Condemned 2: Bloodshot

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Condemned 2 reminds me of a next generation game that combines elements of Manhunt and Silent Hill. Great graphics with a cast of bad guys ranging from street thugs, monsters, and demented possessed homeless people, there's no shortage of adversaries waiting in the darkness. The eerie settings make you hesitate to take another step around each dark corner in fear of what lies ahead. Game play is seen through a fist person view with smooth controls and good camera angles. We've all seen games that had such bad camera angles and clumsy controls that it ruined the game ( The Getaway 2 anyone? ) As you engage in hand to hand combat, you will learn a variety of combos to finish off your opponents. Although learning how to accurately put these combos together to make them work was one of the only difficult parts of the game that I never seemed to master.

You play as renegade special agent Ethan Thomas. A tough angst ridden guy with a thirst for a drink anytime he can have one and a short fuse to say the least. Along your travels you will pick up a variety of weapons to use that never seems to get boring. You will find weapons ranging from light to heavy. Rummage through junk to find 2x4's ( with nails of course ), conduit pieces, or a bowling ball. Pick up a heavier weapon like a shovel, axe, gumball machine or even a prosthetic arm. Each weapon will give a rating as to it's damage, speed, reach and condition it's in. This making it easier to decide what to grab when fighting for you life. You can also throw these objects at enemies as well. Guns are also available throughout the game. Pistols, shotguns and rifles make it easier to blast through enemies but watch your ammo. Taking a swig of any alcohol you may come across to improve your aim tremendously.

In addition to fighting, the game also adds great forensics challenges as well. Gather clues to send back to the lab for analysis. You are eventually equipped with a spectrometer, camera, UV light and a GPS navigation system. Gathering the right clues and answering your partners questions correctly will lead to greater rewards and help solve crimes quicker. These challenges make the game much more interesting than just fighting bad guys level after level.

Condemned 2 is a great horror survival game that has everything you could ask for. However, there are a few cons. The first is the on screen text. I played this game on a standard TV that has always looked great for games. But the text in Condemned 2 is so small, it can be almost impossible to read at times. This can be extremely frustrating when trying to accurately gather evidence and solve a crime. I've read that people with larger HDTV's even had a difficult time reading the text as well. Also, Ethan has limited ability to move. He cant really jump onto things ( unless at certain points in a level where an on screen prompt tells him to ) and he can't duck and hide in the shadows too well. It would have been nice to see a bit more stealth added to the game like in Manhunt. There have been reports of major audio problems ( snapping and popping ) in this game but I've never heard any. Could be with the online portion of the game or use of high definition equipment.

Overall I highly recommend this game. It was fun and challenging. The combination of combat and puzzle solving added a lot of variety to Condemned 2. As any game you really enjoy, it could have been a bit longer. The end was a bit anti climatic as well, but getting there was enjoyable the whole way through.

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I bought this game with some skepticism in mind, reading good and bad reviews about it, I thought I would give my own mixed review.

To begin, I am currently playing this game on Hard, your experience may be otherwise different with the game if you played it in other level of difficulty, that is obvious. All you have heard about this game being a MUST to play at night, all true. The game keeps you on your toes, full of suspense and the random bad guy popping every now and then will definitely make you jump a bit. The array of weapons have thus far been varied, you will find 9 mms and shotguns scattered around, but their clips are limited, even though having a powerful weapon would defeat the purpose of what the creators had in mind (a challenging, strategy/weapon based game) I would have opted for a little more fire power. That being said, it is all about strategy and combos, they might get a little repetitive and to be honest, rushing, attacking and then backing off to read the enemy's timing is the best way to defeat them. So far I have only encountered one boss and it was quite challenging to try and bring down, since she would rush and use her heavy weapon on me, 3 hits and I was out, so playing on hard will definitely require more strategic moves.

Now to the bad side of the game. I had read that some people experienced sound problems, some others did not. Sadly, I was one of those affected by the sound, but it was not as annoying as described by others. Some random popping and that was about it. Other people said the game was too dark, well, this game is obviously designed to be played at night, all lights turned off and full attention on it. Adjusting the game's brightness will definitely get rid of this problem.

Problems about the game itself, I have only found a handful. The inability to jump and duck sets back the game a little. I have found that the smallest box will impede your process if you want to go through a door, which could easily be solved by a quick jump, instead you have to hit it out of the way with your weapon, which might end up weakening the condition of it. Lack of true firepower might be a bit annoying, this game comes at you full force and I would definitely love to pack a shotgun with me for when you are surrounded or the enemy can take plenty of damage. The camera might be a little choppy at times but not too bad, (SPOILER) the true setback is when you are wearing your mask, that takes away a good 25% of the already weakened visibility.

That being said, this game does pack some good fun, especially on a desolated night and like I always say, you should rent before you buy. If you truly consider this to be a good game to buy then get it.

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Despite the fact that they are not usually my genre, I found survival horror games to be the most affecting as far as emotions. Some games which have emotional cutscenes pass by with nary a tear and some games with topics that should hit home don't do much of anything. But play a character stuck in a haunted mansion or a dilapitated town filled with creepy residents and it's bound to get your heart racing. With a brand new PS3 in tow and not wanting it to be like the Wii (read: used only for occasional play moments and not every game that gets released), I thought I'd check out this one. And despite some gripes as well as a weird bug, this is still one atmospheric and violent game.

