awoolcott's Full Review: Condemned 2: Bloodshot for PlayStation 3
One of the brighter spots of the Xbox 360 launch was the Sega/Monolith collaboration known as Condemned: Criminal Origins, a first-person brawler with a CSI tint to the story. Because of the status as a launch game, it received a lot of attention from early owners of Microsoft's second console and looked to be a promising start to a brand new series. A couple years later Sega released the sequel, dubbed Condemned 2: Bloodshot. Continuing where the original left off, Bloodshot furthers the crime scene investigations theme, along with an entire remake of the main character, based on the events of the first game. While it doesn't quite reach the heights of the original, Condemned 2 is a good game in its own right, and a worthy play for fans of Condemned 1. For new players, especially PS3 owners who don't have a 360 and didn't play the first game, it's a less logical selection, as the game doesn't spend a whole lot of time recapping events, though it does at least give it a try. Since the game is a bit old, however, it makes for a good budget pickup.
In the original Condemned (which was unfortunately never converted to PlayStation 3), main character Ethan Thomas was a clean cut, if not a bit weird, forensics expert for the Serial Crimes Unit. Over the course of that story, he is framed and accused of murdering two police officers, a crime committed by a serial killer dubbed Serial Killer X, or SKX, who had a habit of killing other serial killers using their own MO. Ultimately SKX is caught and Ethan wins (in a fashion depending on the player), but clearly the case and false murder charges wore him down. At the beginning of Condemned 2, he's not a part of SCU, and living on the streets as a drunken bum. But a mention of his past – the mysterious Malcom Van Horn from the previous story - springs Ethan into action as Metro City is again terrorized by serial murderers and extremely agitated hobos hopped up on some serious stuff. The story has a habit of growing ridiculous and full of strange conspiracies, but it follows the pattern of the original game and ties them together pretty well.
Like the previous entry in the franchise, Condemned 2 is a first-person adventure game. The great deal of combat deals with the vast selection of melee weapons that Ethan finds lying around each stage, with the occasional firearm with limited ammo floating around. Hand-to-hand combat also shows up, but with the short range it's only good when you're in a pinch. It's not anything special; Ethan can attack, block, and counter, and Monolith included a new combo system along with environment-related finishing moves like slamming an enemy head into a nearby television. What makes it fun is the vast amount of weapons you can use. For instance, one stage puts you into a museum full of medieval weapons, so Ethan can run around with a mace, or a battle axe, or a variety of swords. Another stage gives you exploding dolls which are required use in a specific boss battle. The bowling alley stage...well I bet you can figure it out. When you do come across guns, they're always very powerful, but because of limited ammo they're best saved for crazy situations. Of course, you have to progress through the game a bit to earn the ability to stow a weapon, which means early on weapon use is tricky.
What Condemned: Criminal Origins unique was the whole forensics thing; taking advantage of the popularity of CSI and it's spinoff shows, the game let you use tools to discover evidence that regular people might not see. It was interesting, but overly context-specific, as the game would select the tool and you'd easily solve the mystery. This time around, the investigations are far more complex. Following blood trails, identifying hotel rooms that have numbers all scratched off, determining the kind of wound is present, if the body was moved, etc. If you ever wanted to be Gil Grissom (a drunk, disheveled, angry Gil Grissom) this is about as good as it gets short of digging into the numerous licensed CSI games. How you perform in forensic investigations determines your score at the end of the stage and can alter how one progresses through it, as your SCU contact (the suddenly slim and attractive Rosa) gathers the information you give her to get a picture of the scene and situation. If you're anything like me, you'll spend a good deal of time making sure everything is right before sending it off.
In most Monolith-developed games, the atmosphere is always key. Condemned had it in spades – the creepy orchard, the department store full of bums posting as mannequins, and the awesome school with the even more awesome Mr. Tibbits. Condemned continues this trend. This is the video game equivalent of Life After People, with buildings that have been, ahem, condemned, run down, and otherwise abandoned. Take, for instance, the museum. Sure, it has tons of awesome weapons for Ethan, but with dozens of crazed bums with access to the same weapons, things get interesting. Tack on being chased by a psycho in armor and you get some crazy happenings. Another stage places you in a cabin out in the middle of nowhere, which is otherwise quiet, except for, you know, A HUGE BEAR CHASING YOU. I don't know how they do it, but Monolith always chooses the most insane situations for their characters to be in. It's not quite as scary as the original game due to Ethan's much improved combat skills, but it certainly has its moments of unsettling situations.
Though many aspects of Condemned 2 are improved from its predecessor, in some ways the game takes steps backwards. The story in Condemned was straightforward, if not a bit strange, but it had a logical conclusion and the classic “whodunit” feel as the story unfolded. This one throws conspiracies upon conspiracies and twists upon twists, leaving a lot of confusion to what's going on. You know things are weird when there's a plot point about special vocal chords and how someone was killed for them...at least we know where the “cancer punch” thing from the recent Street Fighter movie disaster came from. The more abrasive Ethan is disappointing, because we have more than enough edgy anti-heroes, the Ethan in the original game was almost a throwback in comparison and it's too bad we don't have the same guy. The combat is more prevalent and aggressive too, which takes it away from its adventure origins and makes it more of a mindless action games. This is accented by the inclusion of multiplayer, which apparently is so awesome you can't find anyone to play when you log in making it a complete waste of time.
Condemned 2 has some sharp visuals...in a way. I mean the game places you in some of the worst areas of town, so you're hitting up decayed and abandoned buildings, and the game demonstrates this week. Rusted out, messy, heavily damaged, and of course, full of junkie hobos using the places as safe havens from the law. This time around though, Ethan does move away from the decay for better locations, namely the SCU building (home to one of the more bizarre levels in the game) and the bear-infested cabin out in the mountains. Both of these places are generally clean and tidy, though in the case of the cabin there's still some signs of abandonment. These beat down areas do a good job of demonstrating the lighting engine of the game and how Ethan's flashlight can make a dark place bright quickly. Character models are nice, though I really can't get over the whole Rosa thing. She was short and stubby and suddenly she's tall and gorgeous, while Ethan went from normal to the lead singer from some bad emo band. It's all so confusing. Musically Condemned 2 has a subdued soundtrack that usually hides in the background, and some decent voice acting along the way. The star of the audio is the sound effects, as Ethan navigates around and the sounds of enemies slither and charge. It keeps you on the edge.
Closing Argument
Condemned 2: Bloodshot isn't quite the game the original was, but it's still solid enough to recommend, especially now at a lower price. It's unique in that it offers something other than the usual first-person gameplay mechanics, and the much-improved forensic investigations will appeal to fans of crime dramas and various adventure titles. Some of the changes and insanity of the plot take the series in a questionable direction, putting the potential of a sequel in jeopardy (granted, nothing here is as ridiculous as F.E.A.R. 2's ending, the latest Monolith moment of crazy), which is unfortunate given that Condemned could be spun off in numerous ways. Still, if you played the original and enjoyed it, the sequel is still worth checking out to see where the story is going. For everyone else, tracking down a copy of Condemned 1 for either the Xbox 360 or PC is recommended, unless you're not interested in any kind of story and just want to bust some wino heads...in which the game is a worthy pickup, as the game does do head busting quite well. In short, Condemned 2 is good, but unfortunately a disappointment all the same.
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