Condemned 2: Bloodshot – 360 – Review

The first Condemned game was a
launch title for the 360 that was a painful, brutal experience. I described
Condemned 1 as a first-person melee combat game because the focus wasn’t on
gunning enemies down. Instead the primary weapons in the game were your fists or
items scattered in the game such as pieces of lumber, pipes, et cetera. It was a
brutal experience in a good way because the game was one of the creepiest
experiences I’ve ever played. The sound effects, visuals and storyline melted
together to provide an experience that genuinely frighten me at times. When a
sequel was announced I couldn’t wait to jump back into the Condemned world.

Condemned 2 takes place one year
after the events of the first game to find ex-special investigator Ethan Thomas
literally down in the dumps. Since hardly anyone believed all of the events that
Ethan witnessed during his investigation of Serial Killer X (SKX), Ethan has
turned to a life with the bottle. Yet the Special Crimes Unit needs Ethan back
with the apparent return of SKX and half of the city turning to a life of
violent crime. What unfolds is another suspenseful, creepy, brutal and violent
experience that will scare, repulse and freak you out at times.

If you didn’t play the first
Condemned (why not?) the main focus of the game centers upon the melee combat.
Your hands are literally your main weapons in the game along with items you can
use throughout the stages. All of the items you can use in the game have a
ranking with the condition, amount of damage, speed and reach of the weapon.
Combat is performed by pressing the left and right trigger buttons which
correspond to your left and right hands. You can also kick enemies by clicking
down on the right analog stick. The combat really offers a sick sense of
gratification when you start beating down crazed addicts with only your fists.

Unfortunately the sense of
satisfaction with the combat fads away when you encounter more than one enemy at
a time. This was a problem with the first game and it is still an issue with the
second game. When you get two or three enemies at a time trying to attack you
the melee combat can become a dwindling battle against you. The melee combat
just isn’t fast enough to take on more than one enemy at a time. The game does
feature firearms that you can use, which are more frequent in this game than
in part one, but you never seem to have one when you really need it. The best
strategy when facing multiple thugs is to try and separate them into one-on-one
encounters. The AI of the enemy isn’t always the brightest and you can sometimes
get the enemies to fight each other instead of chasing after you. Just take it
slow at times and use your weapons in melee combat wisely instead of rushing
into combat swinging and punching away.

Two new features in the combat are
the combos and Chain Attacks. There are multiple combos that you can perform
that increases the amount of damage. The combos are even available for review in
the menu screen for easy access. Unfortunately the combos do little to enhance
the melee combat. The precise timing you need to pull off a combo was almost
impossible to perform when fighting more than one character at a time. It seemed
once you started a combo another character always come in and hit you, breaking
up the combo. The Chain Attacks can be performed once you have filled up the
Chain Attack meter. Chain Attacks are performed by double tapping the left or
right trigger button once your Chain Attack meter has been filled up.

The graphically intense finishing
moves from the first game returned in Condemned 2 but even sicker now. Once you
have an enemy stunned now you can grab them by pressing the left and right
triggers at the same time. Once you’ve grabbed them you will see a skull icon
appear on various items in the game. You can then throw the enemy into one of
these items or use the item to take them out. These items vary from televisions,
plates of glass to metal presses. It seemed like almost every stage had a new
item you could use to finish off the enemies. All of the finishing moves
resulted in a violent and spectacularly gruesome death that should leave no
doubts as to why the game has a Mature rating.

The scare factor in the game is one
of the big reasons why the first Condemned game was so good. You keep wondering
how or what is behind the next corner. You keep guessing on what type of sick,
disgusting creature you will have to see. It could be explosive dolls, drug
addicts running around in just their underwear, giant soldiers dressed in
medieval armor or even rabid animals chasing after you. All of the locations and
stages are presented in a dark and gloomy look that do a great job of keeping
the tone of the game unsettling. Graphically the game isn’t that far removed
from looking like the first game but that isn’t a problem. Everything in the
game looks like it’s been sitting in the gutter for several weeks, but in a good
way.

The Forensics elements in the game
are the investigative portions where you have to hunt for clues regarding murder
scenes you come across in the game. The first game really forced you to make
sure you had all of the correct information before you could move on in the
game. This time the game is more relaxed when it comes to keeping the game
moving along even if you screw up the investigative sections. You’re scored on
how detailed your information is when you submit it back to Special Crimes Unit
for review. The ratings can range from poor to perfect. Selecting the correct
option is usually easy enough if you look around hard enough and really
investigate the crime scene properly. But again the game usually won’t hold you
back if you mess up the Forensics section. There are a few portions in the game
where you have to use your Forensic skills to solve minor puzzles to open up the
next section in the game.

