یکی از بازی هایی که تا چند روز دیگه عرضه می شه بازی Clive Barker's Jericho هست. نمی دونم Undying رو بازی کردید یا نه، ولی اگه باز کرده باشید میدونید که Clive Barker پدر وحشت!! واقعا چه قدر کارش درسته! راستش Undying هم به خاطر مشکلاتی مثل عدم تبلیغات مناسب اصلا از لحاظ تجاری بازی موفقی نبود ولی حداقل فکر می کردم برای بازی Jericho تبلیغات بیشتری بشه چون واقعا در E3 نمایش فوق العاده ای داشت. مثل این که Codemaster آن چنان که باید و شاید روی این بازی مانور تبلیغاتی نداده ولی من فکر کنم Jericho هم یک عنوان بسیار خوش ساخت مثل Undying باشه حداقل نمایش های بازی که این طور نشون می داد. اگر می خواید بیشتر با این بازی آشنا بشید بهتون پیشنهاد می کنم حتما تریلر های بازی رو از Game Trailers دانلود کنید.
شاید مهمترین خصوصیت Jericho جو ترسناک و چندش ناک آن باشد و در کنار آن طراحی فوق العاده دشمنان که از تنوع بسیار خوب برخوردارند و کاملا original هستند. از اونجایی که می دونم خیلی ها با این بازی آشنایی ندارن قصد داشتم یک Preview از بازی توی وبلاگ بذارم اما متاسفانه توی این چند روز این قدر سرم شلوغ شد که موفق به این کار نشدم ولی خب یک سری اطلاعات در مورد بازی به صورت انگلیسی می ذارم که تقریبا هر چی در مورد این بازی احتیاج دارید بدونید رو در بر داره.
Clive Barker
Clive Barker (born October 5, 1952) is an English author, film director and visual artist.
Barker was born in Liverpool, England. He studied English and philosophy at Liverpool University. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California with his partner, photographer David Armstrong, and Armstrong's daughter Nicole from a previous relationship.
Barker is one of the leading authors of contemporary horror/fantasy, writing in the horror genre early in his career, mostly in the form of short stories (collected in Books of Blood 1- 6), and the Faustian novel The Damnation Game (1986). Later he moved towards modern-day fantasy and urban fantasy with horror elements in Weaveworld (1987), The Great and Secret Show (1989), the world-spanning Imajica (1991) and Sacrament (1996), bringing in the deeper, richer concepts of reality, the nature of the mind and dreams, and the power of words and memories.
Barker's distinctive style is characterized by the notion of hidden fantastical worlds coexisting with our own (an idea he shares with contemporary Neil Gaiman), the role of sexuality in the supernatural and the construction of coherent, complex and detailed universes. Barker has referred to this style as "dark fantasy" or the "fantastique". His stories give equal time to the heavenly and awe-inspiring as to the hellish and horrific.
When the Books of Blood were first published in the United States in paperback, Stephen King said of Barker: "I have seen the future of horror and its name is Clive Barker."
A critical analysis of Barker's work appears in S. T. Joshi's The Modern Weird Tale (2001).
Clive Barker's Jericho
Clive Barker’s Jericho™ is a terrifying squad-based horror FPS game based on an original concept and story by legendary horror writer and filmmaker Clive Barker , the creator of Hellraiser™.
An ancient evil has broken through into our world and is threatening to spread its taint across the whole of the earth unless it’s stopped. At ground zero lies the Middle Eastern city of Al-Khali, a modern city built atop the ancient ruins of a dozen previous conquerors.
Clive Barker’s Jericho delivers an overload of sensory horror. Players journey through hellish locations and slices of time combating gruesome and twisted enemies. A squad-based horror First Person Shooter, the Jericho of the title refers to the Jericho Team, a seven-man strike force that protects government interests from paranormal threats. Trained in both conventional warfare and the arcane arts, each Jericho Team member is an expert in different para-psychological disciplines, including telekinesis, pyromancy, blood magic and exorcism.
