Sometimes, it can be hard to get enthusiastic about a game, despite the credentials or explanation.

"Clive Barker? Sure ... what's he done for me lately? First-person shooter through time? Like there are boxes of ammo in the Crusades ..."

Then you see the game ... and no, there aren't boxes of ammo in the Crusades.

According to the story of the game, every once in a while, an evil city emerges from the sands. A group of seven people - Jericho - has to destroy this city. This time, your team has the combination of high-tech weaponry and magic to help in the cause. The magic often supplements the technology. For example, your team sniper can telekinetically control her bullets. Another character can use her blood to freeze enemies, and yet another can let loose a fire snake that'll attack. They'll need all the help they can get.

Note how I phrased that. To help them. They'll need all the help they can get. You see - you're dead.

Well, not right away. But as you go through the beginning of the game, you end up getting killed. That's not the end of you, though. You can telepathically control your squadmates. So you're not completely out of the game - just your body is.

If the idea of having to control a squad of up to six people frightens you, it shouldn't. Codemasters is describing this game as a "run-and-gun, squad-based shooter." Your commands are fairly limited - you can tell your squad to advance or to hold still, basically - but that's all you need. Your squad members are actually fairly intelligent on their own and will use their weapons and magic appropriately.

For instance, in one scene, I saw a number of the squad were killed - or at least incapacitated - by enemies. The surviving squad member went over to the priest and resurrected him. The priest can do that more effectively, so after he was up, the priest went around and got the rest of the squad while the player-controlled character provided security.

(As long as someone is up, you can usually get resurrected. There's an interesting mechanic where flies will come in to devour the bodies of the dead, on both sides. If you can get to a friend before the flies, you can save them - otherwise, they're gone. Flies will also eat the enemy's bodies, which keeps down the litter in bigger battles.)

It's not just ranged magic and firepower. Characters have a number of different melee attacks, and there will even be spontaneous mini-games in situations where (for instance) an enemy grapples with you.

Given the nature of the game, mini-games are also used to help convey the horror of the situation. In one example shown, one of the characters is trying to climb down a well. The mini-game keeps her progress going without falling, but part of the way down, a horrific creature starts to chase her. You have to get out of the well and fight off the creature lest it decapitate you. There will be about 10-15 of those kind of mini-games.

You'll also not see ammo packs or health packs. In fact, there's not a health bar to be seen - you'll take damage and regenerate it (basically). One of your characters is a reality hacker, and thus in the olden times can bring in ammo, but that's the only way. On the other hand, this isn't a survival horror game, so you won't need to count every single bullet.

Speaking of olden times ... you'll go back through various times - from the modern day, to World War II, to the Crusades, Rome and ancient Samaria. But you're not really traveling to those times. Instead, you're going to versions of the evil city that are stuck in a hellish dimension from each time it's risen from the sands in the past. The cities have been feeding off themselves, so you'll be dealing with everything from Nazis (not that they can call them that, thanks to new regulations in France and older ones in Germany that would result in them not being able to sell the game there) to ancient corpses that are still a bit too vigorous for their own (and your own) good.

This was an idea that Clive Barker came up with and shopped around to various places before going with Codemasters, and to me, it looked pretty good so far. He's kept a lot of involvement in the project, so it'll be interesting to see how it shapes out.