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Play At Night in a Silent House - Quite Scary

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 61 / 64
Date: November 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Some games are mature because they have swearing. Others are mature because they are really scary and nasty. Condemned - Criminal Origins falls clearly into the latter category.

Condemned - Criminal Origins has you in the part of FBI Agent Ethan Thomas, tracking down a serial murder. Don't think that this is like Law & Order or Criminal Intent. This is about the nastiest, grittiest, scariest areas of a city that you can imagine.

Somehow it's as if a maximum security prison was turned into an area of town. You go walking through buildings that are covered with gang signs, crawling with addicts who kill police offers on sight. Most of these insane bad guys lurk in the dark and call out profanities before bashing you with 2x4s or other weapons of convenience.

Of course a wise police officer might call for backup. But in the first "situation", you're told backup will take 10 minutes to show up. Instead of hanging tight for 10 minutes, you go trekking through the building on your own with only a gun and a flashlight to keep you safe. It's not long before the gun is in the hands of the bad guy and it's you and your flashlight against numerous enemies. This is wise?? Where's your radio?

You have a helpful friend - Lt. Rosa - who helps to talk you through using your forensic equipment. However, she waits until a madman almost kills you before chiming in with some information about how all the madmen on the streets are insane and worthy of slaying. Thanks for the help, Rosa.

The game is definitely very scary. The screens are quite dark, the flashlight only lights up small areas, and there are a ton of corners for the madmen to hide out in. You see them run across the screen, take cover, lurk in the corners. You never know when they'll launch an assault. Again, it really makes me ask why a lone FBI guy is roaming around in here without any real weapons. I realize it's for plot reasons, but I want a better plot :) Surely if I was really tracking down a serial murderer, I'd have more backup and more weapons than this.

That being said, if you're looking for a scary game that isn't all-and-all out combat a la Quake 4, this might fit the bill exactly. It's you against the enemy - and the enemy is truly insane. It's not about tons of ammo here - you're lucky if you even have a gun sometimes. You have to find crowbars, planks of wood and whatever you can to stay alive. If you play this at night, with the house quiet around you, the HD TV showing you the full detail and the 5.1 surround sound tuning you in to the slightest noise, it really can get to you.

Well recommended for the mature set that enjoys being scared!

Rezet's Xbox 360 Game Review: Condemned

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 25 / 32
Date: December 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Condemned's creator, Monolith, has been a relatively obscure company in the past years. Known among some for its mediocre "No One Lives Forever" games, it had gained some reputation after a release of "Tron 2", - one of their better titles. Through the past years Monolith was best known for working on a `train wreck' project "The Matrix Online". Warner Bros. (Monolith's parent company) has dropped the MMO project after only a few months of game going live.

But in the fall of 2005, Monolith action team has proven that they didn't pick the name for the company as a form of sarcasm. And that their newest lineup of games indeed isn't "hollow". Striking the PC audience with "F.E.A.R" project has risen the companies name to the ranks of big hitters like Id Software and Raven Software. "F.E.A.R" has received rave reviews from the critics and was considered as a first psychologically twisted 3D action shooter.

For the Xbox 360, Monolith has decided to bring out a different type of horror game. (Perhaps fearing controls issues always haunting 3D shooters). The result: A well made game "Condemned: Criminal Origins". Although the game is not perfect, it's definitely one of the worthy titles to be considered for the Xbox 360.

The game places you in the eyes of an FBI agent investigating a spike of murders and other crimes around the city. When he gets framed for the murders of the police officers on a crime scene, the agent is forced to make a tough decision and to attempt not only to clear his name but also find out what's causing all the violence in the city. Being a solo ranger on the run, the agent no longer has the luxuries like supplies of the ammunition and calls for the back up.

