Condemned 2: Bloodshot

"Amazing, But Not Perfect"

Condemned 2: Bloodshot is a rare breed. It's a game that does everything it tries to do, and improves on its predecessor, but is still held back from excellence by a few problems that persist throughout..

Condemned 2 picks up about a year after the first Condemned. Ethan Thomas (protagonist of the first game) has become an alcoholic with a hefty boat load of problems. After being called back to the FBI's Special Crimes Unit, he is tasked with finding Serial Killer X (the first game's villain, a serial killer who kills serial killers). Along the way, he discovers about his past and a mysterious organization called “The Oro.” The game does a good job of giving you enough of the first game's story to make you understand the current situation, without becoming redundant or back-tracking.

For the first three quarters of the game, the story works well. It provides good incentive to continue on, without explaining too much. However, the last quarter of the game totally ruins it. Not only does it break the pacing that made the first part amazing, but it introduces a number of ridiculously ludicrous subjects, one of which involves you literally screaming the last boss to death.

The game play is divided between two portions. The first is the actual combat that involves you running through such locales as a wilderness lodge and a doll factory and beating up in hordes of hobos and speed-freaks that inhabit each location.

The combat system does well of being deep without being complicated, but some of the combos are utterly useless compared to the standard right-left-right. Unlike most games that are in first-person, Condemned 2 focuses on melee combat for most of the game. However in the last few levels, you will be so inundated with guns that it seems useless to ever pick up a melee weapon.

The second are the investigations that are scattered through the levels. These range from solid game play to a total blast and are actually the best parts of the game. They generally involve you coming upon a gruesomely eviscerated body and using your tools and logic to find the identity, cause of death, and other miscellaneous facts about the body. Unlike puzzles in other survival-horror games, these always make sense and don't require absurd leaps of faith. However, there are far to few of them in the game, and the game just forgets about them in the last few levels.

Since the game is a combination action/survival-horror, it makes sense that it is scary. The first few levels induce amazing claustrophobia and tension, coupled with some amazing art direction. However, the further you proceed into the game, the effect wears off. For a game that prides itself on being an action alternative to the survival-horror genre, the latter half of the game drops the survival-horror persona altogether leaving you with a pretty generic first-person brawler.

At the end of every level, you will be rated on your performance including the number of news reports found, the number responses you gave when prompted, and other secondary objectives. Depending on how many of the previously mentioned items you completed, Ethan will get an upgrade to his person, including a weapons holster and better combos. While this seems like a good idea, most if not all of the upgrades are totally useless and provide no incentive to replay levels in order to get a gold rating.

From the main menu, you can access “Bloodshot Fight Club.” Fight Club is a single-player mode that puts Ethan up against some challenges, including kill as many thugs in 5 minutes as possible and kill 100 baby dolls in the least amount of time. There is also a “sandbox” mode where you can set the number of hobos at a time, what weapons to use, and what “extra” items you want, such as Molotov cocktails.

New to Condemned 2 is multiplayer. For a game that centers itself around melee combat, the multiplayer feels great for the most part, and unlike some other games recently, it doesn't feel tacked-on. There are four available modes. Deathmatch and team deathmatch play as you would expect them to, centering around all-out brawls with up to eight players. The close-quarters action works as well as it could online, but it generally feels unresponsive and random.

Bum Rush pits two SCU Agents against up to six infected. While the agents are superiorly armed, do more damage, and have more health, they have limited ammo and only one life. Thus, Bum Rush matches normally end up with the bums throwing things at the agents until they run out of ammo, then sprinting up and landing a few hits before their ultimate demise. Bum Rush is an absolute blast as SCU agents, however playing as the hobos can sometimes drag on if the match is set for more than 10 minutes.

The final multiplayer option is Crime Scene. This may well be one of the best multiplayer mode ever created for a console. In this mode, the influenced hobos have two coolers full of evidence that they must hide from the SCU agents, who aim to scan the evidence before the time runs out. Not only does this lead to some tense matches, it is also the only time I have ever been scared playing online.

The multiplayer does have a few problems. First of all, you can hardly find anyone playing. At any time, there's never more than three matches going with a few people in each. Second, the game gives too much freedom to the creator of the match. If you get a match creator that doesn't know how to properly configure the round, you may end up with Crime Scene rounds that are too short, making scanning the evidence impossible, or a Bum Rush round that is too long, making it impossible for the SCU agents to survive.

The game provides some incentive to replay through in-game achievements. These range from beating the game in hard mode to killing 1000 other players in online matches. If you complete an achievement, you will unlock some concept art. That's it. There are no “making of,” videos, no interviews, no special skins. Just pictures. Additionally, the pictures are generally just drawing of the enemies you will see many, many times throughout the game.

The game looks amazing, even on a standard definition display. However, get it on a high-definition TV and it looks just plain brilliant. The environments look appropriately grim and dilapidated, while still feeling realistic and believable, and this lends to the game play nicely.

Not so nice, however is the font size. On TVs any smaller than 32 inches, the font is nearly unreadable. While this may seem like a small gripe, it makes the investigation portions and reading objectives frustrating if not impossible. I had to move my console to a larger TV just to read the font and continue with the game. In addition to this, some of the items the game requires you to look at and read in the investigation portions have muddy or washed-out textures, leading to some confusion and frustration.

The sound in the game is just plain amazing. The music is appropriately tense, and the sound effects are creepy and realistic. Along with this is some pretty amazing voice acting. Andre Sogluizzo's Ethan Thomas is angry and volatile, just as he should be. Angel Parker as Ethan's lab assistant Rosa works well, and the two have a great chemistry.

So it comes down to this: rent this game or borrow it from a friend first. You can probably blow through it in a weekend. If you find yourself wanting to replay it or if you really enjoy the multiplayer, take the leap and purchase it, but wait for the price to drop.

Bottom Line:

Pros:
+ Great Graphics and Sound
+ Fun Multiplayer
+ Investigations

Cons:
- Last Quarter of the Story
- Loses It's Scare Half Way Through
- No One Online

Final Score: 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/28/08

Game Release: Condemned 2: Bloodshot (US, 03/18/08)