Condemned: Criminal Origins: - Unfortunately These Maniacs Love the Dark
Written: Jan 09 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Intense Atmosphere, Great Graphics, Unique Gameplay, Scary
Cons: Not Very Replayable, Some 'Off' Character Models
The Bottom Line: Condemned Stands Out in the Xbox360's Game Library as a Unique and Fun Title.
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| jeremy1456's Full Review: XB360 Condemned: Criminal Origins for Xbox 360 |
When the Xbox360 first launched I had planned to get only one game; Perfect Dark Zero. I assumed that I'd be set with just this title, but after the passing of a couple days I was sorely disappointed. This is when I turned to the rest of the Xbox360's launch line-up. I had been looking into a couple other offerings, but ultimately I decided upon two more games, one of which is the subject of this review, which is Condemned: Criminal Origins. This title quickly became my favorite of the launch titles for Microsoft's new console. It truly manages to set itself apart from a genre which is ruled by cliche and unoriginality. The big question though, is whether or not this game warrants the purchase of the expensive Xbox360. Well, does it? Read on to find out.
Condemned is the first Xbox360 title to be published by Sega. Developer Monolith has made quite a name for themselves in the realm of PC games with their fairly recent release of a little game known as F.E.A.R. I personally have no experience with this title, but I do hear good things. As far as I can tell, Condemned and F.E.A.R. are very similar titles, and the developer seems out to prove exactly what games like Doom 3 and Resident Evil Survivor seem bent on disproving; horror translates nicely to the first person shooter genre. The last shooter that actually frightened me was Jurassic Park on the Super Nintendo, and so I've always felt that this genre could provide some intense thrills and chills. Condemned has managed to frighten and disturb me even more, and it also manages to be quite fun. This game has made me very happy that I opted to pick up an Xbox360 at launch.
Story
Condemned outfits you with the role of an FBI agent, Ethan Thomas, who specializes in serial killers. Violence and brutal murders are on the rise in the city, and our main character's track record is on the line as he can't find out who is behind this disturbed violence. This unlucky streak takes a turn for the worse as Ethan is framed for the murder of two police officers. It's now up to Agent Thomas to solve the cases to clear his name, and finally get to the bottom of all this madness. To solve the case you'll have to follow leads on a serial killer who is seemingly pulling the strings behind the scenes. The problem? There are hundreds of weapon wielding maniacs that you'll have to beat your way through to get down to the truth.
From here it's up to you to enter some of the darkest buildings in the world in order to investigate crime scenes, and hopefully prove your innocence. The story is told while you play, with the occasional cinema. The cut scenes in the game are pretty bad, and it's a good thing that the game didn't put stronger emphasis on them. In what feels like a nod to Eternal Darkness on the Gamecube, Condemned features visions which are very similar to the insanity effects. These have very little to do with the game, but work well in creeping you out. Though these are in fact pretty cool, I found them to be mostly thrown in just for show.
Gameplay
To refer to Condemned as a first person shooter is an inaccurate statement. The camera does display the action from the first person viewpoint, but the game is almost completely reliant on fighting with melee weapons. That doesn't mean there aren't guns found in the game, but they are pretty uncommon. When you do manage to get ahold of a firearm you'll often find yourself having only a few bullets. This usually proves enough to take out a couple enemies, but there's no way to gain more ammunition and so you'll be throwing the gun aside rather quickly. You'll find yourself having to immediately familiarize yourself with the melee combat system because you'll be relying on it chiefly for survival against hordes of insane people in the many areas within the game.
The weaponry may just be the coolest part of Condemned. As I just mentioned, there are in fact guns in the game, but most of the time you'll be beating the life out of all you encounter with rather blunt weaponry. Gaining a weapon is as simple as taking a look around the environment, as there is usually something that you can pick up and use. You'll find yourself using fire axes, wooden planks, mannequin arms, two by fours, metal pipes, and more as you get deeper and deeper into the game. You can even use the blade off a paper cutter should you feel so inclined. In the beginning of each mission you start out with nothing, and so you'll want to searching out something to use right away, before the footsteps in the darkness can reach you. What's especially cool is that each weapon has different capabilities, meaning that you can strike faster or do more damage varying directly amongst each of the weapons.
It's a good thing you've got a diverse list of weapons on your side, because Condemned holds no punches. The enemies are insane people, but they are more frightening than is imagineable. These people are far from friendly, and they will literally come at you with everything they've got. The enemies will also use weapons, but can be quite a challenge due to the unpredictable nature of all their actions. Fighting in Condemned is much deeper than you'd expect, due to the ability to block enemy attacks. Basically, you can press the left trigger button to hold up your weapon up in the air in a defensive position. This blocks enemy attacks when timed right, but you'll have to get very good with this method if you want to get anywhere. One drawback to the combat system is the inclusion of the stun-gun which freezes an opponent for a short while. This is a cheap technique to use during one-on-one fights, but if you feel it makes things too easy than just don't use it.
