He's back!

I picked up Clive Barker's Jericho (been waiting for this since Undying!) the other day and I'm a few hours into it now. Things didn't look too promising at the outset, as I was treated to a poorly narrated video that showed nothing of importance... Seemed kinda pointless. I was then presented with a nicely pre-rendered and well acted video showing my Jericho team checking things out and getting into a firefight... Still, it seemed kind of out of place after the first video, especially since this second video was released as a teaser online some time ago. Next was the menu... The same boring menu from the demo. Ergh... My hopes were falling fast, so I tweaked the video options and started a new game... THANK THE HEAVENS, IT'S GOOD! Everything I was subjected to in the two aforementioned lacklustre videos is conveyed much more effectively through game-engine cinematics and during actual gameplay. They really should have just cut the pre-rendered crap out and prettied up the menu.

Anway, the graphics are very pretty (especially the blur effects), and the extended intro levels really do a much better job of walking players through the command menus, control scheme, and each different character than the demo did. Also, there are some pretty expansive areas here. I'm just getting into the game proper, so I haven't had to get creative with each character yet, but some of the team dynamics have already come into play (like ordering the team with the healer character to hold back while ordering the other team to engage exploding enemies in a narrow passageway). Also, the game is really holding my attention as the story unfolds around me... Don't let the ineffective demo and shoddy intro videos fool you, this is playing like a really solid title so far. I'll let you know if it starts to suck ;)

I also grabbed the Crysis demo and played through that. It feels like Far Cry but with some new ways to approach each area thanks to your character's 'nano-suit' abilities... This is a good thing, as I quite enjoyed Far Cry :) The Crysis demo was pretty well done in terms of setting up the story, introducing players to new gameplay mechanics, and hinting at what's to come; the cliffhanger ending is a nice touch. What bugs me is the game's performance on my system. I know I don't have the latest 64-bit dual-core CPU or a DirectX 10 GPU, but my system's no slouch either. I can run games like Jericho and BioShock almost at the highest settings, but this game requires me dropping things to the lowest at 800x600, and the audio is still spotty then. I've done some research into the subject, and Vista seems to be the culprit... Hopefully they fix that by the time the final product hits, because it looks absolutely gorgeous at the highest settings.