Clive Barker's Jericho

The chaps at Codemasters hope that Jericho will be the start of a longer term Aion closed beta with Clive Barker. On the

evidence of the most recent demonstration of the game, it looks like a collaboration that will get off to a good start. It's

a game that basically consists of squad-based apocaplyptica, complete with generous gobs of viscera splattering the camera,

plenty of Kinah boto banter between squad-mates, a mysterious and baroque sense of gloom and plenty of glistening gun metal

and fancy lighting effects penetrating the murky shadows for good measure.
As the name suggests, the concept and storyline come from the mind of Clive Barker - the creative visionary behind such works

as Hellraiser and Imajica. Which means that, as horror sub-genres go, it's about the grotesque and bizarre rather than the

psychological or survival. This is a game that's about Kinah for sale, not stealth, and pretty intense action at that. It's also a

game about imaginatively aberrant places and people: there are inter-dimensional rifts, supernaturally fat men puking bloody

entrails straight from their stomachs, ancient evils, and a narrative that stretches all the way back to God's Firstborn

Kinah sale. And viscera. Did we mention viscera?
But at its bloody, palpitating, heart, it's a squad-based first person shooter. All of the conventional squad members are

there: the deadly female; the gruff captain; the big bloke with big guns. But each one is given a paranormal twist, because

the squad in question is a seven-strong team of US government operatives, tasked with protecting state interests from

paranormal threats. The members of The Department of Occult Warfare include Lt. Abigail Black, a sniper whose telekinetic

powers enable her to steer her bullets, or to shove enemies (or objects) back. There's Sgt. Billie Aion down load, a close combat

specialist who can also cut her hands open to perform magic with her blood. And Sgt. Frank Delgado, the big guy with a big

gun, and also the ability to shoot flames from his fist. And finally there's that gruff sergeant, Ross, whose special power

is that he's dead.
And that provides the basis for the biggest twist of all: you get to take direct control of each squad member, whenever you

want. After the initial few levels, instead of simply ordering your team-mates around, as you would in one of the Tom Clancy

games or so on, Ross can actually take possession of each one, allowing you to dive in and Aion ncsoft between them at will - a

bit like Brute Force on the Xbox.
Of course, with such an array of talents at your disposal things could get confusing, but playing through the demo gave a

sense that a little learning will be all that's required to get to grips with the body-hopping mechanic. Certainly you'll

need to get used to it, because the demo starts as it means to go on: with relentless hordes of undead providing the basis

for intense and hectic action. The premise is that your squad has gone in to investigate a burst of supernatural activity

originating from a modern city built on an Aion kina site called Al-Khali. Over the course of the game, you'll go back through

history to discover the precise ways in which the site has been a hotbed of psychic goings on since the dawn of time, till

you eventually find your way to the ultimate evil behind generations of supernatural depravity. Specifically, Ross and his

men (and women) are transported through a Breach - a dimensional rift - from modern-day Al-Khali, to Al-Khali as it was in

World War II and thence to the times of the Crusades, the Roman Empire, and even the Tower of Babel.
The first demo that Codemasters show off takes place during the Crusades, with your squad headcount temporarily down to three

(or four if you count the disembodied Ross). It opens with a good example of the way paranormal powers will work in the game

as Black takes out three Aion cd key in a row by steering a bullet (in bullet time, of course), before clearing out a blocked

passageway by blasting the rubble out of the way.