:Story
Before Adam and Eve were created, God fashioned the Firstborn. Neither light nor dark, both terrible and beautiful to behold, it disturbed the Almighty who banished this flawed creation into the Abyss. There, it waited and watched until it was able to reach out with its power into our world. Seven Sumerian priests met its arrival and fought to contain it, successfully entombing the place of its escape within a great ziggurat. Ever since that time, there would always be a secret order that would train seven warriors to await the Firstborn's attempts to escape. They would always disappear into the ruined city of Al Khalid that had been built atop this bedrock of strife and somehow succeed in banishing the Firstborn back to the Abyss. However, none of these teams have ever returned from their Mission.
The Firstborn would make four attempts to escape, each time taking back a piece of the earth to add to its domain. Fragments of time and space would form layers around Al Khalid, entrapping pieces of history within its walls from the time of the ancient Sumerians to World War II. Over time, other conquerors would arrive to claim the city as their own but eventually, the city was forgotten and buried by the sands around it.
The Department of Occult Warfare was created in the 1930s to combat the unexplained and meet Nazi Germany's own research into the paranormal. One of their most brilliant members, Arnold Leach, was recruited in 1962. However, his unscrupulous behavior and nature would eventually have him expelled. He was marked for assassination, and although the operation appeared to be successful, it seems he may have survived.
:Characters
Name: Simon Cole
Rank: Corporal
Height: 173cm
Weight: 58kg
Age: 21
Eyes: Green
Hair: Hazel
Blood Group: AB
Team Position: Support
Specialty: Reality Hacker
History
Corporal Simon Cole was raised in Silicon Valley to parents who both worked as computer programmers. At the age of four, Cole was diagnosed with mild autism. Her parents refused to consider their daughter as handicapped and chose to home school her. She developed a prodigious intellect, displaying an astonishing aptitude for mathematics, logic and physics. By fourteen she was accepted to MIT. By nineteen she had published a book on chaos mathematics. She was hired as an NSA code breaker before she could legally drink. She has memorized pi up to 5,300 digits.
Recruitment
Paranormal phenomenon such as “missing time”, mass hallucinations, and the spontaneous teleportation of personnel and equipment caused havoc with NSA operations in the months following Cole’s recruitment. Her CO passed on data and the DOW was called in to make covert assessment. After identifying Cole as the source she was enlisted immediately into active duty. Her talent has since been further enhanced. Using principals from Cabalistic mathematics and chaos theory, Cole serves as the Jericho team’s “reality hacker” to alter space and time to their benefit.
Occult Resources
Cole’s gifts are purely intellect based: she has no psychic powers other than an incredible level of intelligence that allows her to work extremely complex mathematic problems in her head. Augmented with a wearable computer, gesture-based UI, and HUD interface, she runs custom-made Cabalistic and chaos mathematic sequences that have a profound effect on the physical world. She is able to both slow down time briefly and deploy ‘firestorm’ which intensifies the team’s firepower for a short period.
Combat Resources
Cole’s harness is taken up largely by the custom-built computer that she uses to run her Cabalistic programs. The computer casing and harness, built to her spec by DOW R&D, has been tested to withstand a drop from over 13 feet and can easily withstand concussive forces equal to a grenade only 7 feet away. Nonetheless, Cole equips herself with low-report weaponry that is unlikely to jar or interfere with her computer systems. She carries a light-weight X-86 submachine gun modified with a scan feature built into the two-range scope allowing her to identify enemies hidden in the immediate vicinity and identify any vulnerable points.
Primary Weapon:
9mm X-86 submachine gun
Secondary Weapon:
Concussion grenades with 4 different adjustments: impact, time, proximity or remotely triggered.
Name: Abigail Black
Rank: Lieutenant
Height: 183cm
Weight: 68kg
Age: 27
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Dark
Blood Group: A-
Team Position: Sniper
Specialty: Telekinetic
History
Abigail Black was raised in Fairbanks, Alaska, the only child of an avid hunter that desperately wanted a son but got a tomboy instead. Her mother died from complications of Abigail Black's caesarean birth. The pressures of poverty, simple parenthood and worsening alcoholism led Black's father to physically abuse her for most of her life. He noticed that strange phenomena (e.g. windows spontaneously breaking, flying objects) followed their worst fights, which convinced the deeply superstitious man that his daughter was possessed. During a particularly violent encounter, he attempted to "exorcise" her with a hot iron, which left her with a hot iron, which left her permanently scarred and him with a paralytic stroke. Black escaped her harrowing upbringing by joking the Army at the earliest possible age. Her skills with a rifle earned her an instructing position at Fort Benning's renowned sniper school. Black excelled in the Army, breaking records for her marksmanship whilst she thrived on the discipline and order within the ranks.
