels are often repetitive, with copy and paste corridors and environments being used. The games levels are long enough, with 12 in all, so there is a fair deal to work through if you can look over the games flaws long enough to complete the game.

There is no multiplayer mode so the games lifespan is pretty limited. After completing the story mode there is no great incentive to go back and play the game, unless you want to get all of the achievements.

Jericho starts with a great hook and presents itself well enough, but the subsequent plot and gameplay let the game down a great deal. The combat feels hollow and your team and enemies A.I. leaves a lot to be desired. The game is also repetitive in terms of level design and levels feel like they have been lazily put together.

Jericho puts on a good front but in the end fails to deliver. It is a pity as the story is well constructed and thought out; setting you up for what should be a rip roaring horror fest. The result is a half baked game with a lot of flaws.