Condemned: Criminal Origins 7/10
My brother recently went through a 360 launch game craze and I caught this one lying in a heap of discs he had in his room. Suffice it to say, a recent video review from Yahtzee at Zero Punctuation concerning Condemned 2 sprang to mind, so I figured why the hell not give the precursor a shot?
Two days later, I beat the game. It's short, simple, linear, and incredibly fun to play. I was surprised how similar the game is to FEAR, which in turn was a game that borrowed elements from Silent Hill, which in turn was a game that borrowed elements from the movie Jacob's Ladder. I actually had to ask myself how much of FEAR was influenced by Condemned, since as I understand it Condemned came out first. But while FEAR was more of a shooter/action game intercut by random scenes of para-normality, Condemned was actually...well, more of a Bludgeon fest with spooky moments that were surprisingly effective. I guess it was the fact that you could only wield one weapon at the time, a vast majority of them being random blunt instruments you find lying around, and had to creep around pitch black environments with crazy people who would run around trying to beat the nearest living thing within eye and ear shot to a pulp. It really reminded me of 28 Days Later, only instead of rage infected people trying to mash me, these guys had the same random blunt instruments I did. And some shot at me.
The forensic stuff was a nice bit of flavor to an otherwise straightforward beat 'em up, and in a way it was a nice change of pace from other game protagonist archetypes in these sort of genres. I felt like the game was a cross between Seven and Silent Hill, for the most part. The paranormal stuff is just as ambiguous and some moments of the game are truly absorbing (like playing cat and mouse with a serial killer in a crammed, dimly lit house with only a hot poker). Unlike most games that try to be scary, but fail (see FEAR), Condemned actually had several moments where my thoughts ranged from "oh **** oh ****" to "what **** was that!?". Standing in a dimly lit area with a plank of wood and hearing people breath heavily around you in the invisible darkness at 1am with the surround sound on was truly unnerving.
My complaints are that the game is short lived and ultimately unrewarding. Besides a generally unfulfilling collection system to unlock some achievements, there isn't much to say for replay value. The gameplay is also very limited in a lot of ways. You don't really notice at first, but the game is basically one clubbing match from one room to the next with medical boxes lined up conveniently in between. The forensic mode is real fun in the beginning of the game just cus it looks real cool, but later on it gets annoying...especially when enemies sneak up on you when you're palming that blue, semen-detecting blacklight out instead of your trusty fire axe. My biggest gripe, though, were some real unforgiving aspects of the game in the real late stages. For two key brawls you lose the ability to save while fighting hordes and hordes of enemies right before fighting one of the game's rare "paranormal" enemies, all in a row. It can be frustrating because the melee system is so based on luck rather than skill, and in several parts you have enemies spawning right behind you while you're parrying a onslaught from the front. Most of the game is managable, but there were two fights at the climax that just kind of became taxing rather than fun. You get one of the moral choice endings, but unlike a lot of games how you play has nothing to do with it. You basically just make a snap decision in the final gameplay moment of the game. Also, the spoken cutscenes...while amazing when it comes to horror based games and the kinds of quality control you can expect (*shudder* Resident Evil Dialogue *shudder*), your protagonist and the other characters are generally uninteresting, and so are their ingame conversations. Also, level transitions is very less than seamless. You start in a section, even if the way in doesn't make sense (how do you spawn in a department store that front door is all boarded up directly behind you?) and there is a real lack of "in between" freedom that you'd expect in other shooters.
Overall, a really engaging game for one romp in the dark. Just know that it doesn't have a lot of substance, or replay value.
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