Video games - Clive Barker's Undying

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	Video games - Clive Barker's Undying

Clive Barker's Undying is a horror-themed FPS computer game developed by DreamWorks Interactive and released in 2001 by Electronic Arts. Noted horror author Clive Barker wrote the game's plot and background story and also provided the voice of Ambrose, a character in the game.

Undying is set in 1923, when World War One veteran Patrick Galloway receives an urgent letter from his friend Jeremiah Covenant. Covenant, well aware of Galloway's reputation for dealing with occult matters, is in failing health and raves about a curse that has destroyed his entire family. Galloway travels to the Covenant estate on the Ireland coast to visit his friend, who relates an outlandish tale of supernatural terrors.

Plotline

Jeremiah Covenant is one of five children: Ambrose, twins Aaron and Bethany, and Lizbeth. As children, the Covenant siblings found a strange book in their father's library and performed a ritual found within. This childish game brought the wrath of evil forces upon the family. After reaching adulthood, the Covenants one by one fell into madness and then death, until Jeremiah was the only survivor. The power of the curse, however, has reanimated his fallen brothers and sisters; they have been haunting Jeremiah and he fears that he will soon follow where they have gone.

Jeremiah begs Patrick for protection, but unfortunately dies soon afterward. Patrick decides to honor his friend's wishes by trying to stop whatever was set in motion long ago at the Standing Stones where the ritual was performed. Through the Covenants' journals and Galloway's own memories, the player learns more about the nature of the curse and the creature behind it: The Undying King, a demonic presence threatening to destroy the reality we inhabit.

While attempting to prevent the Undying King from entering our world, Patrick must face the four undead Convenant siblings as well as Otto Keisinger, an evil rival who simply wants to gain power from the evil forces.

Galloway can simultaneously wield weapons in his left hand and cast magical spells with his right; the power of both the weapons and the spells increase accordingly as the game progresses.

Weapons

The weapons in Undying range from standard FPS fare to the unique, of which are the following:

Gel'zaibar Stone: This bluish gemstone serves multiple purposes. Although it does not have any true offensive abilities (forcing a reliance on the character's spells), its other attributes more than makes up for it. First and foremost, it can be used to push enemies away; this does not cause any damage, but helps keep distance from some of the game's beasties. Secondly, it increases the current spell by one more level. And finally, it alerts the player to spots in the game where a revelation or vision can be seen.
Revolver: A standard FPS-type weapon, the revolver has excellent accuracy even for long distances and packs a fairly large punch. Unfortunately, the gun only holds six rounds and requires slow reloading; thus, each round should be used carefully. Later in the game, silver bullets become available for the revolver, inflicting even more damage to certain enemies.
Shotgun: Yet another FPS-type weapon, the shotgun has poor accuracy but can tear up enemies within a certain range. In a similar flaw as the revolver, it only holds two shells at a time and has a stalling reload time, leaving the player vulnerable if the first two shots do not connect. Also similar to the revolver, phosphorous shells later become available, adding a "fire-damage" punch to the shotgun blasts.
Tibetan War Cannon: Quite a unique weapon, the Tibetan War Cannon looks like a small, handheld cannon, carved in the likeness of a dragon. Ironically, the speed of the projectile ice is not fast nor does it inflict much damage. To compensate, the weapon replenished its ammo after every shot and each connected shot slowed down the target.
Molotov Cocktail: These flammable bottles work in a similar way to grenades. They can be thrown a moderately short distance and, upon hitting an enemy, it would set them on fire. Molotov Cocktails must be treated with carefulness, as missing a target can result in hurting yourself. Because only three of these can be used at any one time, they are not very convenient.
Scythe of the Celts: This unique weapon is basically a good-looking scythe with two functions. By swinging it like a normal scythe, the player can inflict some strong damage to attacking enemies. Its second function allows the player to steal health from enemies at the cost of mana.
Speargun: Essentially a primitive version of the sniper rifle, the speargun can kill in one shot and was perfectly accurate over long distances. Like sniper rifles, the reloading is also somewhat slow.
Phoenix Eggs: These allowed the player to release a fly-by-wire "rocket" in the form of a fiery bird that exploded when it hits an object. It is quite powerful, but because it is hard to aim and the game's enemies moved so quickly, it is not used much beyond the game's boss battles.

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Video games - Clive Barker's Undying

Plotline

Weapons

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