Story: Taking place almost a year after the events of Condemned: Criminal Origins (still just Xbox360), Agent Ethan Thomas has his the bottle hard and is having visions and nightmares. Not only that but the town's occupants have gone a bit...crazy and have started to beat each other up. When his former mentor Vanhorn leaves a call for help, Ethan is sent to investigate which will also bring to light some other mysteries and people behind the scenes.

The first half of the story is great and really delves into this idea of a supremely harsh detective story (an even grungier looking "Seven" if you can believe it) but then things go a little nuts and the plot takes a sharp turn and it becomes silly and new ideas are introduced that kind of ruin the whole thing. While you do want to play through till the end, it's still going to be looked back on as the "good half" and "everything up to the end".

Graphics: When you're dealing with a high-end television set, I love games like Uncharted: Drake's Fortune or Ratchet and Clank where the sharpness and vibrancy of the graphics will make things stand out. However, Condemned is the opposite route with lots of blacks and browns (and red of course) and it's a more "murky" looking title. That doesn't mean it looks bad cause it looks fantastic from detail to lighting to character animation. And having it entirely from Ethan's viewpoint helps since climbing up ladders actually shows hands and feet and not just the wall going up or down.

Sound/Music: First a bit of noting: on the Ps3, some have mentioned this idea of a crackling sound that's heard that I found is even more audible in the menus. While it's not detrimental to the gameplay, it is distracting and kind of ruins the sound a bit. Which is too bad cause the score here is atmospheric, atonal and quite creepy and the voice acting is also fantastic including a role by MGS's Roy Campbell as your boss. Also very much welcome is the sound design which plays into the combat. Hitting enemies with fists or weapons gets that awesome crack and impact sound that will sure to rattle your teeth and make your jawbone flinch.

Gameplay: I have to be honest: I kind of hate first-person shooters. Sure I can handle the occasional one like Bioshock or something but for the most part they turn me off. Condemned though uses for the most part an emphasis on melee (guns gets a bigger appearance unfortunately later on). Many items can be found in your travels from pipes to wrenches to crowbars, bricks that you can toss at people. Couple times I even found toilet seats. Using the L1 or R1 buttons is for your left and right fists respectively while holding them is for blocking. If you punch with both fists one after the other, you can activate a combo which deals bigger damage. Pressing the R3 button brings a kick (perfect for hitting enemies that ****ed you off after you killed them) while L3 and a punch will bring a hook. The problem is that enemies can frequently hit which cancels out any combos you're trying for and bizarrely they seem to take a lot of hits before they're dead. I can smack a guy 5 times with an aluminum baseball bat and he still gets up. What the hell?

But getting the kill move is the satisfying part and this game brings to the table an "environmental kill". Basically if an opponent gets stunned, pressing L1 and R1 and you'll put them in a choke hold where you can snap their neck but if you're feeling particularly vindictive, you can look around the room for an icon where you can kill them in a move unique to that place. One move I put the guy's head against the door frame and proceeded to kick his head against it. Ouch. Another I found a vice and well, let's just say he got more than a migraine coming.

There's also some investigative parts which show up which are fun though sometimes I felt without a walkthrough, there was no way I could've answered some of these questions. You get a UV light to follow blood trails and hidden messages, a spectrometer for locating emitters ("noisy hubcaps" as Yahtzee calls em), cameras and a GPS. The actual investigating only happens in specific parts so you're not going to be CSI'ing your way the whole level.

While I didn't lose sleep after playing this, there is some particularly nasty parts and some of the special kills are totally brutal and that's nothing compared to the brutality that comes from smacking people with pipes in the face and despite the sound gripe, this is certainly a worthwhile game to play even if it goes haywire at the end.

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I just beat the game like two days ago, and I must say I came away very satsfied with the game. I never played the first one because i didnt have an XBOX360, mostly because i hate the system. So i heard it was coming out for PS3 and bought it because im a huge fan of horror games. First off this game is scary as hell lol. Mostly the whole game is dark and without ur flashlight u cant even see. It works tho because it makes things even scarier. The graphics are good, with great levels and good character design. The best thing about this game is probably the fighting system. You can throw punch combos with finisherd and their so many weapons at your disposal. This game is pretty violent too, with a good amount of humor too. My favorite part is the investigations. They let you examine bodies, determain the identity, cause of death, the weapon used etc. You can not really compare this to any other game. Maybe a mix of manhunt and indingo prophecy. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

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I'm not quite sure what everyone is talking about with audio problems. I had no problem whatsoever with mine. And I played for about 8 hours straight the second day I had it. Anyway, with that out of the way, Condemned 2 adds nothing new like the first one did to FPS, however, it is a very well done different version of a genre that seems to be getting into the "s.o.s." problem. Guns are a much more prevalent in this one than the first one, but the overall majority is still with objects lying around to use as melee weapons (the bowling pin and gumball machine were nice additions). Also, the new combo system used for hand-to-hand is actually fairly decently done. yes, it can be very frustrating at times, which is where the melee weapons come in very handy. Thrashing some poor punk with a crowbar or 2 X 4 with nails can somehow seem very gratifying. The most confusing part of the game (and the reason fro 4 stars) is the story. The idea of Ethan beating his inner demons (later in the game, very literally) is a different twist and adds a lot of depth to the story, but beyond that is a definite WTF moment. The game itself is very dark and the sceneries definitely support the mood. If you didn't like the first (or didn't play it), you will most likely not enjoy this game. However, if you want something different out of an FPS than you might give it a shot.