Now the storyline will probably be a
sore point for some of you out there if you take it too seriously. Just try to
think of Condemned 2 as a horror movie stuck inside of a video game. How many
horror movies have we seen where we laugh at the absurdness of the storyline yet
we still jump out of our seats at times? Condemned 2 is a similar situation
where you probably won’t understand the storyline but you will be freighted many
times during the game. The plot isn’t a ground breaking example of story
telling but it does have several moments where you will be disgusted, scared and
unsettled.

At the end of the day Condemned 2 is
a game that does what it’s supposed to do: scare and entertain you. The melee
combat in the game is really what sets this game apart from the rest of the
first-person shooters out on the market today. Slugging away with your fists or
smacking someone down with an iron pipe just feels so right compared to other
FPS games. Sure, the other FPS games have melee combat but not the same way as
Condemned. Yet the melee combat just can’t keep up with the action when fighting
more than one enemy at a time. The puzzle solving and forensic work also helps
break up the action in the game at usually just the right moments. Yet the
storyline and overall atmosphere of the game is really what makes Condemned 2
stand out. If you want a freaky, scary “survival” horror game that will
challenge you then Condemned 2 is the game.

Gameplay: 8.3
As I’ve mentioned the melee combat is a great example of brutal combat in a good
way, except when fighting multiple enemies at the same time.

Graphics: 9.0
Visually the game does a great job of depicting a city of the cusp of turmoil
with out-of-control vagrants and killers taking over. The framerate during the
game was always solid and steady regardless of the number of enemies on screen
at a time. Except during cut scenes between stages the game always keeps the
first-person viewpoint no matter what happens in the game. If you’re falling off
a ladder or getting knocked down by an enemy the view point is always in the
first-person view which helps in creating tension during parts of the game.

Sound: 9.1
You owe it to yourself to play this game either with headphones or in a surround-sound mix. You will hear voices, noises and ambiance coming at you from
everywhere in the game. My favorite was hearing the breathing of an enemy that I
just knew was somewhere nearby. I couldn’t find them until they jumped out and
surprised me with a punch to the face.

Concept: 8.4
Technically there really isn’t much of a difference between the first Condemned
game and the sequel. Sure there are some more features in the sequel, such as
the Bloodshot Fight Club and Xbox Live Multiplayer, but these don’t enhance the
overall experience. Bloodshot Fight Club to me felt like a practice mode to get
use to the melee combat, albeit with vastly weaker enemies compared to the
regular game.

Multiplayer: 8.4
The first game featured zero multiplayer gameplay so maybe we should go easy on
what we get with Condemned 2. We get a strong effort with four different
gameplay modes: Crime Scene, Bum Rush, Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch. Crime
Scene has two teams playing the role of SCU versus the Influenced (aka the bad
guys) in a game to locate evidence. The SCU players use their forensic tools to
scan the evidence while the Influenced players must stop the SCU players at any
cost and keep the evidence hidden. The weapons in the Crime Scene game felt
really unbalanced since the SCU players could always use firearms.

Bum Rush has a team of SCU players
going up against an almost limitless assault of Influenced attackers for three
minutes. The SCU players have to survive for three minutes in order to win.
Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch are just what you’ve played before in other FPS
games but this time with melee combat. All of the games support up to eight players
online which still feels like it’s way too many for the melee combat. If they
want to keep multiplayer in with another Condemned game why not just make it a
scary gore fest shooter such as F.E.A.R. since Monolith developed both games.

Difficulty: Medium
Don’t think this will be a walk through the park, because Condemned 2 will smack
you to the ground with a punch to the face. You will die and have to restart
missions over again repeatedly. You can’t even save the game when you want to
because the game only features an autosave function. Thankfully the save games
are usually close enough to where the action always gets hot and heavy.

Overall: 8.6
Condemned 2 is a great game that curious Xbox 360 owners should definitely check out to
see what a different kind of shooter can play like. If you’ve enjoyed the
countless number of FPS games on the 360 already then Condemned 2 should already
be on your list of games to get. The melee combat is a unique system that works
amazingly well in one on one combat. The disturbing and unsettling storyline
will also please anyone looking for a “survival” horror game for the 360. The
first Condemned game wasn’t perfect and neither is Condemned 2 but that didn’t
prevent it from being an engrossing and engaging game that kept me coming back
for more.