Occasionally a game emerges boasting to be the next Resident Evil or Doom, two of the most applauded horror games that the gaming industry has known, the former of which virtually founded the genre now known as Survival Horror. While not comparing itself to these games, without them Clive Barker's Jericho might never have come into existence. Brewing beneath its exterior lies an attractive game dynamic that sets it aside from the rest of the horror pack; it's just a shame that it often feels broken and unbalanced.

Based around the theory that God attempted to create humans more than once before he got it right, the failed prototype (known as the Firstborn) could not be killed and so was cast into the Abyss. That is except of course when every generation some nutter breaks the seal to the Abyss, letting the Firstborn's demonic minions loose upon the world and causing chaos to ensue. To counter this danger, an organisation known as Jericho has existed as long as the first attempt to free the Firstborn, and in this modern day of technology they're a gun-toting squad of soldiers trained in the arcane arts. As the tutorial bluntly puts it, "We are magicians with guns." So the battle between Jericho and the spawn of hell begins, across many eras such as Nazi Germany and the Crusades, as portals tear through time itself.

Pretty exciting premise isn't it? At first Jericho begins as a pleasing FPS, as your squad touch down at an archaeological site where the Firstborn's minions are passing through the Abyss. It's dark and gloomy, and every so often a shambling humanoid monstrosity springs out and attacks you. Graphically it all looks rather shiny, with some painfully detailed textures and impressive draw distance that always hints that pretty soon another barrage of beasties are going to come charging at you in waves from afar. This serves as the tutorial level and explains everything in great detail, but never feels like a chore. The controls are mapped like most 360 shooters, with the triggers used for primary and secondary weapons, but hang on - where's the jump button?! Am I going mad here? No, you aren't going crazy; even the smallest fence is an impenetrable barricade to your superhuman soldier. Quite why in this generation, where freedom of exploration is a key aspect to gameplay, the developers felt the need to abandon a jumping mechanism when so many moments in the game cry out for it is beyond me. As a result, dodging enemy gunfire becomes hellish and you find yourself constantly cut down as your character calmly attempts to stroll out of the way.

Unfortunately the niggles don't end here and this is a shame, because there is some genuine innovation and talent on display. After the first level something big happens to your squad (it's a spoiler) that gives you the ability to cycle through the squad and control any member as you see fit. For example, if you are pinned down by sniper fire then just switch to moody sniper goth babe Black and unleash the 'Ghost Bullet', firing a bullet that you guide around in slow motion. It's great fun cutting down a pack of hellspawn with one bullet, sending it whizzing through them as you create panic in their ranks. Similarly, the hulking Delgado can send fire demons flying from his arm, incinerating enemies or creating a fire shield so that teammates can pass through flamethrowers without getting scorched. Some real thought has gone into the tactics involved in this system - but problems quickly arise. Many battles are panicky scrambles, as you spend time flipping through characters only to be killed because you found it hard to remember which character has which skill. It isn't down to a lack of character identity; it's just because the learning curve is a tad harsh at times. In addition, the banter between teammates is horribly textbook; more at home in a cheesy action film than the tightly scripted horror epic that it so often yearns to be. One liners and baffling accents are just a few aspects that put the 'horror' into Jericho, rather than the hoards of identical enemies that lose their fear factor after the twentieth bland encounter. Music-wise the sound production is pleasingly applied with only the odd metal riff intruding on what is otherwise a pretty creepy soundtrack, similar in parts to the Silent Hill series' blend of audio terror.

Returning to the harshness of the learning curve, a difficult set piece involving Nazi pill boxes requires your squad to take down enemies while Cole, an expert in grenades, has to sneak behind the turrets and throw bombs into their vent shafts. This sounds really smart and it could have been if the AI hadn't been so erratic; using left and right on the d-pad issues simple orders to each half of your team, such as "follow me", "stay put" and "take point". But they simply don't work. Often your team will be ordered to fall back because you know you can make a better job of the next set piece than their mangled AI can; yet they follow you and do their own thing, getting killed in the process and meaning that you have to run back and resurrect them, often getting yourself killed too.

You will try to enjoy this for having the gusto to inject something new into the horror FPS genre and who knows? You just might. Unfortunately, all the rousing soundtracks and impressive graphics can't salvage how unbalanced the squadmates feel, how confusing the plot can be and the scattershot squad dynamic. Even melee attacks are worthless because each is a set pattern of attacks that can't be interrupted. So if you miss you stand there swiping at thin air while a foe beats you into submission. These are silly mistakes that could have been remedied into a solid dynamic but unfortunately the opportunity has been missed and the lack of jump button really hurts.

For die-hard Clive Barker fans, Jericho is probably a worthy addition to your game roster. For newcomers however, this is a game that must be taken with a heavy pinch of salt and an open mind. Beneath the mangled exterior of clumsy control methods and weak characterisation there is a great idea here and had the game been given a few months longer in development it could have had these annoyances ironed out. Visually pleasing but lacking solid gameplay, get your hands on Jericho if you need a horror stopgap until Silent Hill V comes out, because when it wants to it can scare you silly - but for the best part it fails to impress, despite how hard it tries.

Reviewed by Dave Cook for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).