By Billy O'Keefe
McClatchy-Tribune

For: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC

From: Mercury Steam/Codemasters

ESRB Rating: Mature (blood and gore, intense violence, sexual themes, strong language)

The "Jericho" in "Clive Barker's Jericho" refers to a squadron of soldiers trained both in conventional and unconventional arts of warfare. As the game begins, you're filling one soldier's shoes while artificial intelligence takes on those of your teammates.

An hour or so later, you'll likely prefer the protection of the Chicago Cubs to that of Team Jericho, which clearly has no idea what the word "warfare" means. Regardless of whatever storytelling pedigree "Jericho" has behind it, it's no match what could easily be the worst A.I. to appear in any squad-based shooter this year.

The potential is there. Each squadmate is gifted with two weapon specialties and a special ability of some kind (telekinesis, fire, time manipulation and more). An early plot twist gives you the ability to inhabit your teammates' bodies, and from that point on you're free to swap bodies and control any active soldier on your squad at any time.

Ironically, "Jericho's" massive A.I. complex surfaces almost the instant this happens. Suddenly, squadmates not under your control forget how to (a) take cover, (b) fire and © heal fallen teammates _ a common occurrence because of (a) and (b). You'll spend far too much time healing fallen teammates yourself, which in turn puts you in immense peril.

Should you go down, you'll assume control of another active soldier. But between the disorienting effect of switching bodies and the fact that whichever soldier you're commandeering probably is horribly out of position, you'll barely have time to react before getting pummeled again. Once all soldiers perish, it's back to the checkpoint.

Because "Jericho" assumes you have a respectable army at your back, it plays cheap with the difficulty curve. The guns feel weak, the grenades are awful, and the game often rewards killing an enemy by spawning a new enemy either in the same exact place or a few feet behind you, resulting in yet another cheap death. A dull visual style (this is perhaps the most monochromatic game since "Asteroids") makes it hard to discern enemies from teammates, and it's only when those teammates have taken yet another fall that the picture clears up.

The worst part? You're stuck with these mopes. A squad-based first-person shooter released in 2007 without any co-op play whatsoever is completely unheard of _ until now. Among all indications that "Jericho" was rushed to market, this easily is the most damning.

© 2007, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.