We’re not the type of folks to get excited when a game publisher secures the rights to a famous name, but we made an exception for Clive Barker’s Jericho. Clive’s body of work comprises terrifyingly unique horror stories, fairy tales, plays and films, and within the gaming world, his previous game, Undying, was a surprise hit. So in light of his past success, we let down our guard and became uncharacteristically enthusiastic about Jericho, but it didn’t take long for that misplaced confidence to end. In fact, it was precisely five seconds into the worst opening narration in gaming history that we vowed never to let our guard down again.

This devastating opening scene involved a truly terrible voice actor relaying the history of an imprisoned demon and the eponymous psychic team of warriors that stand watch. It was cheesy, poorly acted, and if its goal was to destroy the atmosphere before the game had even started, then mission accomplished. But as the game rolls along and the action picks up, Jericho reaches a more acceptable standard for a modern action team-based shooter.

Though you play your own character, you are essentially a disembodied soul that can possess your squad mates and take control over their weapons and special psychic powers, which are sufficiently varied to make each character feel different. You’ll need to hop around the squad invoking their abilities in order to get through each level. The squad mates themselves are all surprisingly well-crafted comic book characters, with appropriately corny dialogue and banter that keeps the story rolling along. In fact, despite the horrific introduction, Barker’s imagination is well represented – the environment literally drips with blood and gore, and there’s a real feeling of menace at every turn.

Unfortunately, that’s where Jericho’s list of positive attributes ends. The highly linear gameplay may be great for telling a story, but too often you’ll feel like you’re stuck on a rollercoaster with little to do. Your squad mates look after themselves, firing at enemies and unhelpfully dying at least once in every firefight. You can resurrect your fallen comrades, but given the high death rate, you’ll spend a lot of time running around and resurrecting others rather than actually having fun. The puzzle-solving element is far too contrived – it’s always very obvious what needs to be done – and the action itself is repetitive, frustrating and unoriginal.

Jericho would make a great action flick, but it just can’t compete with the recent wave of incredible action shooters on the market. If you absolutely must see what bump-mapped rivers of blood look like on your new GeForce 8800, give it a spin.

Everyone else, steer clear.