Recruitment
Put simply, Abigail Black’s marksmanship was unprecedented. Her perfect record brought her to the attention of the DOW who brought her in to undergo testing at DOW facilities, where it was confirmed that her extraordinary skills with the sniper were enhanced by telekinetic powers. She was immediately transferred to a Jericho squad.
Occult Resources
Sgt. Black can telekinetically move an object ranging in size from a stationary tank to a moving bullet so long as she has line of sight to her target. As a result, she can steer her shots mid-flight, even striking multiple targets with a single projectile. This makes her an extraordinarily powerful asset. However, the greater the force she exerts, the weaker she becomes. The ability physically drains her health causing bleeding from the ears, nose and mouth in extreme cases.
Combat Resources
Black is the top rated sniper in the US army, thanks in great part to her telekinetic ability to steer multiple rounds in flight. She carries a highly modified and personally customized sniper weapon. To enhance her control it plugs directly into her nervous system via an NDI (Neurological Data Interface). Black’s rifle has been further modified to include an under barrel grenade launcher.
Primary Weapon:
7.62mm Custom FLASH THOUGHT
Semi- Auto- Sniper- System
Secondary Weapon:
Custom 40mm under barrel grenade launcher
Name: Wilhelmina "Billie" Church
Rank: Sergeant
Height: 165 cm
Weight: 47kg
Age: 22
Eyes: Brown/Green
Hair: Dark
Blood Group: Unknown
Team Position: Support
Specialty: Blood Scribe
History
Wilhelmina "Billie" Church was born into a snake handling Christian sect in rural Tennessee. Her family's congregation believed Billie was gifted with divine powers of healing and protection as evidenced by the "miracles" the child worked by drawing her own blood and writing "Angelic Script" with it. As word spread of the child's perceived powers and the fervent devotion of her followers, the Tennessee State authorities launched an investigation which resulted in "Billie" being taken into custody. Her experience whilst under the care of the State was exceptionally traumatic and included several suicide attempts. Her unusual past has come at great cost; she remains paranoid that her cult will come looking for her and has a continuing history of symptoms associated with schizophrenia and disassociated personality disorder. Her past haunts her to this day.
Recruitment
Church’s unusual circumstances led to low-level surveillance by the DOW. However, monitoring was stepped up after one incident during her custody in particular; she was discovered to have carved the words “Luke 10:19” into the middle of her back, even though she was locked in a solitary observation room, had no sharp implements, and doctors deemed the feat physically impossible. Billie claimed, and maintains to this day, that “angels” did it for her. Father Paul Rawlings noted her extraordinary circumstances and engineered her release into DOW assessment facility. After years of intense deprogramming, therapy, and training in various blood-based magic systems she was appointed to Sergeant. Since her deprogramming, she has gone from withdrawn and modest to something of an explosive extrovert.
Occult Resources
Sergeant Wilhelmina Church is able to cast powerful wards, enchantments and banishments through the ritual of drawing her own blood and writing potent sigils with it. This comes with an obvious physical price, both physical and spiritual. The pain and ritual of the act focuses her will and taps into something inside her that even the DOW is unable to pinpoint.
Combat Resources
Sergeant Wilhelmina Church carries the minimum required level of protection as demanded by the army, a submachine pistol, which is her primary firearm. Her reluctance to use firearms resulted in extensive study of the nodachi, a large-two-handed Japanese sword. Church’s nodachi has been custom crafted and she wields it with devastating effect.
Primary Weapon:
4.6mm KENJUU
Personal Defense Weapon
Secondary Weapon:
Custom made nodachi
Name: Xavier Jones
Rank: Captain
Height: 186 cm
Weight: 90 kg
Age: 30
Eyes: White
Hair: White
Blood Group: O-
Team Position: Reconnaissance
Specialty: Seer
History
Captain Xavier Jones, born to anthropologist parents, has lived in over eighteen countries during a unique childhood. From Inuit villages along the Bering Straight to Bedouin camps in the Sahara, Jones has been exposed to a myriad of cultures, religions and languages. An only child, the indigenous people that hosted his family became his surrogate siblings and extended family. It was an aboriginal "clever man" that first spotted and nurtured Jone's gift of second-sight and astral projection. As a hobby, Jones began collecting and studying divination systems from every culture he visited (many of which he still carries with him on every mission). After his unorthodox upbringing, he joined the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. Upon graduation, he joined the intelligence community as an analyst.
