January 24th, 2008 by Liquid306
Also available on:
PS3 Another Investigation
Condemned: Criminal Origins was released alongside the Xbox360 in 2005. The game put you in the shoes of a detective trying to track down a serial killer who tried to take you out. The sales of the game where pretty good and established a cult following for the sequel. Condemned 2: Bloodshot is trying to top its predecessor by taking in fan criticism and improving the fight mechanics, forensics system, including online play and a whole slew of new features.
This game has a tweaked version of the engine used in the first one, called the Monolith Engine. This engine now lets the game look better and flow much smoother than its predecessor. Enemies consist of more than just bums and psycho crawler things. There are monsters that come out of constantly moving tar and people with blood/tar pouring out of every pore of their face. The way the liquids ooze and change with the help of the new engine creates a much darker and scarier atmosphere.
A Grittier, Darker Tone
This game takes place one year after the events of the first one. You are Ethan Thomas, a detective who works for the Serial Crimes Unit (SCU). Still traumatized from his experience the year before and as a result he is homeless and an alcoholic. Called back to his job when his former partner goes missing, Ethan tries to get back on his feet in order to find out what happened.
Playing a detective means you have to investigate different crime scenes throughout the game. This is a lot more fleshed out this time around, making these instances more enjoyable. You have more tools to mess with, black lights to see fingerprints, sampling of DNA and such. The majority of this is optional, only there if you want to get more out of the story. If you just want to bust some heads, you will not be forced to do much investigative work.
Bum Fight Club
The biggest hook of the first game was that it all took place in first person view; the combat, the cut scenes, everything. Luckily, this didn’t change in the sequel. People really latched on to hand-to-hand combat and enjoyed beating the hell out of bums with pipes, shovels and whatever else was around you at the time. The options were quite limited, however, and only had a few animations - therefore making the action a little bit repetitive towards the end. Now the combat system has been spiced up a bit and when you’re not wielding a paper cutter or 9mm, your fists are your last line of defence. Each trigger controls a fist and hitting them with the right rhythm can execute combos that could stun or kill your foes in brutal fashion.
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