Mark enters hell... and likes it!
Making a sequel is a double-edged sword. If the first game is a success, as was the original Condemned, the follow-up will have a fan base eager for more. This is a good thing, obviously. The downside is… the follow-up will have a fan base. With a long list of demands. No-one wants a rehash – but likewise, they all want the series-maker to feel like the first game. Just… bigger. Better.
Lacking firepower and favouring brutal fist fights, Condemned 2 is not your typical first-person title, but is every bit the ambitious follow-up Condemned fans will have wished for. That said, Condemned 2 still retains some of the problems of the first game, by way of that familiar feel.
Lacking firepower and favouring brutal fist fights, Condemned 2 is not your typical first-person title.
The best, and thankfully most important example, is in the combat, which enhances the first game’s pipe flailing with a relatively deep combo system. Left and right triggers throw left and right punches, which can be turned into consecutive hits if timed correctly. Add in melee items, from bricks to socket wrenches and more strewn liberally about the game, the occasional gun, and a gameworld full of vicious sociopath homeless types, and you’ve got the makings of a game with an unusually graphic twist.
It doesn’t get more graphic than Condemned 2’s environmental kills. Build up enough combo points and you can stick a guy’s head down the toilet, through a TV, or shatter a window with his skull, for starters. If that doesn’t take your fancy then why not simply snap his neck? Condemned 2, then, is every bit the 18 game that the rating says it is, and couldn’t be recommended for younger players.
Oppressive, atmospheric and downright creepy
Those old enough, however, with find violence is in keeping with the oppressive, atmospheric and downright creepy feel that the first game had in spades. Indeed, condemned 2 is a more unnerving fiction, pushing the next-gen hardware to greater degrees thanks to much longer in development than its rushed-to-launch forebear.
To call Condemned 2 ‘dark’ wouldn’t be doing it justice. The world that main character Ethan Thomas finds himself in has gone literally straight to hell, with scares around every corner in the form of psychotic tramps attacking you at leisure, a torch which barely lets you see a few feet ahead of you, and demonic forces seemingly gathering just out of reach.
Tune a TV in Condemned 2 and you’ll get an eerie voice through the static giving you hints. Walk into a dilapidated hallway and there’s more than a slight chance you’ll be attacked. If anything, Condemned 2 is a little more predictable than its predecessor, but delivers a more consistent sensory assault.
As a story, Condemned 2 is a triumph of tight scripting, tense atmosphere, action-packed gameplay, powerful visuals and terrific audio
Forensics are the other feature of Condemned’s offering, and thankfully Condemned 2 improves on them plenty. And while optional, they present new items and Xbox Live achievement points for those willing to pursue them.
To begin with they’re relatively straightforward; common sense use of your tools and inspecting your environment will allow you to work out how the victim died, where they died, if the body was moved, and clues to their identity, which you can radio back to HQ. Later on however, they get increasingly tricky, and prove at times some of the most satisfying gameplay in the whole of Condemned 2.
As a story, Condemned 2 is a triumph of tight scripting, tense atmosphere, action-packed gameplay, powerful visuals and terrific audio. As a multiplayer experience, however, it’s not so great. The focus on close quarters combat simply makes for a less diverse experience, with fights descending into last-man-standing button bashing attrition. It’s a nice idea, but the implementation feels rushed.
Thankfully, Condemned 2 isn’t trying to compete with Halo, CoD4 and co. It’s an adventure first and foremost, and an accomplished one at that. For those that haven’t played Condemned, it will take some getting used to first-person fighting, but for fans of the first game, Condemned 2 will be a tense, terrifyingly enjoyable return that’s been well worth the wait.
GAME's Verdict
- Bigger, better looking and more intense than the first Condemned
- A compelling, frightening fiction with a well put-together story
- Great first-person combat once you've gotten used to it
- First-person fighting feels a bit limited if you're a hardcore Halo or CoD player.
- Goes for outright shock tactics more than the slower tension of the first game.
- Close quarters combat simply doesn't make for a deep, diverse multiplayer experience.
Review by: Mark Scott
Version Tested: Xbox 360
Review Published: 11.04.08