Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Surprisingly good"

I had read mostly positive reviews of Condemned a couple of years ago and had never heard of it before until then. I found it interesting that it had been banned in Germany due to its inhuman acts of violence. Along with some positive reviews I had to play it. After finishing it for the first time, I didn't find it any more violent than other horror-type shooters. Some may consider it to be more violent than a shooter because you will be up-close and personal smashing away at an opponent's body. Enemies will also scream out when you hurt them, and most of them are people (crazed people, not zombies or armored soldiers) so maybe a combination of certain elements to the game make it more violent than usual.

All in all, I found it to be a surprisingly good FPS-type game. There is very little shooting since guns and ammo are very limited, but bashing weapons abound in the form of pipes, planks, conduit, 2x4's with nails, rebar, shovels, crowbars, sledgehammers and so forth. The gritty fighting seems appropriate due to the many ramshackle buildings you explore, and the opponents will scream in such a rage that bashing them into a pulp is a form of survival. And they do not simply stand there taking a beating, but will retreat and hide and try to surprise you from around corners or will search for a better weapon. In fact, one big reason I rated the game as high as I did was for the smart AI. I would find myself gritting my teeth when taking on multiple enemies, especially the big brutes near the end of the game, hitting one and swerving to block the attack of another, retreating and diving back into the attack, sometimes having to retreat to a narrower area as they try to surround me again. The close-combat fighting can sometimes be difficult but also is satisfying and fun.

Your character is a criminal investigator named Ethan Thomas who appears to be a regular guy except that he can sustain physical damage more than the usual person and is plagued with gruesome flashbacks throughout the story. There is a part of the game where you will search for fingerprints, boot prints and blood spatter, usually to follow where bodies have been dragged or what doors have been opened. The clue finding portion is relatively easy as your character has a very good intuition when to use forensic instruments by a game prompt. This slows the fast-action pace of the game somewhat but does a good job developing the relationship between Ethan and his friend Lt. Rosa, whose only contact with her at first is over the phone. The thriller/mystery part of the game involves the investigation of several crime-scenes as you try to track down a serial killer while trying to prove your own innocence when you are accused of the murders yourself.

Despite the ongoing investigation that acts as a sort of mini-game, the scope of the game is centered on action. Usually you will swing a bludgeoning weapon and use timing to block counter-attacks and will possess the ability to use several finishing moves (like head-butting, snapping a neck, kneeing into a face or simply smashing a face into the ground). The plot of the game soon takes a turn into the more bizarre and science fiction realm than what most people might expect. Nevertheless, you will determine the purpose behind all of the violent behavior of the people who have flocked to the many abandoned buildings in the area.

The graphics and environment are done quite well. You will search an office building, a train station, subway tunnels, a department store, a library, a school, a house and an orchard that appear almost that they belong to a post-apocalyptic world with much of the clutter, crumbling walls, dark spaces and overall destitute look to wherever you tread. You will also hear noises echo in the distance and sometimes hear the dripping of leaking faucets and notice the sounds of the building settling from its emaciated state. The crazed people look real, although some of them will appear like twisted monstrosities or move in unnatural states (crawling up walls or diving through debris) thus satisfying those who enjoy more variety and an added horror feel that you are not fighting a normal, everyday human. The replay value is also good, encouraging you to unlock certain material of the game by accomplishing goals such as wielding every melee weapon available in the game or finding metal pieces and dead birds scattered throughout the chapters.

This is not a game for those who find up-close, bash your opponent over the head violence distasteful. It is for those who enjoy action/horror games where blood and gore is simply the window dressing to a particularly active-on-the-edge-of-your-seat experience. It is definitely worth checking out and changes the element of most FPS games that you will be using less firearms and more unorthodox melee weapons than one might be accustomed to.