Clive Barker's Jericho follows an elite team of military parapsychologists as they travel to the source of an ancient evil which threatens to overrun the world. The Jericho Team venture in the Middle Eastern city of Al-Khali that hides a covert archaeological dig and paranormal research centre that is now in the middle of an inter-dimensional rift. Although Clive Barker's Jericho is a first person shooter, it incorporates squad based mechanics and the horror genre to venture into this strange world of the paranormal, guns and amazing abilities.

The Jericho Team consists of seven unique individuals that are not only trained in warfare but also the paranormal with each member a particular expert in his or her field. This bizarre fields include subjects such as clairvoyance and exorcism. The beauty of Jericho is that the game is  mixed blend of weaponry and powers because as you progress through the game, your team must start relying on their innate psychic abilities in order to defeat the hoards that have overrun Al Khali. The story also has a healthy amount of scares throughout the game but not quite on the same scale as F.E.A.R. or the original Half Life title. Needless to say, the story is still quite engaging and is not forced or clichéd with just the right amount of thrills and chills.

The characters in Jericho are amazingly different than your more standard shooters such as Halo 3 and Call of Duty as each has their own unique abilities such as the Blood Mage or the awesome telekinetic sniper who can guide his bullets. As with all good squad based games, the gamer not only controls all the characters to an extent as the commander but you have the ability to swap between members throughout the title. Changing between team mates also allows you to select their weapons and powers which makes for some interesting and quite satisfying gameplay. This on the fly feature must be used quite a bit throughout the storyline.

The AI of Jericho is quite decent and I must commend the developers for allowing your squad to be quite useful during the game, unlike other other squad based games that have your troops standing around. For instance, your squad is quite apt at challenging enemies in the game and they will even heal their teammates without prompting which makes for an almost "human-like" experience. There were a few instances where the AI and your squad members done some strange things but on the hole, the AI is quite impressive.

Graphically, Clive Barker's Jericho is a strange and twisted game with its bizarre influence from Clive Barker that with the developers have created some hideous and creepy looking characters. The character models are extremely detailed and feature some of the nicest texture details on a first person shooter game that almost make them life-like. Add in the majestic settings of the city Al Khali that has been overrun by demonic forces and it's easy to get drawn into this twisted universe. The special effects and lighting effects are first class and in order to get the fears across to the player, the game is rather dark which once again compliments the story.

The soundtrack of Jericho goes hand-in-hand with the graphics and gameplay that suits the genre perfectly, match that with professional voice acting and some extremely scary and strange sound effects and you have a great sounding title. I must admit that the musical score really helps in getting your adrenaline pumping and sets the atmosphere of the game.

In conclusion, Clive Barker's Jericho is a decent first person shooter with squad based mechanics and compliments this horror genre perfectly. The gaming environments are extremely well designed as is the storyline that is matched with great gameplay and a variety of different characters that will captivate you from start to finish. Definitely recommended to the first person shooter fan or for those that love the horror genre. Be afraid... be very afraid!