This demented First-Person shooter is frighteningly violent and atmospherically chilling that will shock your mentality
Contains: Very Strong Sadistic Violence, Strong Horror and Grisly Images
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Condemned 2 is a horror-themed First-Person shooter, but sets itself apart from the genre by having a bigger emphasis on melee combat instead of the regular run-and-gun theme.
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STORY - 4/5
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Condemned 2: Bloodshot takes place eleven months after the events of the first Condemned game. The mysterious phenomena causing insane violence and mass psychosis amongst Metro City's homeless population has only gotten worse, with massive riots breaking out across the city. Protagonist Ethan Thomas, having resigned from the FBI's Serial Crime Unit after the events of the Serial Killer X investigation, has been caught in a downward spiral and now finds himself homeless, violent, and an alcoholic. He still suffers from paranormal visions, and his alcoholism even manifests as an antagonistic alter-ego that taunts him during his hallucinogenic visions. It features Ethan being recruited back into the SCU to investigate a call for help from his old mentor Malcolm Vanhorn, and delves more deeply into explaining the strange abnormality causing city-wide violence and mass hysteria.
The plot takes you through many recognisable and popular city attractions, and provides many thrilling moments and clever twists to keep you enthralled of what could possibly happen next on your deranged journey into the unknown abyss that the city has been engulfed in. Some questions sadly won't get answered, even when your sure the truth is just ahead, and could quite possibly remain unanswered until the inevitable sequel.
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CHARACTERS - 4/5
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Ethan Thomas, the game's main protagonist is as bitter and jaded as ever, his judgement is clouded, and he's used alcohol to bury the troubles of his mysterious past. But his presence and ignorance only makes him more likeable, as he does things how he wants and takes no **** from anyone, getting the job at hand completed effectively and maturely. Other various characters feed off of Ethan's rudeness aswell, and turn the cutscenes into something much more deeper and interesting than you'd imagine.
A demon hidden beneath Ethan's flesh crops up for a few scares from time to time, and the developer's have integrated Ethan's problem well with the plot at hand. The demon is basically a hallucinatory alter-ego of Ethan's with a mask-like face, the "dark side" of Ethan's personality and the manifestation of his alcoholism.
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GAMEPLAY - 4/5
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Condemned 2 will plunge you into a world of psychological terror and bone crushing brutality, and will both shock and absorb your emotions for what evil awaits around every foreboding corner. From found weapons to high-tech forensics you will use anything and everything to survive the nightmare unfolding which is enveloping the city. You can grab weapons straight from the environment, string together powerful finishing moves and inflict horrific finishing moves, which when completed, send chills down your spine because of the violence you've created and unleashed.
You'll be impaling thugs on rebar's jutting out in the open, crushing insane rioters heads in gigantic vices, and exploding enemies heads with shotgun blasts, and each move is captured in graphic detail. Its no doubt that Condemned 2 earns its mature rating, but your terrifying descent into chaos only increases in magnitude with the possibilities that open up to you.
The controversial content is executed with plenty of positive results however, and make connecting a thug's face with a blunt pipe, that bit more satisfying. You pick up all sorts of weapons, some associated from the location your in, such as paper cutter blades, swords, axes, baseball bats, bowling pins and even bubblegum machines, and when your opponent is standing before you, and you block his attack away and leave him vulnerable, you'll be allowed to forcefully pummel your foe until he's a grisly mess on the floor before you. If you want to end the life of your enemies in grisly style, then you can beat them up until they submit, grab them, and be able to see the options available in the environment, then drag your victim with you, and forcefully smash their face into a TV, or pin them onto a rebar that's sticking out of the wall. Whichever way you go about finishing off your opponent, each one showcases the impact in macabre detail, as mutilated bodies slump to the floor, and insides are splattered onto the surroundings.
The violence and gore occurs frequently, but from time to time, you'll take part in forensic examinations on bodies you recover from the area, or a crime scene which occurred parallel to your position. You'll become the examiner, and you'll be given tasks to carry out, like identifying the name of the victim, and how they were killed. There are multiple choice answers displayed on the screen, and the point of it, is to eliminate options that don't fit the situation, and determine the correct one by carefully examining the crime scene. These are very fun, and proves rewarding when your efforts pay off correctly. If you don't get it right, you don't fail, but you get a rating on your accuracy, ranging from the perfect, to poor. Each crime scene scenario exhibits gruesome mutilations and lots of neat objectives which always range from simple to challenging, and force you to re-think your decisions. At the end of the level you'll gain rewards, but depending on how many combos you executed in combat, and how accurate your evidence gathering was, you'll acquire more effective rewards ranging from bronze status, to gold status, which may be stronger armour, or more batteries for your stun gun.
Gunplay isn't as good as melee combat though, and so when you're prompted to use guns, you'll favour resorting to a pipe or baseball bat to keep up the thrills and enhance your enjoyment.
