How Do You Say 'No' To A Crackhead? Bash Their Head In! - Condemned
Written: Jan 31 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Could very well make you pee your pants
Cons: Could very well make you pee your pants
The Bottom Line: Condemned: or, how to use a Crowbar for more bloody purposes.
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| awoolcott's Full Review: XB360 Condemned: Criminal Origins for Xbox 360 |
Survival Horror has always thrived on putting you into situations beyond reality in an attempt to scare you. Resident Evil was all about zombies for years, and everyone knows zombies aren't real, unless you count Rob Zombie. Silent Hill thrives on supernatural happenings that tend to be pretty farfetched. Fatal Frame comes closest; as it deals with ghosts and many people believe in ghosts, even if it's just Casper. Condemned: Criminal Origins is different. Far different. While it has the same main task of scaring you, or making you feel uneasy, Condemned plays the reality card and puts you in a scenario that for the most part seems like something that could happen for real – at the very least, it's more likely than being turned into a flesh-eating zombie. But that's not all to Condemned; a unique combat system, evidence collecting, and a mostly great plot add even more to the mix. There aren't a whole lot of original games for the Xbox 360, but this is one of them, and it definitely is the sort of game you should check out if you're a horror game fan, or just want to see another unique take on the first-person genre.
Ethan Thomas is a talented, sharp-witted FBI investigator who specializes in serial killers. He's a little weird and apparently possesses talents that go beyond what could be expected from a normal human, but we won't hold that against him, and neither does the Bureau because he gets the job done. Anyway, Condemned starts innocently, as Ethan is sent into a Metro City slum, where yet another grisly murder has been committed, apparently by an infamous serial killer known as the Match Maker. Who enjoys killing women and matching them in bizarre scenes with freaky mannequins. However, in a not-so-surprising turn of events, a strange looking fellow acquires Ethan's handgun, and winds up killing the two police officers who were also at the scene; effectively framing the innocent FBI agent without any possible alibi or legitimate evidence to demonstrate otherwise. Looking to somehow prove that innocence, Ethan begins a game-long chase for the real killer though some of the most beat-down,terrifying areas in the city, all the while battling sick, doped out freaks hellbent on killing him, not to mention his own demons and a Bureau absolutely certain of his guilt.
Condemned is a first-person game, however it's not your traditional shooter, instead the game could be pigeonholed into the first-person adventure (FPA) genre made famous by Metroid Prime...even though the two games have nothing in common aside from the 1st person perspective. It doubles as a horror game too, so maybe it should be a FPH or something. I like to just call it 'a game' – that always works. Anyhoo, as it's not an FPS, Condemned has to have another trick, and it does – melee combat. While you do come across guns of numerous forms, like handguns or machineguns, there isn't any ammunition lying around to keep the weapon useful; whatever's in the clip is what you get to use, and once you're out, it can be briefly used as a melee weapon until it breaks. So, instead of relying on firearms, Condemned asks you to instead rely on melee objects. And boy, there's plenty of those. In every room, chances are there's a weapon to come in handy, whether it's a crowbar, a sledgehammer, steam pipes, locker doors...you name it. I was really disappointed that Monolith didn't play the kitchen sink card, actually. Every weapon has attributes that let the player decide their value – naturally a sledgehammer is a brutal tool of destruction, but it's slow. On the other hand, a conduit is light and speedy to use, but not as powerful. Combining these weapons with Ethan's taser makes for a fun time against baddies.
And there's a lot of those. Everywhere you turn, there's numerous drug addicts and various weirdos, also equipped with the same weapons as you have – and they aren't afraid to use them. Ethan can disarm them by using the taser to stun, but they can run off and get another if you allow them. Condemned's AI is brutally efficient; these addicts are surprisingly smart and tactical. They'll hide from you somewhere, waiting for a chance to strike (for instance, standing next to mannequins in an attempt to blend in). They'll sneak up behind you, or flank you to get a good shot in. They'll run away and regroup, whether it's to grab a new weapon or hope you'll walk into a trap. They're quite an unpredictable bunch, especially for such seedy individuals. Sometimes they'll even get into fights with each other if there's more than one at a timne; always a good tactic for survival. Unfortunately, this is about the only sort of combat you get to do; there's no 'boss' encounters until the end, and thus it does get repetitive to beat the hell out of addicts, as eventually it's easy to predict unpredictability. But smashing up crackheads is a pretty enjoyable hobby.
Each of the 10 levels are fairly linear, with a few places to go off the path but generally you go along a straight line, completing tasks or finding the various hidden items such as birds or metal pieces. There should have been some sort of map option too; it can get confusing to revisit familiar corridors which tend to seem the same after a while. The pace is very, very deliberate; Ethan carefully maneuvers through his environment, and even when you hit the sprint button he still clods along pretty slowly. Quake this isn't. Considering the locations and the enemy, it's best anyway to just take it easy. In addition to bashing heads in, Ethan will work along with his lab tech, Rosa, from the FBI (why he can do such a thing is beyond me, if he's wanted for murder, though naturally Rosa believes your innocence) and can transmit evidence back to her which slowly unravels the case. It's all very simple and context-sensitive depending on what kind of evidence you're gathering, which seems like sort of a cop out but it likely would have ruined the pace if you're wandering around aimlessly. Almost always, these little evidence bits reveal major plot points, explaining the situation to Ethan and the people playing the game.
