Clive Barker's Undying

• Platform:   Windows 95 / 98 / Me
• ELSPA Minimum Age: 18
• Media: Video Game

With the first-person shooter genre evolving into a powerful platform for narrative, scenario-based gameplay, more and more games are steering back to story-based games rather than merely being a vehicle for multiplayer action.

Using the Unreal Tournament engine, Clive Barker's Undying is set in Ireland around the 1920s, and sees you embody Patrick Galloway, summoned to the ancestral estate by the only surviving descendent, Jeremiah.

But all is not what it seems, with Jeremiah's siblings rising from the grave, set on slaying their brother to unleash a horrific curse, and release a flurry of hellacious creatures across the globe.

Naturally, it's up to Patrick to dismantle the curse. With his quest taking him through five otherworldly realms, populated with hordes of evil creatures, before returning to a final showdown at the estate.

The game features a unique two-handed weapon system. One hand juggles up to eight traditional hand weapons ranging from guns to dynamite. While the other hand is empowered with over a dozen spells that offer the most unique methods of returning creepy-crawly nasties to the netherworld.

Undying's development team secured the Unreal Tournament engine, which they have customised with very nice results. The richly rendered environments and detailed characters capture the dark, ominous spirit of Clive Barker's other narrative creations. Knowing the importance of a fully immersive game world, the team have smartly integrated layers of haunting, atmospheric sounds.

Hopefully, the combination of Clive Barker's storytelling and the Unreal Tournament Engine will produce a game that has haunting, action and overall great storytelling from the man of Horror himself. --Stuart Miles

Manufacturer's Description
Horror lovers, prepare yourselves - the first interactive game from the creatively twisted mind of horror master Clive Barker is on the way. Clive Barker's Undying is a first-person action horror game developed by DreamWorks Interactive and set to be published by Electronic Arts.Clive Barker's Undying is the story of Magnus, who is summoned to an estate in 1920s Ireland by Jeremiah, a guy with a serious problem. Jeremiah's four dead siblings are now undead and are intent on killing their last living brother. Magnus must embark on five quests to defeat each sibling as well as his own enemy, a man named Kiesinger, in order to achieve the ultimate goal of lifting the Curse of the Undying King that has set all this in motion. Players will journey through ten separate areas on their dangerous quest, such as Jeremiah's estate, a ruined monastery, the Pirate's Cove, the cursed city of Oneiros, and some Neolithic caves. The boss characters - the four siblings and Kiesinger - have their own environments loaded with monstrous creatures, including Di'nen, Howlers, Sleads, and the dreaded Hounds of Ghelziabahr. But Magnus will have eight weapons at his disposal to battle them with, ranging from the simple shotgun to the Scythe of Brennus. He'll also be able to cast up to 16 offensive and defensive spells, such as the Skull Storm, the Mindshatter, and a special spell called Scrye that lets players see and hear hidden events that provide clues to the game.

• PC & Video Games > Games > Action & Shooter