Recruitment
Jones’s ability to make dead-on predictions of Russian submarine positions using little more than a map and pendulum earned him the nickname “X-Mark” (as in “X Marks the Spot”) among his colleagues. Legend of his accuracy spread throughout the industry and DOW officials began to covertly monitor his work. The results were staggering, and clearly aided by paranormal abilities. Contact was made by Captain Devin Ross and Jones was brought in. He is now the second most senior officer in the Jericho team and is Ross’s right-hand man. Jones is a walking encyclopaedia of arcane knowledge, and carries multiple journals, maps and texts in his BDU, along with the tools of his trade as a seer, including several fortune-telling and scrying devices.
Occult Resources
Jones is a seer, which allows him brief, albeit often cryptic, glimpses of past or future events. Using his second sight, he can spot paranormal elements that others cannot. He can also project his consciousness into a separate host body.
Combat Resources
Given Jones’ background in desk-intelligence, understandably he is the least experienced of the Jericho squad in combat. However, in addition to basic training received at Annapolis he has undergone fast-track training during his year on the Jericho Squad, and is equipped with both short and medium range weaponry.
Primary Weapon:
5.56mm PATRIOTEER Assault Rifle
Secondary Weapon:
12 gauge Light Support Shotgun
Name: Frank Delgado
Rank: Sergeant
Height: 210 cm
Weight: 130 kg
Age: 31
Eyes: Green
Hair: Dark
Blood Group: O+
Team Position: Heavy Weapons
Specialty: Pyromancer
History
Frank Delgado is of mixed Mesitzo and Chickasaw descent and spent much of a troubled youth in and out of foster homes until distant relatives on an Oklahoman reservation took him in. Finding a much needed cultural identity, Delgado poured his body and soul into Chickasaw spiritualism and the pursuit of Shamanic wisdom. This included intensive study of chemistry, pharmacology and botany as he came to consider himself a modern day alchemist. Through his studies he learned to summon a fire-based entity, which Delgado presumes to be the Chickasaw spirit Ababinli, but he was unable to control it. Delgado traveled the world and made contact with similar spirits in Borneo, Mongolia and Lithuania in order to harness the spirit's enormous power and request it's bidding.
Recruitment
Frank Delgado has always had a deep-rooted anti-authority streak. In order to fund his increasingly expensive research he used his knowledge of psychoactive drugs and chemistry in violation of international narcotics laws. This brought him to the attention of the DEA and the Chinese government. He was less than twenty-four hours from execution in Beijing when the Department of Occult Warfare, who had been tracking his development for some years, were forced to intervene. His liberation was arranged on the condition that he would be recruited into the Jericho Squad and trained in Occult Warfare. He has proved a powerful, if troublesome, asset.
Occult Resources
Frank Delgado is a Pyromancer, roughly translated as “one who speaks with fire”. In Delgado’s case, the fire he speaks with is an entity of living flame that he says is Ababinili, a Chickasaw flame spirit. After contacting the spirit, Delgado offered it his right arm as a sacrifice to win its cooperation. The creature of living flame now lives as a parasite on Frank’s arm during missions, encased and contained in a large metal sleeve. In combat, Frank opens the containment sleeve and releases Ababinili. Ababinili responds (usually) to Delgado’s commands, and so becomes a formidable tool and weapon. When the spirit is loose, Delgado endures intense pain until its return, when the parasitic spirit soothes its host.
Combat Resources
Sgt. Frank Delgado is Jericho squad’s heavy weapons expert and an intimidating opponent for any enemy. Since Delgado’s right arm is encased in a large metal sleeve to contain Ababinili he has had custom designed weapons that can be operated and reloaded with just one arm thanks to specially installed mechanisms on his body armour.