The enemy AI is very well done in this game. This is another area in which Condemned excels, and the fact that the enemies are so over-the-top makes this the greatest aspect of the game. Your very insane enemies act like they've got nothing to lose, and they will come at you with every ounce of their murderous intent. They too carry weapons and can be very difficult to take out sometimes because of the fact that they're just so darn unpredictable. These lunatics have a couple tricks up their sleeve, which involve pretending to be hurt which may cause you to swing prematurely, and they also fake you out with short swings so that they can trick you into blocking only to swing on you seconds later. These really work to intensify combat, and though they can feel cheap at times, it's cool that the AI can switch things up like that.
Whenever you are struck by an enemy you take damage. The game actually makes this feel realistic, as the camera reacts with each hit. This is a bit disorienting, but I imagine that being hit in the head with a locker door wouldn't exactly not be. A rather cool feature to the game are the finishing moves. You can use one of these after you've beaten the heck out of someone and they're on dazed and standing on their knees. There are four different finishing moves to use, which include the ability to headbut the guy, punch them in the face, snap their neck, or slam them into the ground. Any one of these moves will kill the opponent. A cool asethetic feature to the finishing moves is that the camera never strays from the first person viewpoint, and so you're still seeing from your character's point of view as you take them out. This adds some sick realism to it all, and helps assure that you will be quite disturbed by the end of the game.
In an attempt to add some diversity to gameplay, Monolith also included some forensic elements. Various devices are used to inspect crime scenes, and to be honest I was expecting this to seriously detract from gameplay. Looking for clues sounds seriously unfun compared to combat, and thankfully the people behind Condemned realized this. The game holds your hand through each of these scenes by showing you exactly what to use and where to make use of it. At no point will you actually have trouble with these because the system takes the guess work out of pretty much everything. This may sound a lame at first, but it helps in not distracting you from the real action. What I particularly liked about these sequences is that the various devices make use of cool graphical effects. A good example of this is the UV light as it illuminates everything in blue, and thanks to the power of the Xbox360 this is a fantastic effect.
Graphics, Sound, Controls, and Replay Value
As one of the Xbox360's launch titles, Condemned is truly a sight to take in. The environments were my favorite part of the game's aesthetics. These make use of so many polygons, and are so detailed that it could easily be mistaken for the highest quality FMV from last generation. Character models are also spectacular, with clothing that sways realistically and a pretty decent physics engine. The only problem I have is with the character's faces. Sometimes they just seem to be composed of fewer polygons, and at times they appear as if the faces could be rendered on the original Xbox. Condemned is a very dark game thus it goes without saying that the developer put a lot of work into elaborate lighting effects. Many times the environments will range from dark to pitch black, and so you will have to make use of a flashlight. The dark areas add a ton of suspense, as you can't really see what's up ahead. Overall this game is superb in the graphics department, and it makes me excited to see what 2nd generation titles will look like on this hardware.
Music isn't a huge part of Condemned, but what's there works very well with the game's design. Audio is the game's tool for creating a creepy ambience, and it's used very effectively. Music is a bit on the subtle side, and sound effects tend to be more loud. This works as part of the scares themselves. The various sound effects found in Condemned are very high quality. Get used to the sound of weapons striking flesh, because it's what you'll be hearing most. The effect itself is highly realistic, and teamed with all the other noises you'll find yourself disturbed from the sound effects alone. The most disturbing moments are when you hear noises before you can actually see anybody. Voice overs are nothing special, with pretty decent acting and no really annoying moments.
Controls really are no issue here, but it may take a few minutes to get used to combat. I died a few times in the early encounters of the game simply because I wasn't used to the blocking system. Well, that and the fact that I at first kept misjudging distances. Controls are pretty easy; with the two analog sticks being used to move, A is the context sensitive button, and used for picking up new weapons, B is used for the flashlight, X switches your current item, the shoulder buttons are used for firing the stun gun, and to toggle between weapon modes, whilst the triggers are used to use weapons and to block. Though the blocking and attacking system does take some time learn and master the timing, it's pretty simplistic in nature.
As the only area of the game that really needs improvement, Replay Value is actually pretty low. This is one of the few games from the 360's launch that doesn't have an online mode tacked on, but on top of that, it doesn't even have split screen multi-player. It would be a lot of fun to bash in heads with a friend, but the game is already fun enough that this doesn't break the design. The game is only 10 levels long, and I played through in three days. I found myself taking many breaks though because after the onslaught of disturbing images I found myself needing a few breathers. I probably logged in about 10 or so hours into beating it, but I haven't yet decided to replay it. The incentives for replaying are the different difficulty levels, and hidden achievements in each stage. These involve doing certain things in the levels, such as finding particular items or making decisions. This just isn't incentive enough for me, honestly, and so it may be a while before I replay.
Final Recommendation
It doesn't matter if you're a fan or non-fan of the genre; Condemned has a whole lot to offer for those who like both horror movies and games. This is a game that you probably won't play through very much, but it's still an impressively entertaining first person shooter, and I'd say it's the Xbox360's best game so far.
Overall Rating: 8.4
Recommended:
Yes
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