The game is set from the "eye view" of the FBI agent (a usual camera placement for 3D shooters). Condemned, however, is not your regular 3D shooter. Although you can wield the fire arms, the game takes approach of "closer to real life" action over some other mindless shooters. Enemies die from one shot if you can aim well, and once the ammunition is out, it's unlikely you will find more just laying in the corner of an abandoned building. So without the bullets, the only thing that shotgun is good for is hitting enemies with its butt. You will be switching weapons quite a lot, but all of them can roughly be divided into 2 types: fire arms with a limited ammo, or melee swinging weapons like pipes, sticks, and hammers. Each of those swinging weapons has different statistics which reflect your ability to block, and attack effectively.

Let's get one thing straight. This isn't some twisted psychological nightmare game like "Silent Hill 2". And by 'them' saying the game is scary, they mean "your friends jumping at you from around the corner and scream 'BOO!'" - scary. It's a thriller, not so much horror.

Once the door opens, you can expect that there is a drug addict somewhere in the room hiding behind a desk with a metal pipe. Or maybe there is no one. That's the guessing game you play. Often times you get ambushed by them from around the corners, which keeps you jumpy for the most times. A direct hit to the head with a metal pipe is not pleasant and can cause a severe damage to you.

Dealing with enemies is still one of the more pleasant parts of the game. Although combat itself is very repetitive and redundant, NPCs' intelligence is quite impressive. Swinging the metal pipe itself isn't really that exciting, however when an NPC doesn't just charge you and tries to out-damage you, but rather tries to out-smart you - it's a very refreshing feeling. The NPCs will hide and try to ambush you if they have a chance. If you charge them, they may behave very differently. Some drug addicts will fight you to the death recklessly, while some will estimate their chances and may try to run away and get a better weapon and backstab you. In a fight, some of the smarter NPCs will actually be faking their hits and unloading a barrage of swings once your block goes down. Once hit, they may also pretend that they are falling down only to turn around and hit you with a metal pipe in a face.

["One of the more impressive situations I came across in the subway, where I was attacked by some crazy looking NPC with a wooden stick. Seeing an axe in my hands, he quickly turned around and started to run away in circles around the ticket booth. After chasing him around a few times without any luck to catch up to him. I decided to intercept him on by going the opposite direction to meet him on the other side. But unlike my expectation, NPC also turned around after peeking around the corner and seeing me change my running direction, he actually went after me and intercepted me from the behind, taking down half of my health bar. After being shocked with my shock pistol he turned around and ran away again only to come back with a sledge hammer. If it wasn't for my successful block afterwards, he would have been the winner in our encounter."]

While moments like those are certainly exciting, the combat itself gets boring after a while simply due to the lack of fighting tactics. Sure AI is smart, but you only have two buttons to work with: an attack and a bock. Different close combat weapons have different effects on how fast you can block or swing etc. So Monolith's idea of extending the fights is by making you take 3 hits from an NPC simply because block time on an axe is way different from a block time on a pipe. HINT: It's probably best to attempt to stick to one or two close combat weapons to learn their swing and block time.

One of the other things that bring down the value of the game is the lack realistic movement controls. You can't just jump whenever you want to. You can only do that when the game tells you can. That also affects other things in the game play such as moving objects. In some situations you are able to just push away an iron safe, while in others - a bunch of empty cardboard boxes create an obstacle you cannot pass.

A little disappointing is the lack of puzzles in the game. With practically no challenging ones, it brings all the emphasis to fighting (and fighting, as mentioned before gets pretty old after about 2 hours of play). The most complicated puzzles you will meet will probably be of this sort:

[To continue though the building, you need a fire axe to break the door. The fire axe you find near by in the locked cage is protected by a security device. To break the security device, you need a shovel. The shovel will probably be somewhere in the room with two crazy maniacs waiting to beat the crap out of you.]

It also is probably worth to note that the game is pretty linear. It's extremely rare when you will have a doubt of where to go or what to do in Condemned.

Another small issue is with the character models in the game. Although the environments in this game are extremely well made and can be considered pretty creepy most of the time, the character models could certainly use some work.