Primary Weapon:
7.62mm HELL’S KEEPER 3-barreled Gatling gun
Secondary Weapon:.50 Calibre PAIN
Automatic custom pistol
Name: Paul Rawlings
Rank: (Civilian) Priest
Height: 195 cm
Weight: 88 kg
Age: 67
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Grey
Blood Group: O+
Team Position: Medic / Chaplain
Specialty: Exorcist
History
Father Paul Rawlings is the most experienced member of the Jericho squad. He enlisted into the US Army as a chaplain's aide in 1970 and served three tours of duty by the end of the conflict in Vietnam. After US withdrawal, he discharged himself from the service after his experience /caused him to question his religious and political beliefs. Rawlings spent the next twenty years traveling the world searching for meaning and direction, visiting the far corners of the earth on missionary and relief efforts. However his contact with indigenous tribes did more to transform him than his intended converts. He found himself adopting various belief systems into his own, because, as he's fond of saying "There's no such thing as too many Gods when it comes to watching your ass". As such, Rawlings became something of a universal cleric, the ultimate chaplain.
Recruitment
After adopting a fusion of religious belief systems and honing the extraordinary powers that he came into contact with, Rawlings made peace with himself and sought to resume active duty with the Chaplain’s corps. This request was dismissed after taking into consideration his age and length of absence from service. However his application came to the attention of DOW officials who identified his unparalleled experience of dealing with occult forces and the paranormal across the world. He is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to dealing with malevolent spirits and otherwise hostile paranormal entities.
Since joining the DOW, Father Paul Rawling’s has been active in identifying, recruiting and nurturing further talent in addition to his field duties. It was Rawlings who engineered the release of Sgt. ‘Billie’ Church from Texas State custody into the squad, and he has trained numerous agents across the full spectrum of the DOW’s operations.
Occult Resources
Rawlings is an exorcist, a role learnt through intense academic study of magic systems from around the world (especially in the areas of consecration and exorcism) and pure faith. His primary function is that of healer. He can call upon Ghost Heal, a sphere of benevolent power capable of reviving fallen comrades over great distances, which expends some of Rawling’s own health. Vlad’s curse – another power he learned to harness during his travels, allows him to target specific adversaries, which means their conventional weapons won’t damage Jericho squad members, but instead will regenerate their health.
Combat Resources
Rawlings may be a man of cloth (or many cloths, as he would argue) but he is also an experienced soldier who has served tours in Vietnam and Iraq. He arms himself with a pair of twin customized automatic pistols, which he calls Faith and Destiny, augmented by his own personal luck charms and talismans.
Weapons
Two .357 Calibre auto pistol with modular ammo: piercing, concussion, explosive.
Time Slices
Each "level" in Jericho, is broken up into what Barker describes as "the layers of a disgusting, rotting onion." Each slice is dedicated to a specific era of time the Firstborn has taken from the earth. Below are three of the layers The Jericho Squad will visit.
World War II Slice
World War II began the era of industrialized, global, modern combat. Millions died. This war, unprecedented in global reach and casualties, was only ended through the deployment of nuclear bombs dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians in two devastating strikes. Recent Department of Occult Warfare paranormal excavations revealed concentrated levels of activity at Al-Khali during the War. The roots of the activity stretch back further.
In the 1930s reports reached the UK Security Service that a German occult society, deeply entwined with the Nazi hierarchy, was investigating paranormal warfare. Initially these documents were dismissed and filed. The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War changed everything. Field reports spoke of strange phenomena during bombardments, projectiles that seemed to change their path in mid-flight to reach hidden positions, interrogation led by unidentified collaborators that obtained information without a word being uttered, and sudden deaths in inexplicable conditions (heart attacks, spontaneous combustion) of high Republican commanders inside their underground refuges. Covert operations revealed that a new German corps established by the German Occultists, the Geheimnisvoll Abwehrmacht, were operating on the Spanish northern front, camouflaged as logistical and intelligence support for the Condor Legion.
The Spanish Civil War was a training ground for the new corps. Extensive research was carried out by the German Occultists to establish how the paranormal could further their war effort. As their new fighting force carried operations in Spain, psychic operatives identified Al-Khali of critical strategic potential. As soon as WW II broke out, German forces invaded Al-Khali. Local men, women and children were enslaved to carry out excavations. Hundreds died of exhaustion and starvation. After uniformed German forces led and supervised the excavations, the Geheimnisvoll Abwehrmacht, commanded by their finest psychic squadron leader Hanne Lechtermact, was dispatched to Al-Khali to take over the site. In response, a British commando unit was sent to Al-Khali under the command of Major Pat Buckland. The unit, known as Blackwatch, was established by the Office of Strategic Services under the supervision of famed British Occultist Alleister Crowley. The squad was comprised of veterans hardened on the battlefronts of almost all the wars in the early 20th century. People touched by luck, clairvoyants, occultists and experts in demolition and infiltration. They were the Allies best hope of response as they played catch-up against their German counterparts.