And of course, there's the whole horror thing. Simply put, this is one freaky game. It's a crazed mix of Resident Evil-style jump scares, with addicts jumping at you out of complete nowhere, with the Silent Hill-style environments and mind****s (like hearing things crashing from across the hall and the like) that add numerous layers of tension. It's a delicate balance to pull off since both those games are so very different, but Condemned pulls it off in stunning fashion. Every single level in the game is full of uneasy movements and reactions, as you never know what is beyond that door or where exactly they will come from. I was glad to see they didn't play the hospital card (because c'mon, every horror game uses a hospital level), but places like an abandoned library, an old beat down orchard farm residence, or a department store (full of mannequins) are perfect backdrops for a game that simply wants to make you feel as uneasy as possible. And it's been pulled off to perfection. Every time the game makes you feel safe again, makes you feel like it's okay to not be scared, it pulls something out of its hat, like the orchard farm basement. Shiver. It isn't really 'disturbing' like Silent Hill, or as dependent on supernatural stuff. Instead, it's based on something else – reality. Until the end anyway, when it gets a bit weird. But finding beat down slums full of druggies and weirdos isn't exactly farfetched.
Condemned does have some issues though. As great as the game is, it indeed is a one-trick pony, and once you figure out good tactics (since almost every enemy uses the same attack style, depending on the weapon they're using) it becomes almost a nuisance to get into a fight when you just want to gather evidence and progress the story. The game isn't very long either; and though there's two ways to end the game neither actually affect the ending (we won't even get into the confusing ending), thus there's really no need to play through a 2nd time unless you want the 'only melee weapons' Achievement. At maybe 10 hours if you explore every nook and cranny for the hidden stuff, without a lot of replay, it's a wee bit short for a $60 purchase. Even some sort of multiplayer wouldn't have helped; I can't imagine Condemned's basic engine would be good for playing against other people. However, if you're big on horror and need something really creepy to play on your Xbox 360, this is it, and it will most definitely get the job done.
Visually, Condemned doesn't scream next-gen, but it is far beyond what is possible on the other hardware. Every single creepy stage is dark, dingy, and usually, pretty screwed up, with just Ethan's minuscule flashlight to guide the way, demonstrating the excellent lighting effects. Typically character designs aren't in abundance so there's a lot of repetition, but at the same time, these dudes and dudettes look their parts with that wasted, drugged out/insane appearance. They only have a few fighting animations (you can watch the motion capture in the Achievements section) which look far more intricate than they likely would in reality, but you can't have everything. When in cutscenes the main character models are good, though Ethan himself is a bit plasticy at points compared to his allies and enemies.
There isn't much of an in-game soundtrack, as clearly the intended idea is to make you listen to the environments for your enemies. Sometimes you'll hear a tune or two but it's usually drowned out by the sound effects. Which are great. Typically the only tip off to enemies is their heavy breathing indicating how close they are, or they'll start screaming at you in a rage. Other times, you'll hear them way off in the distance planning attacks, or making a whole bunch of noise to block a path, open a path for a trap, or just to scare the hell out of you. The entire purpose of the game is scaring you, after all. It's all to keep you on the edge. Voice acting is solid, as the tale is portrayed in a serious, believable fashion without any of the typical cheese that would otherwise ruin such a screwy game – no master of unlocking-type lines whatsoever. Aside from perhaps Call of Duty 2, there might not be another Xbox 360 game out there that has such high-quality audio presentation.
The Last Paragraph
As one of the earliest announced next-generation titles, Condemned: Criminal Origins turned out really good. It doesn't break new ground or try a lot of innovative stuff, but instead offers a new, more 'realistic' take on the horror genre. The thought that drugged out bums and other seedy types could inhabit old buildings and try to kill anyone invading their turf is a very legitimate concept, and topped with a serial killer chase, the scenario is the sort of thing that truly could happen in reality. Perhaps that's why the game is a bit creepier than the rest; while Resident Evil relies on zombies or parasites and Silent Hill relies on supernatural weirdness, Condemned relies on those fears that perhaps you might end up face to face with some of these...lost people. Though it's short and somewhat repetitive, Condemned is also a very entertaining and polished 360 launch game that hopefully will spawn a franchise, even if it's only to make sense of exactly what happened at the end of this game. Turn out the lights, turn up the volume, and immerse yourself in one screwed up adventure.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
awoolcott
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Location: Arizona
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About Me:
2009 was a pretty good year for games, but next year, wow.
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