Condemned 2 is the sequel to Condemned criminal origins, a game where you played as a cop named Ethan Thomas solving murders and killing serial killers. Condemned 2 contiunes on this trend, but while offering a darker story, online play, and also by adding some new mechanics to the game's combat. In the gameplay department the combat is vastly improved, on the already fun combat in the first condemned. The mian reason why it is so much better is that there are a lot more options when it comes to the killing. Instead of just having one attack button and one block button, you can now string together combos with your fists, with blocking and you can also do a forehand slash and a backhand slash as well. This aspect of the gameplay alone makes the combat a lot better, but now you can also do some timed button pressing sequences to execute an enemy. These sequences really do require perfect timing, and if you are a second to late or early, you will miss out on the execution oppertunity. The enemy a.i. hasn't been improved to much, but the enemies are still fun and exciting to fight. You can also throw weapons at enemies now, and of course you can still block these attacks as well with perfect timing. One aspect of the first condemned that wasn't so great was the shooting. I am happy to report that in Condemned 2 it is so much better. You now can aim a whole lot better, with the left trigger, similair to Call of Duty 4, and in some levels all you will get is guns. This occurs mostly when cops from SCU are trying to kill you, and the enemies tend to be pretty smart, by staying behind cover, and walking around only when they have a group attacking you. Also when you beat the game you unlock the fps mode, which lets you play the game with unlimited ammo. This aspect of you having unlimited ammo is countered by the enemies able to kill you in two to three hits depending on who you're fighting. I haven't beaten to much of the game on fps mode yet, but from what I played it was really fun. Another aspect of the game that is greatly improved is the aspect of the forensics. In the first game every time there was a forensics moment, the game would litterally hold your hand, telling you what to press to collect evidence. In Condemned 2 however, when you are studying the crime scene or just giving someone information, you will have to study it greatly and decide the best response to give to Rosa. The forensics is overall much better in Condemned 2 and it does much more than just break up the action. One aspect of Condemned 2 that isn't near as good as the original, was the story. You felt like the story of the first Condemned could take place in the real world, and it made much more sense than Condemned 2. While the story of Condemned 2 certaintly has it's moments, like in mid half of the game the story starts to get great, but then by the last chapter loses some of it's greatness. The story gets a little supernatural, and you end up being really confused, which is a bit dissapointing. Condemned 2 does do a great job of answering any questions you may have had from the first game, but I just hope in the 3rd Condemned the story could be a little better. Condemned 2 is the first game in the series to offer online play, and it is overall a great addition. It adds a lot of value to the game, and tends to be really fun. There are four game modes to the online including, deathmatch, team deathmatch, bum rush, and crime scene. The deathmatch and team deathmatch are pretty standard stuff, but it is pretty enojyable running around the different maps and beating people to the death with multiple wapons. In the bum rush game there are two people you are trying to kill that can kill you in one or two hits, but your team also has six people so it feels pretty balanced. The most interesting game mode is probably crime scene. In crime scene one team is the SCU and the other team is the bad guys. The SCU team is trying to recover the evidence which the bad guys have, and they get a radar and guns as well. The bad guys don't get any guns, but the SCU has to kill them and scan the evidence before the three minutes is up, so it feels pretty balanced. Overall the multi player experience is very good, especially for the first time in the series having online play, but the experience isn't very deep and can get a little boring after awhile. Yet there are plenty of people playing the game online, so you should be able to find games at any hour of the day. Overall 9.5/10 Overall Condemned 2 is just a really fun and addictive game to play. It's multitude of gameplay enhancemnts, better graphics and sound, and the new online play makes this game much better than it's predocesor. It doesn't quite reach a 10/10 thanks to a confusing story, and somewhat simplistic online play, but these small flaws shouldn't stop anyone from playing the game that owns an Xbox 360. This game is not nearly as scary as the first, so people that get scared easily should still have plenty of fun with this game.
Last Fall I played the original Condemned and it was one of the most memorable videogaming experiences I've had. Putting an action-heavy survival-horror game into a first person perspective turned out to be a great succ... Read Full Review
We all know that the first game was a sleeper hit. It scared the crap out of us and really brought a new meaning to FPS suspense. Condemned 2 not only brings that all back but it adds much more to the table. Check it ... Read Full Review