Despite the huge levels of paranormal activity recorded at Al-Khali, what actually occurred there during the war remained a mystery. All contact with the British commando unit was lost soon after their arrival. There are no official known records of Gehimisvoll Abwermacht activity although it is believed they never returned from the desert. The physical excavations at Al-Khali and any discoveries made at the site were lost.
The Crusades Slice
The Crusades span nearly two hundred years of the bloodiest conflicts in human history as the amassed forces of Christendom and Islam fought for control over the Holy Land. Countless numbers died in warfare, thousands more during the sieges and the ruthless sacking of cities. The most sickening event of all occurred at Al-Khali. Bishop Maltheus St. Claire feared for his eternal life, especially since he suffered from illness of the flesh. He could not control his appetites despite his increasingly severe penances. His trauma drew him to devote his life to study in the Vatican Library, the largest concentration of ecclesiastical books and manuscripts in the world and the principal library in the West,
searching for enlightenment, salvation and secrets. After years of total immersion he resolved upon the idea of leading a Crusade to the Holy Land. Maltheus convinced Pope Innocent II to sanction him to lead a radical army that could not fail and would not result in the loss of more Christian lives. His crusaders would be children. Citing the purity of his child warriors, they would be protected by God; no spear or arrow could injure them. Children were recruited from among humble young volunteers from across Europe.
The children could hardly thrust a sword or handle the weight of a coat of mail.
They were convinced by Maltheus, like their Pope, that the purity of their Christian innocence would save them. This was not the case. The crusade of ‘Les Innocents’ began in 1212 but they did not arrive in the Holy Land for a year. Maltheus believed the waters of the Mediterranean were going to part for the holy army to cross. When they didn’t, they had to wait months until one of the merchants provided boats for the crossing. Shipwrecks
meant hundreds died at sea. At ports across the Mediterranean, merchants sold the children into slavery and prostitution. This did not deter Maltheus, who dragged thousands of children across the desert to Al-Khali. The weakest died of hunger and exhaustion on the road.
Sick, starving, demoralised, and convinced that their youth could not protect them, ‘Les Innocents’ were faced with amassed Saracen forces at Al-Khali. The Saracens pleaded for
their surrender. The remaining children begged to be saved. Yet Maltheus mocked their cowardice, and demanded battle. They were massacred. Maltheus bore witness to the slaughter of his army, the destruction of his salvation, and abandoned them. He fled to the chapel at Al-Khali for sanctuary and to expiate his sins. This was his last recorded act. He did not emerge. The shredded bodies of ‘Les Innocents’ were left to the mercy of the carrion.
The Roman Empire (38 AD) Slice
During the reign of Emperor Caligula, the beginning of the end of Rome’s power, Al-Khali lay at the Eastern front bordering the Parthian Empire. Considered politically, culturally and strategically insignificant by Rome, being stationed at Al-Khali was considered exile at best. For the seventh cohort of the first legion, posted to Al-Khali, it was worse: it meant dishonour. It was the worst destination that a legionary could hope for and most of its members had been condemned for some crime, were killers, or fleeing something. But they also had to serve under governor Casus Vicus.
The fame of the tribune Cassus Vicus was notorious throughout Rome. A devotee of all types of orgies and festivities, Vicus was a fan of any excess or perversion. But he went too far. He was surprised while practising cannibalism and condemned to death. However, he was absolved. Partly because of the enormous sum he paid as a bribe, partly because of his personal friendship with the former emperor Tiberius, a bosom companion in his bacchanals. Cassus Vicus was named governor of Al-Khali, the province farthest from the Empire. At first furious and deeply offended by this forced retirement to this dusty corner that was so totally lacking in the charms of the known world, he soon learned to appreciate the advantages of governing a place so far from civilization. Far from the interests and law of Rome, Vicus’ supposed duties boiled down to little more than collecting taxes and protecting the borders. But he came to see a new purpose for the cursed lands under his control: dedicating its resources to his own deification, perversion, and excess. Vicus gave free rein to his basest instincts, behaving more like a criminal than a governor of a Roman province. His cruelty won him the respect of his neighbours who avoided him whenever possible. The temple was dedicated not to Jupiter, Saturn Mars or Minerva, but to Vicus himself. The villa and palace were lavishly decorated as they hosted the endless parties, banquets and orgies that satisfied Vicus hedonistic appetite.
