Clive Barker's Jerico demo...

looks like its coming out wednesday for the pc.
i think the release date is around the same as the witcher, but i could actually get this instead (would still get the witcher at a later date) if the game is as good as some of the trailers i've seen. i can't think of the last good squad game i've played, probably hidden and dangerous 2:sabre squadron and that was a few years back. hopefully mercury steam will stike gold with this game though. anyone else looking forward to this?

yes, i'll be procuring the demo asap.

Even tho I'm down with the squad based thing, I am leery of squad based that is on a very tight rail, like that Star Wars:Republic Commando game. In that type of game for example, there's a little "sniper" symbol on a rock. From there, and ONLY there, the sniper has to do his thing. I hope it's not like that, but being on console as well, it's certainly a possibility. It sounds like it also has the "only if everyone croaks you die" instant heal mechanic for fallen comrades, which I'm sorta mixed on. Both of those things arent gamebreakers by any means, that's the way of the future and we'd better get used to it if we want to play the latest and greatest. We'll just have to see how it all works.

I do like the fighting thru different time periods and all that, and it's wooing me with some supernatural powers that augment each characters particular weapon specialty. It looks interesting, and I'm always open to some new horror stuff.

The german software rating organization refused to rate this game due to too brutal content, which means it's free to be put on the index by the BPjM (Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons), which would mean it couldn't be advertised anymore in Germany and only be purchased by people over 18 or it could even be banned...

The game will be released only on PC over here, Codemasters decided against cuts and changes in the game to keep the artistic vision of Clive Barker and to respect the creative ideas.

...

I think it's high time games are finally accepted as an art form like any other.

One of the VERY FEW current games I actually want .

If it's anything like Undying was, then it should be pretty good.

Undying - as the only real, if much later, alternative to Realms of the Haunting - still is one of my favorite games. I'm afraid Jericho is very different, but as long as it's as atmospheric, I'm game.

the demo is sick. in all manners of the word. the demo is short but it runs very well and is going to be a great game. even though i liked dark messiah well enough this game is going to make that game look like playing with crayons in comparison.

i didn't think to highly of the undying demo and the graphics seemed pretty lame and uninspired from the vintage in which it was released. maybe i'll give it another go someday.

curiously undead said:

i didn't think to highly of the undying demo and the graphics seemed pretty lame and uninspired from the vintage in which it was released. maybe i'll give it another go someday.

Click to expand...

That game is nearly 7 years old now and very few games age well after that much time. Undying was definitely a good game for it's time, it had some great atmosphere.

it was was released almost exactly the same time as blade of darkness and that has everything i look for in a non dialogue based action game whereas the undying demo had almost none. i guess at the time it had some atmosphere, but the demo was pretty cheesy and hardly as immersive as the blade demo. but i never liked any first person games whatsoever until i played system shock 2 in 2001, with deus ex, and thief all within a few months of that. those are the only first person games that are over 5 years old that i've played more than demos for, and they all kickass. hexen, doom, half-life never had me at hello.

Well BOD and Undying would pretty much be apples and oranges. They have nothing in common whatsoever other than the fact that they were released in the same month.

No, Undying definitely can't compare to SS, DX, or Thief, I totally agree with you there. As far as the atmosphere being "cheesy" though, most people would strongly disagree with you. IIRC the demo for Undying was pretty short, and didn't do a very good job of representing how good the game actually was.

....downloading Jericho demo now.....

Brought my 3.4 ghz 2gb 7800GT system to a crawl on it's default settings, which are by default cranked all the way up. I took it down to 1024 x 768 and it still looked great, and played fluidly. Great looking game, the motif is pretty wild. It's the design that Barker does best in my opinion: the extreme horror, cenobite-like tortured soul thing. Lots of blood and chains. The level in the demo is a cozy little vision of Hell, and I couldnt help but feel like I'm in some nice little reception area of the Inferno as I cruised around it.

The guns shoot pretty good, but the melee is pretty lamentable. At one point you have to take control of the "half naked ninja chick" as Ive heard her referred to, and embark on a brief solo quest. It's probably the one part of this shooter that I wouldnt have showcased in the demo. First person melee combat for me sucks, period. Swing away while pointing at the enemy, watch your health drain, hopes yours drains slower. No chance to block or evade, no tactics at all, just button mashing. Youll kill em, and they crumple and go all ragdolly on ya. Oh look, theres another one. Weee.
Perhaps I'm missing something??

which then led to one of those contemporary directional button sequence games, which I'm beginning to truly loathe. They pulled the same thing in the last two Tomb Raider games on me. Instead of some cool boss fight or action of similar ilk, you now have to play a round of Simon. Quick, push the UP button! Simon says push the DOWN button! That's not something I think is a suitable replacement for a neato fight.

