When Jericho, a game imagined by horror schlock-meister Clive Barker, is in exposition mode, it can be quite entertaining. The motion-captured characters, with their finely detailed goth-cum-military getups, are wholly watchable, the voice acting is believable, and the story, which concerns a top-secret paranormal strike team investigating the Firstborn -- God's shot at trying to create intelligent life prior to Adam and Eve -- is modestly engaging. However, things take a turn for the worse once the game actually starts. Your once smoothly-animated gothic commandos suddenly move with all the fluidity of a slab of wood, and the seemingly fascinating world they were exploring quickly begins to feel dreary and tubular thanks to the fact that you're placed on a narrow, linear path through all of the game's environments, unable to freely roam and explore.

It's a shame too, since there are some interesting first-person shooter concepts at work.

For starters, you can switch from soldier to soldier to take advantage of their unique powers. Each has his or her own conventional weapons, ranging from mini-guns and sniper rifles to swords and grenades, as well as a special supernatural ability, such as psychic healing, telekinesis, or the power to bend time. Understanding these uncanny skills and when best to employ them can make firefights plenty of fun, and helps offset the boredom of moving through the game's long and repetitive corridors and paths.

The only standout issue in battle is that when you aren't actually controlling them, the troopers in your squad are foolhardy meatheads, never backing down when they should, typically failing to hit what they're shooting at, and reliably misusing their special talents. You can try to order them around the battlefield, but then you'd be wasting valuable time better spent trying to take out attacking demon hordes while their focus is on your teammates. Best simply to rely only on the squad member currently under your control and switch to another if you happen to need his or her paranormal ability.

It's basically a like it or hate it experience. But even if Jericho does turn your crank, it probably won't satisfy as much as The Orange Box, Call of Duty 4, Halo 3, Crysis, or any of the other superlative shooters that released this fall.

Clive Barker's Jericho is not without merit, but hold off on checking it out until you've exhausted your roster of all the games you really want to play (by which point you'll likely be able to find it at a reduced price).