Condemned: Criminal Origins

"A fantastic action horror game. Until level 10, that is."

If there's one genre of games that I've always been interested in, it's horror. The thing is, though, that very few horror games scare me. F.E.A.R.'s attempts at scaring me only made me raise my eyebrows, Silent Hill ruins the atmosphere with tedious combat and marathon running, and Resident Evil only entertains me in the "Blow a zombie's head off with a revolver" department.

This is a problem, obviously, because I want to be scared by these games. When most of them fail to do so, I'm left very disappointed. Yes, I actually consider my tolerance to video game horror a handicap. It sucks.

Surprisingly enough, Condemned didn't scare me much either. So why the buildup, you ask? Because Condemned does many, many things right that other horror titles fail to do, which brings us to the first and most important category in this review:


Sound - 10

Sound is, bar none, the single most important factor when a game, movie, haunted house, or real life ghost wants to scare the hell out of you. Without sound, the atmosphere is void. There is none. Sure, some people may be scared by silence or the lack of sound (Such as in the old Alien Vs. Predator games), but I'm not talking about things that go bump in the night. I'm talking about atmosphere, which happens to be the thing that Condemned does damn near perfectly.

Condemned takes normal places and turns them into your worst nightmare. A broken down apartment riddled with debris and settling infrastructure; A subway tunnel where the trains still pass by, illuminating in the beam of your flashlight as they pass by noisily, drowning out the sounds of possible activity behind you; An abandoned school with flickering lights and lockers that swing open and closed by themselves, giving you a sense of severe foreboding.

But hey, I might as well start a category on Atmosphere if I keep that up. As for the rest of the sounds, the quality is just as high. Gunshots sound like gunshots. I was surprised when I first fired the .45 pistol you start out with, as most shooters utterly fail to grasp the sound that a firearm makes (One of my number one annoyances about shooters, in fact).

The maniacs sound like maniacs. Yes, there are many maniacs in this game, and they all sound amazing. From the heavy, desperate gasps for breath around the corner to the screams of pain and agony as they reel back from a powerful blow by your 2x4, the sounds they make truly sound real. Don't worry, though, you won't feel a single bit sorry for any of those bastards.


Story - 7

This will be brief, as the category can't be reviewed very thoroughly unless I spoil things. The plot is pretty good, considering the game's genre. I was motivated enough to beat the game and interested enough to see it all through. Plot twists are, as with any horror game, very common and will generally leave you second guessing every character's true intentions.


Graphics - 9

By today's standards, this game still looks incredible. With the release of Bloodshot, it obviously feels a bit aged, but nobody can deny that the lighting and shadow effects in this game are drool-worthy. I found myself staring in awe more times than one, and I adored the flashlight effect. My only problem with the graphics is the models of the main character, Ethan, and his female cell phone companion, Rose. Honestly, those coats look ridiculous and make both characters, especially Rose, look hysterically out of place.


Gameplay - 7

As for the actual way the game is played, it's okay. This is actually the worst part of the game, but that doesn't mean it's by any means bad. It just could have been so much better. The melee combat is the focus, which makes this quite a unique game by itself. Throughout his investigations, Ethan must defend himself against hordes of insane drug addicts, criminals, street thugs, and some much more bizarre things.

The problem comes in the form of the sheer amount of opponents. The melee combat is fantastic when one-on-one, but against two or more foes, it starts getting rather ridiculous and outright frustrating. The system just isn't designed for it, which makes me wonder why Monolith thought it would be a good idea in the first place. A much better game could have been made if they had simply lowered the amount of enemies.

Ethan isn't just your typical person, though. He's an investigator, and a damn good one at that. In effect, he must do quite a bit of investigating, using all sorts of neat gadgets, as he explores the dark side of urban life. A lot of people complain about the linear aspect of the investigation sequences, but I prefer it this way. I, for one, would only be annoyed if I had to roam around a series of rooms and halls for three hours trying to figure out just what the hell I'm supposed to be looking for. If you ask me, Monolith did everyone a favor here.

Now, to address the comment I made in the Tagline, that really is the game's biggest problem. I won't spoil anything (It's a review, after all), but I will say that the final level in the game is atrocious. Too many enemies, way too limited vision, and overall a mess. I don't know what Monolith was thinking here, but it couldn't have been anything smart.


Replay Value - 3

There isn't much reason to replay the game once it's completed. There are three difficulty modes, but neither one affects the game in any interesting ways. It would have been nice to have had some tougher investigation sequences and such, but it's not that big of a deal. There are quite a lot of achievements to get (Should you be the type who just loves getting those points. I do to an extent), though some of them are just tedious. Going through the entire game with just melee weapons? Good luck doing that on any difficulty above Easy. The game's hard even with the freaking guns to use.


Overall - 8

When it comes right down to it, Condemned is a great action horror. Fans of the genre should definitely consider a rental (It's so short it can be completed in a day or two), while people who scare easily should avoid it like the plague (Unless they enjoy being scared, like I do). While the game didn't really scare me that often (More than I can say about most horror games), it made me jump a lot. Oh man, it made me jump. And it will make you jump, too.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/09/08

Game Release: Condemned: Criminal Origins (US, 11/16/05)