Home Games Condemned 2: Bloodshot

Condemned 2

Action- Adventure
Releases: 03.11.08
Monolith Productions
Sega
ESRB: Mature

Condemned 2: Bloodshot

A first person experience that goes beyond cliche combat.

by Sarah Schutz

If the first Condemned was a promise of what was to come from the first person experience in the next generation, Condemned 2 is a fulfillment of that promise. While most horror games are delivered from the third person perspective, offering a comfortable distance from terrifying environments, the Condemned series brings you up close to the horror and gore, introducing a new form of first person gameplay.

In this, the second installment of the Condemned series, you continue your journey as Ethan Thomas, though now a bit worse for ware. Since leaving the force, Ethan has tumbled into his own nightmarish world of drunken stupors, delirium tremens and hallucinations. While pretty damn depressing, Ethan's shakes introduce a clever gameplay element as you track down bottles of liquor to ensure steady aim. Weapon aim is not often relevant in the game - as most Condemned fans are undoubtedly aware. The gameplay in Condemned is largely based on utilizing different found objects in melee combat. Items found in the environments including bats, electrical conduits, bed posts and toilet seats can all be used to whack the nearest enemy. Environmental locales offer you the opportunity to gruesomely finished off your enemies. These enemies are, like in the first game, freakish homeless drug addicts that have been transformed into something rather inhuman by the drugs that they seek (which leads me to wonder if this game is secretly funded by the Just Say No campaign). They come in endless waves, often the same character models and while fun to mash with crutches and toilet seats, the gameplay can get a bit repetitive. The only thing that prevents it from being endlessly mind numbing is racking up combos and finishing moves. Nothing is more satisfying than a completed combo.

While Bloodshot has upped the anty on the series' graphical capabilities, offering up outstanding art direction, engaging environments and a realistic first person perspective on some gory gameplay, the storyline is ultimately less than satisfying. The overalls storyline continues from the first game, but no worries, newcomers will still enjoy the mystery. Suspense builds throughout the game and exploring the plot through scattered television recordings and character interactions adds to the ominous pacing, but ultimately the story doesn't live up to its own hype. The exploratory experience is, however, worth sticking through the game. The game's forensic element has also been significantly improved from the first game, offering CSI fans like myself more vicarious detective work and adds a significant puzzle solving element to the game.

Other than the single player mode, the game also offers a Fight Club element and multiplayer gameplay. While both are interesting diversions and the multiplayer definitely introduces a more gruesome multiplayer unlike the the usual mainstays, they ultimately only serve to prove that the draw of the game is rooted in the solitary, up close and personal exploration of the game's environments. Horror games are most wonderfully terrifying without your gaming buddies.

Games like Bloodshot (and Bioshock which, imho, does it better) remind us that the first person mode need not be limited to shooters (though an unlockable shooter mode is available), but introduce a new genre and a new level of gaming immersion. You are not controlling a character in these spooky environments, but are experiencing the environments first had, eliminating one more layer between you and the virtual world.

Creepy environments as "first person" as you can get

Storyline doesn't live up to the environment

Was wondering how the 2nd one would be. Recently played the 1st one and it had a great creep out factor but after awhile could be repetitive. Hit 'em with a sign, smash 'em with a shovel, jump in my chair, rinse, repeat. I see you felt that in the second one also. Next game for me will be Bioshock.

#1 - Trillium35 - 04/10/2008 - 19:12

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