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GRAPHICS - 3/5
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Condemned 2 doesn't have what you'd call stunning graphics, but its grimy visual design and rough textures create a gritty edge, and is distinctly effective for the setting its in. From the dark and foreboding bowling complex, to the street alleys which contain brute-like thugs with violence being the only thing on their mind, each of the environments share similar factors that make it stand out. The stylized effects that indicate a paranormal encounter are often overdone, and the screen ends up flickering a bit too much, and takes away some of the eeriness because you're struggling to see what started the screen to blur out of focus. But the lighting augments the immersion, and turns the decayed city into a rather appealing place to combat in.
The graphics may have a distinct art style, but the visuals aren't sharp enough to engage your senses or attract anyone unfamiliar with the game.
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SOUND - 4/5
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The sound design is impressive, and the combat set-pieces are further bought to life thanks to the realistic effects of metal against flesh. Each object connects with enemies in true, brutal manner, and the sound effects of each weapon, and the grunts of beaten rioters are conveyed perfectly giving you the feeling that your truly dishing out violence upon someone. Furthermore, the moments of silence contribute to the sense of fear in the situation you're trapped in, and make navigating dark back alleys, feel menacing and unnerving. Voice acting is also fantastic, and with the eerie musical score, sets the tone for every location you must pass through in order to unravel the unfolding mess of psychopathic behaviour.
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CONTROLS - 3/5
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The combat controls are pretty solid, and when using your fists to fend off an attacker, you press the corresponding trigger to swing your arms, and press them simultaneously to block. Its nice and easy to grasp, and chaining attacks and forming deadly combos is also just as simple to understand.
When it comes to figuring out answers at a crime scene, you'll require high-tech forensic tools in order to study evidence and then submit it. Your tools are cool and useful, but the these control configurations are awkward and difficult, and so when your using a UV light to trace blood back to a specific point, if a thug comes into the picture, it requires you to readjust quickly in order not to become overcome by the thugs killer instincts.
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ATMOSPHERE - 4/5
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There is a moody atmosphere sustained through your mysterious and murderous journey, and the gritty environments are just one of those reasons. When a paranormal event occurs, the game does a decent (yet overdone) job of letting you know of a scary presence entering the area. Your flashlight flickers, the lights go out, and you're forced to continue down the path of darkness, totally oblivious to the creature lying in wait around the next corner. There are many jumpy moments found in various levels of the game, some being more frightening than others. One particular chase scene comes to mind, and is thrilling and tense beyond belief, and if you can stomach monstrous and demented enemies, then you'll have a very enjoyable time with Condemned 2. With the bloody imagery and engagingly vivid, visual style, a healthy atmosphere is constantly threatening and inescapable as you dispatch enemy after enemy on your descent into chaos for much needed answers.
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ENEMY AI - 4/5
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The many different forms of thugs and rioters provide challenging encounters, especially when your up against a few at a time. The enemies you face are deadly and cunning and therefore must be approached with caution and skill if you want to succeed in a brawl with them. Combat can become difficult if you let things get out of hand and don't use logic when in fights, and its easy to find yourself on the losing side if your not carefully waiting for an enemies weakness to show or force them into submission. You'll need to pay close attention to an enemies attack in order to successfully block, and open up opportunities for you to take advantage of, and dig in deep to your opponent and put them to an eternal sleep. Foes run and seek cover, then surprise you when you turn the corner, they grab weapons off the floor (so be careful when you throw one away), and change their attack patterns, making for some really challenging fights, but bring a sigh of relief when they finally conclude.
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LENGTH - 3/5
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The single player experience lasts for a reasonable amount of time of 10 hours, and provides many chilling moments and thrilling moments that all add up to a great experience if you can endure some minor problems in graphics and the underpowered effects of some weapons. Why a sword does not slice foes and why one bullet from an assault rifle can explode a head is something strange to grapple. But for the most of time playing Condemned 2, you'll have a fun time pummelling your way through the abandoned alleys which are now home to a new evil.
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REPLAY VALUE - 3/5
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Replaying the campaign gives you opportunities to unlock greater rewards and bonuses than your previous playthrough, and if you can remember any errors you made in gathering crucial evidence or answering questions incorrectly, then it'll add a new segment to the story you may have missed. Condemned 2 is an extremely violent game, and replaying it gives you these situations of Hell on Earth all over again with gratifying results, and provides a guilty pleasure of unique satisfaction from inflicting horrific amounts of damage to your demented enemies in the gruesome and fulfilling combat.
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OVERALL SUMMARY - 8/10
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Good Points: Fulfilling hand-to-hand combat with a wide range of weapons to brutally pummel your enemies with, A sustained creepy atmosphere throughout, Some scary and thrilling moments that send chills down your spine, Great story with strongly influential characters, Forensic scenes are great fun and force you to think carefully.
Bad Points: Some weapons are seemingly underpowered for what they are, Gunplay isn't as good as melee, No finishing moves for individual weapons, Visuals are effective but sometimes they're too blurry and murky.