Overall this is the best thriller type game for Xbox 360 right now and is a worthy buy. Although [I, myself] prefer games in the genre of "Silent Hill", this game does a good job of keeping me on the edge of the seat at times as well. But it's not just the dark theme that makes this game stand out. It's the combination of a good story, realistic gameplay (although a bit repetitive), great voice acting, gorgeous environments, and most importantly - intelligent enemies that make this game an exciting experience.

Parent's please don't buy this game for your children !!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 19
Date: December 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Let's start off bluntly. I love Condemned: Criminal Origins absolutely! This game is the 360's sleeper hit without a doubt. It hasn't really gotten the press or the coverage it deserves, and once you begin playing the game you'll ask yourself why the hell not?? The combat in the game is engaging and INCREDIBLY realistic, the visuals are perhaps the best of the 360's launch lineup and INCREDIBLY realistic, and the most important part, is that the game leaves you with a feeling that I've never felt after playing a game ever, a feeling that is INCREDIBLY realistic.

I've made my point three times that this game is incredible, but there is one thing it's not. This game is not for your children!! I'm 20 years old, and I've been playing violent games my whole life, from first-person shooters to survival horror games, and I enjoy all of them. But, Condemned was the first game to really scare me, and I mean after I put the controller down. The feeling that you get when you smash a lunatic bum's face with a sledgehammer felt to me very similar to the feeling that you would get if you smashed a real face with a sledgehammer. It's that good.

I've never believed that people could play a game like DOOM, and have that inspire them to take out their classmates in a hail of gunfire, but the lasting effects of the environment and violence in Condemned made me feel that this game could. In fact, it probably more than likely scared me out of doing something like that, because now I can understand how gruesome some things are, but children on the other hand, most likely can't.

So to my warning, please don't buy this game for your children. The video game industry is the target of enough trouble and dismay that a game like Condemned could be the icing on the cake of a very important lawsuit or peice of legislature. Particulary if Soccer J. Mom buys it for little Timmy and little Timmy decides to go swinging crowbars and 2x4's for real. I said the game was realistic enough times to hopefully tie this together. Children today do not need this game, they don't need real violence in their streets, and they don't need violence this realistic on their television screens.

However, for every responsible adult. Go forth, and smash bum-face for the greater good.

Criminal Origins one of the best launch titles

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: November 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Monolith Software flexed their thriller muscle with this year's hit PC shooter, F.E.A.R. That game featured disturbing scenes, incredibly intelligent A.I., and beautiful graphics that simply blew away the PC crowd. Their newest game, Condemned: Criminal Origins, looked to do the same thing to gamers on the new Xbox 360. After playing through Condemned, I'm starting to think that Monolith has this shooter-thriller genre mastered. Condemned is a hell of a good game, and an extremely thrilling one to boot.

You're thrown into the role of an FBI Agent sent into seedy, addict-infested environments in order to investigate the murders of a serial killer. After the events that take place during the first level, which I won't ruin for you, your investigation turns into an all-out manhunt for the killer (or killers) as well as a battle to uncover the mysterious abilities and secrets you possess. The story is very intense, and sometimes when you'd least expect it, your character will have a flashback or he'll black out and a dream sequence will give you a clue of what's going on. The ending is very abrubt, unfortunately, but I would be absolutely thrilled to see a sequel, and the ending hints towards a possibility of that.

The gameplay is unlike anything I've ever experienced in a game. Let's do some roleplaying. Completely unarmed, you walk into a dark room that is dripping with grime and muck, and there is trash and debris scattered all over the floor. As you slowly step around, you hear a crash. You look around, and your heartbeat steadily increases as your flashlight does a minimal job of helping you see the different nooks and crannies of the room. The only way forward is the door across the room, but it's heavily shadowed and deep down inside, you know there's something waiting nearby to kill you. To protect yourself, you rip a pipe from a wall and proceed forward, quickly glancing around and checking your rear for ambushes. Your character's breathing gets harder and naturally your senses react, as your heartbeat continues to raise and you continue forward. You approach the door, and you feel that sense of security and accomplishment--but WHACK, you flinch as you're clubbed by an enraged drug addict that is madly swinging a wooden plank at you, all the while loudly screaming obscenities. That increased heartbeat of yours turns into a pounding, and alongside flinching your reaction is to swing that pipe as quickly as possible. You've been hit, but you eventually overcome and finish off your attacker, who was a mere swing away from killing you. Taking a second to breathe, it hits you--you're safe for now, but you only went through a single room in the many levels of Condemned: Criminal Origins. You open the door and in front of you is a whole new room and a whole new experience.

