Some new additions make this a promising sequel yet the story and repetitive game play hold this Fps horror title back
When first starting Bloodshot you have access to single player and multiplayer. But the farther you get in the single player you unlock the fight club mode and more stages for fight club. So fight club is just what it sounds like, you are through into a small area were you have access to some weapons and a horde of bums come and you fight them. This is a novelty that you play once or twice and then never play again. There is one stage were you can set how many guys you want to fight, what type of weapons and how many guys at a time. This is only good for people looking for achievements and nothing else.
The game play feels very similar to the first game but that's a good thing. There are about 20 new weapons for you to swing and throw at enemies. But this time around Ethan can throw punches and block. The fist fighting is actually Farley deep in the sense that you can pull off combos as well as getting damage boosters for them. The biggest game play flaw is that, sense Ethan is a drunk when he has fire arms if you haven't found a bottle of booze and drunken it his hands get shaky and it's almost impossible to hit you're target. This is annoying when theirs no booze in site and you only have a few shots, this is an interesting idea in theory but it's executed very poorly. Another new addition is environmental kills, when you beat an enemy enough he/she will get on their knees and you can grab them in a head lock and either throw them over a ledge, smash their head into a TV etc. These never get old and aren't frequent enough to get dull.
One of the biggest complaints from the first game was that their wasn't enough freedom in the "CSI" segments. This time the game has given you limitless amount of freedom so now you have to find clues you're self. This makes the segment a lot more fun to carry out because now you feel like you've actually accomplished something. At the end of each mission you are rewarded with a grade ranging from poor to perfect and based on all of your rating from that level you are awarded with an upgrade for you character. Upgrades include gun holsters, steel toe boots and a taser.
Graphically Condemned 2 looks great…that is when theirs light. Most environments are insanely dark and the question has to be asked why the **** don't I have a flashlight? But enemies look crazed and environments look destroyed.
One of the best parts of the Condemned games has to be the sounds. You can usually hear the enemies before you see them but it's still creepy to hear a crack head rambling and not knowing wear he is. The weapon effects are a sickening as ever; you can literally hear the bones of you're enemy crunching after hitting him with a pipe.
There is an adversarial online mode but it's hardly worth mentioning. There is death match; team death match and the only worth while mode were one teams hide's severed heads and the other team tries to find them and scan them. There are only a handful of maps and one team starts with guns while the other team starts with melee weapons (besides the Molotov cocktail) so it feels a bit unbalanced. The structure how ever is great meaning connecting to games is a breeze while finding games (no matter how bad online is) is easy as pie.
All in all Condemned 2 Blood Shot isn't enjoyable enough to warrant a purchase. Poor story, boring multiplayer and same old mechanics don't seem to be able to save this game yet the CSI segments are great and the first few levels are fun.
Graphics-8.5
Story-5
Game play-8
Sound-8
RENT 7.8