The seventh legion acted not as representatives of the Roman Empire, but as a devastating extension of Vicus will, forced as they were to commit all types of abuse on the local population and especially with the merchant caravans crossing the territory. Tax collection gave way to the payment of tolls, protection fees and finally pillaging and sacking travelers through the Al-Khali region. The most fortunate were executed on the road. Those were not ended up in the sumptuous coliseum as slaves, concubines and finally as part of the banquet (cannibalism was, of course, one of Vicus’ favourite indulgences.) It was said to live under the rule of Vicus was to be a curse from the Gods themselves. But Vicus instead came to see himself as a living God at Al-Khali, with those who lived, trespassed, or traveled through his lands to live, serve and die at his whim.
Press Release
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BLOOD, SWEAT AND FEAR RUN RAMPANT AS CODEMASTERS Gamers Get a Taste of Battling Demonic Foes from the Twisted Mind of Burbank, CA – Thursday, September 27, 2007 – Action, shooter, horror and Clive Barker fans – prepare yourselves to take on the darkest evil from the depths Clive Barker's mind – and then blast its face off with a hail of gunfire and supernatural powers as Codemasters announces the release the playable demo for Clive Barker's Jericho ™. The demo is now available * from Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for the Xbox™ 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft® and the PLAYSTATION®Network for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, with the Games for Windows® demo available from www.jericho-game.com . Clive Barker's Jericho dispatches players to the Middle-Eastern city of Al-Khali , where the most ancient of evils has resurfaced; causing intense paranormal activity that has caught the eye of the military. Controlling the Jericho squad, an expert strike team skilled in both conventional and paranormal warfare, gamers fight their way through slices of time on a grueling journey as they make their way toward the heart of the evil. Thrusting into the middle of this unique horror/FPS, the Clive Barker's Jericho demo starts gamers off in the Crusades time slice of Al-Khali's past. A vicious attack has cut the squad in half, leaving players in control of Sgt. Frank Delgado, Lt. Abigail Black and Sgt. Billie Church, and with the other half of the squad presumed lost. As the spirit of Cpt. Devin Ross , the fallen squad leader who's remaining entity is able to possess and jump between surviving members of the team, players will take advantage of Delgado, Black and Church's special weapons and paranormal talents. Delgado , a pyromancer and heavy weapons expert, can unleash a parasitic flame spirit to incinerate nearby enemies and wields a 7.62 caliber mini-gun. Black possesses astonishing telekinetic powers, which let her guide bullets fired from her customized XM-110 sniper rifle with pinpoint accuracy through multiple targets. Church , a blood scribe, casts powerful wards, enchantments and banishments through the ritual of drawing her own blood, and also comes equipped with a customized Nodachi katana for ruthless melee attacks. Only by combining the unique paranormal abilities of the Jericho squad will gamers survive this hellish nightmare and inch closer to discovering the truth behind the evil rooted in Al-Khali. Right from the beginning of the Clive Barker's Jericho demo, players face a vicious onslaught from an army of grotesque crusader-era warriors. These twisted and tormented enemies, with armor fused to their rotting flesh and limbs replaced with axes and swords, are powerful, shocking realizations of monsters spawned straight from the mind of Clive Barker. Developed by Mercury Steam Entertainment, Clive Barker's Jericho is set to unleash its supernatural assault on October 23, 2007 for the PLAYSTATION 3 system, the Xbox 360 and Games for Windows , and is rated “M” (Mature 17+ - Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, and Strong Language) by the ESRB. For the latest on Clive Barker's Jericho, including the PC demo, be sure to visit http://jericho.fanation.com/?L3534. Visitors can also enter the community's ‘Game with Pain' competition, where the grand prize for building a winning Clive Barker's Jericho fansite is the ultimate horror gaming set up, which includes a monster HDTV and surround sound system. |