That's how Condemned plays out. There is never a dull moment in the levels, and even when there aren't enemies trying to beat the hell out of you, you are completely unaware of what might be in the same room you're investigating. During some of the down-time, you do detective work and try to uncover different pieces of evidence that propel the story. You're given access to different tools, like a laser gun that detects chemicals and a blacklight that highlights biological leftovers. Unfortunately, the investigating is pretty straightforward, and unlike the combat, it isn't possible to be very creative with it. Still, it progresses the story, and serves as a nice breather from swinging at and blocking enemies. There isn't much else that fluctuates the gameplay experience, but it never got old for me.

The fighting in Condemned is best described as being "in your face". That's what made me flinch so much when I played it--it feels like the angry inhabitants of Condemned are breathing down your neck the entire time they're around. Fighting them feels very real due to this, and landing a solid blow to an enemy results in it recoiling, recovering, and counterattacking or running away from you. Once they're ready to attack again, you'll have to block and counterattack to stay alive. It's unwise to underestimate even an unarmed enemy, as the intelligent A.I. will tell the opponent to rip a board off of the nearest wall and continue attacking if they lose their weapon or it breaks. With all of this melee, some gamers might wonder where the guns went. Every once in a while, the game will treat you and you'll find a pistol or shotgun laying around. You'll never find ammo in the game, and with every gun, you get what you see. This changes up the experience a little and allows you to pick off your enemies from farther away, but once you've used up the ammo, it's back to clubbing enemies to death.

I've said that the environments in Condemned are dark and seedy, but I don't think words can truly capture the feeling that the graphics convey. Just as you don't know when to expect an enemy in a room, you'll rarely come across a room that doesn't have something to explore. The darkness of the game doesn't tarnish how great the graphics look, as the shiny, glossy effect makes everything look wet and grimy and the weapon models are nothing short of perfect. The flickering of light in some of the rooms makes everything much scarier. The graphical achievement that Condemned does best is creating an ambience that will scare you even when there's nothing going on. Visually, the only downfall is that the character models in cutscenes look blocky and the lip sync is a little off in some scenes. As you might expect by now, the music and sound effects make the game a lot scarier than anything else. It's the lack of music that sets the mood, and the intensity of the sound effects make the action feel even closer to you. When you're hit by an enemy and your character reacts, he doesn't just make a grunt noise or a yelp in pain--his agony is as perfectly recreated as the actual beating noise that came from being hit by the enemy's weapon. At the same time, landing a clear blow on an enemy sounds as gruesome as can be, and it intensifies the combat even more. I didn't get a chance to play this game in 5.1 Dolby Digital, but I'd say it would be one of the more thrilling games to play in surround sound.

In the end, the slow pacing might turn off gamers looking for a straightforward shooter. The game isn't very long, either. Including all of the deaths and retries that I had during the game, I finished the adventure in about eleven hours. There aren't any other gameplay modes, so once you've finished the single-player game, you've experienced everything Condemned has to offer. Does this make it a bad game? No. Is it still worth buying? I'd say so, especially if you're a fan of this type of game. If you like to breathe heavily and feel your heart pound, this is definitely the game for you. The story will captivate you and the ending will have you excited for more. The unique gameplay, thrilling story, and disturbing graphics make Monolith's Condemned: Criminal Origins worth playing, and as an Xbox 360 launch title, it's one of the top five in my book.

(NOTE: I also have this review posted on GameFreaks365.com, where I write reviews on a regular basis.)

