Condemned: Criminal Origins
Originally a Xbox 360 launch title and one of the first “next-gen” games Condemned has made to transition to computer quite easily and despite a few minor hiccups is a worthy title from the same people that gave us F.E.A.R. Having heard quite a lot about the game (good and bad) when it first launched I was quite eager to get my hands on it and see for myself if the hype and criticism was justified. You start the game as Ethan Thomas a FBI agent on the trail of a serial killer in a city gone made. Birds are dropping dead everywhere from unknown causes and the crime rate is rising at an astronomical rate. It seems like every junkie, bum and crazy person in the city have all been inflicted with some murderous blood lust and police have their hands full coping with everything. You step into Ethan’s shoes as he’s busy investigating the latest grisly crime scene courtesy of the “matchmaker”. Things take a rather disturbing turn when you discover the psycho might still be lurking about in the abandoned building your inside and you are sent in to track him down with nothing but a gun and a flashlight. From there it’s a roller coaster ride into madness and paranoia as Ethan becomes a wanted man and has to track down a very disturbed individual across several condemned buildings crawling with freaks. If you thought this was just going to be your average run-of-the-mill first person shooter you’re in for a surprise.
It’s actually hard to even classify condemned as a first person shooter since there’s so very little shooting going on. Yes you play the whole game from a first person perspective but guns are few and far between and even when you do find one don’t expect to find bullets for it just lying around conveniently in an abandoned building. No instead you have to rely on what’s available for protection and that means ripping pipes out of the walls, breaking off cupboard doors, finding crowbars, 2x4’s with nails sticking out of them and all other manner of makeshift melee weapons. This also means that the fights all tend to be very up close and person which is one of Condemned’s best and worse features. You can expect crazies to pop up out of any dark corner, firstly scaring the crap out of you and secondly to lunge at you in a berserker frenzy. The animations of these freaks is so eerily lifelike that you actually feel vaguely disturbed for slugging them in the face with a shovel. You won’t feel bad for long though as they’ll just stagger back, utter a few curses at you and launch themselves at you anew, or even worse stagger away in search of a bigger weapon to ambush you with around the next dark corner. This is combat like you’ve never experienced it before. With it’s dark condemned buildings as set pieces and bizarre range of freaks to square off against Condemned has a lot in common with games like Silent Hill and The Suffering. Monolith clearly knows how to scare players and through some awesome scripted events manage to make you glance over your shoulder with every sound you hear. The storyline starts off very good and there are some nice twists and turns but seem to lose the plot a bit towards the end and the ending left me feeling very unsatisfied. It makes sense but only just. Graphically the game does very well for itself and share’s a similar look to F.E.A.R. The environments are moody and detailed while the enemies can be quite frightening at times. My jaw dropped a few times at the awesome lifelike animations some of the displayed and there are a few very nice graphical effects to wow you. It’s a testament to the designers that even normal enemies attacking you can scare the crap out of you at times. The audio is another highlight with good quality voice overs and some very nice music to keep the atmosphere going. Once again playing this game in the dark with the volume up high is a must. Condemned unfortunately isn’t perfect and there are some factors that bring the experience down somewhat. Since Ethan is an FBI agent he has some nice CSI style gadgets that he carries around with him but these can only be used in specific areas and even then there’s too much hand holding going on to make it any real challenge. The game is also quite slow paced with Ethan stumbling along at a leisurely pace and forcing him to run only results in a few shambling paces before he’s too tired to continue doing so. The game for all it’s realism can also feel a bit restrictive as you can’t duck, crawl or jump unless you reach specific designated points for the actions. Having said that the whole experience still feels very solid and coherent and doesn’t really detract that much from the game. Although not the longest game out there Condemned still feels well rounded and for those die hard gamers there’s plenty of “achievements” to unlock by searching for hidden stuff throughout the levels. These reward you with extras like concept art and the usual stuff so there might be some replay value. The game also has two different endings but this is only influences by one choice right at the end instead of a series of choices throughout the game. While there’s still a lot that I could say about Condemned the bottom line is if you like suspenseful games and don’t mind some minor annoyances then by all means get your hands on this. While it might not be perfect it’s the ideal game for those who want to experience something slightly different from the genre and don’t mind the occasional near heart attack. |
System Requirements
TAGS: Condemned, XBox360 Launch, Ethan Thomas, FBI Agent, Serial Killer
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