I think I might be too much a control freak for this one. I was under some strange delusion that this was a little bit more of a tactical game. I like my squadmates to be more at my direct command, not running all over the place taking everything out. They should never run ahead of me, wasting things before I ever even lay eyes on them. Why am I even playing at that point?

So yeah, I think it looks definitely cool, but I'm mixed on how it plays.

xSamhainx said:

which then led to one of those contemporary directional button sequence games, which I'm beginning to truly loathe. They pulled the same thing in the last two Tomb Raider games on me. Instead of some cool boss fight or action of similar ilk, you now have to play a round of Simon. Quick, push the UP button! Simon says push the DOWN button! That's not something I think is a suitable replacement for a neato fight.

Click to expand...

You ain't kiddin brother, I gave up at that point after falling down that well about 20 times. Very disappointed overall by the demo, the atmosphere was cool but everything else was subpar. I'll be passing on this one.

Undying was pretty decent as far as horror-themed shooters go. It wasn't anywhere near System Shock/Deus Ex, but it was a damn sight better than most other contemporary shooters. I'm not personally a big fan of Clive Barker or his writing (though I've only read little of his work), but his influence was noticable and made for a better game. I did get bored with it after a few hours, but considering I only last 10 minutes before I quit most shooters, that's saying something.

Come to think of it, Undying was pretty close to Bioshock in style and complexity. They both have conventional weapons as well as "magic-like" powers, and they're both story-driven immersive shooters. Naturally, Bioshock has the advantage of technology but the two are much closer than other common comparisons.

correct me if i'm wrong as i didn't get very far through it before giving up but doesn't resident evil 4 have a bunch of those button mashing sequences.

true it was kind of out of left field when they throw it at you and its rather long, but at least its broken into two parts and it only took a minute to get through for me. the melee combat wasn't as good as i hoped, but its cool that at least any character can use their weapon in melee. also some of the special powers were quite nice and i actually thought the reviving down enemies wasn't too shabby. also i'm sure the squad control is much more pertinent when you have the full squad. but you can assign an alpha and beta team which in turn you can give a hold back or charge ahead command.

curiously undead said:

correct me if i'm wrong as i didn't get very far through it before giving up but doesn't resident evil 4 have a bunch of those button mashing sequences.
.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't say RE4 had a "bunch", there were some, but the controls were much more responsive in that game and it didn't provide that level of frustration.

certainly you are not talking about the pc controls

Haven't played the PC version yet, I heard it didn't even have mouse support.

I want to play RE4, and it's budget priced now in my neck of the woods, but I dont have a gamepad. That takes it to budget plus. I suppose like anything else I have to wade thru reviews unless someone can recommend a good and fairly inexpensive gamepad, since chances are that I'll rarely use it.

Maybe I should just buy a really expensive, nice gamepad. Beat RE4, then take it back. These days, places like Best Buy are so customer friendly that I dont even need a reciept half the time. That's pretty cheesy tiger move, but I may do just that, I can count on one paw the games that Ive actually used a gamepad for on my pc.

Does Summoner use a gamepad?

Whoa Sammy, hold on a second! Did you just say "Best Buy" and "customer friendly" in the same sentence?? Maybe that store is different in California, but that's the last place on Earth that I'd buy anything if I was planning on taking it back.

Anyways, RE4 is an excellent game, in fact, it might be the best game I've ever played on a console system. I'm not sure how good the PC port is though.

lets just put it this way: i love the resident evil series and 4 is the first one i've had to play on a pc. i didn't even make it past the first few hours. its not that the controls were horrid, yet they they were a dissapointment. it was that money/score system that totally broke the immersion for me, along with one part that continually spawned enemies. i really despise games that do that, especially when ammo conservation is a key element to the game/genre. also although the story could pan out better, the whole zombies who aren't zombies just doesn't have your good ole fashion zombie draw to it for me or a good new take on it like 28 days later or the dawn of the dead remake. maybe if i get sick this winter and am "high" on cough medicine i'll try it again and i could be less picky and find the coins that pop out of crows amongst other places somewhat amusing.