A+ For Effort

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 14 / 21
Date: November 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Awesome game. I've always wanted to play as a cop tracking down a serial killer. Very sweet premise, and the game is creepy as hell. I like the gritty realism, how you're not fighting demons or zombies, but homeless bums and drug addicts GONE WILD!

The bad? Repetitive. After awhile you're just walking around beating s@#$ outta everyone.

This game needed to start with a training course for detective work and the control scheme, and from there, turn you loose on crimes scenes on your own. Instead, they pretty much select the tools for you and lead you through the investigative process.

5 stars for fun---3 overall for repetitiveness.

A Game That Acually Scares You

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 15
Date: November 23, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Are you looking for a very dark and scary game??? If so this is the game for you....Looking for a game where you can pretty much use any object as a weapon? this is the game for you! This is a very fun game especially if you are into csi and stuff like that as you have alot of tools to help solve cases and stuff. You cant tell who is a good person you can walk past somebody you think is good and once u walk by they are attacking you. Its amazing it gets your heart going for sure!

Condemned:Criminal Origins

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: December 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I borrowed this game from my friend while he had it rented, I play it for about 6 hours and almost beat it! I had to levels left supposedly. But despite its shortness, its packed full of scares and good action. So thats why im soon to end up buying this game! If you want a scary game, but nothing that OVER does it, then get this! It has a REALLY good storyline, never goes off subject, stays on the whole time, and the action is real good. While your tracking down a serial killer, you use forensic tools to find evidence (a big plus in the game to me). A lot of plot twists, youll see a good one at the beggining! Seriously dont rent this game, just buy it! But if you dont, then just go ahead and rent it. But it might want to make you buy it afterwards like it did to me! But I love this game, really good stuff. I think THIS game is the BEST 360 launch game!!!

Graphics - 5/5
Gameplay - 5/5!
Longetivity - 4/5 (If you dont want to play it over after beating it, but I would!)

Condemned is what survival horror is all about

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: August 04, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Condemned lets you take control of FBI agent Ethan Thomas, who while investigating a crime scene with two cops in a seemingly run down and abandoned building, stumbles upon the serial killer who proceeds to kill the cops with your .45 handgun. Now the FBI thinks you shot the cops, and its up to you to catch the killer and proove yourself through brute force and forensic equipment while dodging cops and fighting crazed hobos.

Thats right, I said forensic equipment. In Criminial Origins, you'll have to use black lights, cameras and other scientific tools to find clues such as finger prints and what not. It was a pretty cool idea and really helped push the story along. Also like I mentioned, you have to fight a lot in this game (both melee and with guns), and basically anything can be used as a weapon. This means 2x4 boards, lead pipes, rifles, handguns, small locker doors, SMGs, fire pokers, axes, shotguns, and many more (all these weapons can be used to block enemy attacks as well). You battle it out with a lot of freaky and odd enemies... some look like simple whacked out hobos, others look like anorexic zombies, some are big & intimadating, others look like the Toxic Avenger. What was cool is if you beat them enough, you can grab them and smash their heads into the floor, headbutt them, or break their necks - scoring an instant kill. Oh and one more thing - you get a taser that you can shoot and disarm enemies...very useful.

The enemy AI was really good & impressive. They grab weapons off the floor or out of walls (conduits and pipes), block some of your melee attacks, take cover, and even go as far as to hide from you and pretend they are Mannequins in one stage. Additionally, if one enemy accidently hits another, they actually start to fight each other.

Theres some things to collect such as dead birds and metal pieces.. each time you collect one you gain an "achievement" in Xbox live..so yeah. As for the ending and unlocking anything, it doesn't.

The only two reasons this game has a learning curve is because you need to learn when to time your blocks, and to get used to the fact that whatever ammo you have in a gun is the only ammo you get for it. Thats right, you get no ammo. So lets say you have a shotgun with 2 rounds, thats all you will get for that gun until you get a different weapon or pick up a different shotgun.. it was sorta lame, but definitley helped in the challenge.

This game's difficulty varied. At some points it is overwhelming easy, and other times its just tidal wave after tidal wave of enemies running at you. But like I said, once you learn & get comfortable with the weapons & blocking system you'll breeze through it...well not really breeze, but it'll become easier.

The graphics were pretty spectacular. The hobos looked really unique, twisted, and crazy. The enviroments, though dark, where really well designed and looked really run down (which is a good thing for a survival horror game of this sort). One enemy, the last boss, looked especially weird and scary. Even the fire looked almost lifelike. To put it simply - Condemned really took advantage of the X-Box 360's hardware amd everything is amazing.

The sound effects were basically perfect. The music really helped add tension, and build anxiety while the sound effects sounded brutal and painful. Each weapon provided an either satisfying thud or bang. The enemies growls, heavy breathing and screams were really scary and added more to the atmosphere. There is cursing, which helps to add personality to every character as well. A perfect 10.

What kinda bummered me out about this title was how short it was, and how convuluted & confusing the story became in the later stages, and finally the ending. In the middle of the game, you find out that the man you are chasing is actually a serial killer who kills serial killers with the codename Serial Killer X. At the end of the game, you capture him with the help of some old guy named Malcom VanHorn,,who, it turns out, is Serial Killer X's uncle. Anyway, you have a choice whether to cap SKX or keep him alive, and no matter what you end up in a coffee shop talkin to Rosa (shes a woman who helps you out throughout the entire game) about what happened. She leaves, you go to the bathroom, vomit, and then turn to the camera looking like the last boss fight who was a monster... I was lost, and I'm sure you are too.

Either way, If you want to play a game that will freak you out while providing awesome combat, great enemy AI, and excellent graphics & sound - then Condemned is for you. Not to mention it's one of the cheaper 360 games out there.

Don't play this one in the dark!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: July 12, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Condemned: Criminal Intent is an intense horror game released by Sega. Taking full advantage of the improved graphics of the next generation systems (it's coming out for the PC and the Playstation 3 as well), it's a beautiful game, though in a very creepy way. Everything's harshly lit with a lot of shadows. Don't play this one with the lights out, that's for sure. Only the length and a couple of other problems mar what otherwise is a wonderful game.

The story is definitely gripping, with fairly good voice acting. You play FBI agent Ethan Thomas, a hunter of serial killers who becomes hunted himself. The cut-scenes are effective, moving you from one chapter to another with effortless ease and advancing the narrative. These cut-scenes aren't important for the gameplay (the game tells you what you need to do at the start of every chapter), but it definitely adds to the immersion. It's quite easy to lose yourself in the story. Every time I meant to turn the machine off and do something else, something kept me going to find out what would happen next. Yes, it's fun to bash the bad guys and the action is intense, but often it was moving the story forward that kept me going.

My one major problem with this game is the length. On Normal difficulty, with me not being an expert on these types of games, I still finished this in about 10-15 hours, maybe 20, of playing. I bought it on a Saturday, played a *lot* of it over the next couple of days, and finished it on Monday. I think the game is fun enough and I'm definitely glad I played it, but I did feel a little ripped off paying this much money for that short of an experience. A major strike against an otherwise awesome game.

Condemned: Criminal Origins is a first-person game, though "shooter" isn't really appropriate. Yes, there are firearms in the game, but you're limited to the number of bullets that are found in each one. You'll never be able to re-load. You'll have to find another gun before you can shoot again. Most of the action is hand to hand, so you have to find weapons somewhere. Don't worry: weapons are scattered around everywhere, from a length of pipe to a locker door.

Pressing the left bumper implements one of the coolest aspects of the game: your taser. The taser will stun your opponents, allowing you to run up to them, take their weapon (by pressing "A") and beating them with it (or shooting them if it's a firearm). It's especially effective when they're shooting at you and you don't have a gun. There's no way to get into range while they're firing without getting blown away yourself, so just use the taser. I found all of the controls quite intuitive and it quickly became second nature to do all of this. I'm not the best person at action games, so the ease of this was really appreciated.

You're also linked, through most of the game anyway, to the FBI crime lab and your friend, Rosa. When you enter a room where there is evidence to be collected, your intuition tells you to press the "X" button to get out an evidence-finding tool. Once you find the evidence, it's immediately sent to Rosa over the phone (handy!) and she'll tell you what it is. This is important to move the story forward, though occasionally the gas spectrometer will lead you to a bird for an Xbox Live achievement instead of evidence for Rosa. I believe you can turn this "intuition" off as well, though I can't imagine playing the game without it until you know the story.

Overall, I'd rate the gameplay as excellent. The AI of the enemies is pretty good, though sometimes they'll stand there and look at you until you get fully in their line of site. However, they'll use cover at times, they'll try to sneak up on you or gang up if there is more than one of them. If they're weapon breaks, they'll run until they've picked up a new one. They have the same abilities to pick up weapons as you do (sometimes they come on to the screen with no weapon and will pick them up on their way toward you), so if you drop something in the room, it might just be used against you. One thing, especially near the end, is that they are intelligent enough to fake you out. The big guys will sometimes fake an attack to make you raise your weapon to block, and then attack you when your weapon is lowered again. While frustrating at times, I found this extremely well-done.

The graphics in Condemned: Criminal Origins are simply wonderful and really add to the mood. Some of the cut-scenes are a little fuzzy, but I think that's supposed to be part of the atmosphere rather than a bug in the game. The shadows are creepy and wandering around the abandoned buildings and tunnels can be disturbing at times. Blood flies liberally, and the results of your actions will linger in the environment. The sound also adds deftly to the mood. Eerie sounds and bangs permeate the game, making you jump occasionally. When you're not sure which shadow the next attack is coming from, any sound can be unnerving.

I really loved Condemned: Criminal Origins, and it may just indicate the new wave of horror games. It's an extremely visceral experience, but it is also quite violent. It definitely earns its "M for Mature" rating, with a few swear words but mostly with the graphic violence. If you've just used your pipe to beat somebody over the head repeatedly, the blood stays on your pipe. The game will definitely keep you on your toes, making you jump at each sound. I just wish that it had been longer.

David Roy

This game will scare the snot out of you!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

You are a federal agent who specializes in hunting down serial killers. You have a handy set of forensic tools with which to investigate crime scenes.
You are sent to investigate the latest murder by the "Matchmaker killer" and end up being framed for the murder of two police officers.
From here, the story unfolds in a twisted and dark fashion.
The setting is a decaying city where crime has drastically increased. Drug addicts, gang members and vagrants of all types are roaming the streets committing random acts of violence and mayhem.
Your mission is to clear your name by tracking down the man who framed you.
You will explore dimly lit abandoned buildings, subway tunnels, dark alleyways, service tunnels, an abandoned department store, and all sorts of scary and decaying areas. Your only source of light is a dim flashlight. Your only weapons are those that you find either hidden or items that you can literally rip off of the environment. You also have a kick that comes in handy more than you would think.
The levels are very detailed and very, very scary. Most of the level will consist of you searching through dark, dirty and grimy areas searching for clues or following the man who framed you, while drug addicts, gang members and vagrants roam the darkness searching for weapons to kill you with. These levels are dark! Your flashlight barely lights the way. The game engine produces amazing lighting and shadow effects which really set the mood. Textures and environments are absolutely stunning in their detail. Each level looks just like its realistic counterpart. Character models are well mapped and their movements are realistic.
Condemned: Criminal Origins is a true treat for your eyes.
And a treat for your ears as well. The high level of care that was put into the graphics has been put into the sound as well. Aluminum cans and glass bottles clank around when kicked or stumbled over, garbage shuffles and shifts under your feet, metal clangs when it hits the floor. An eerie soundtrack of ambient noise plays constantly through the game, which really intensifies the mood.
Sound is the dominant sense here. Since most of the levels are bathed in darkness, you will have to rely on your ears to sense whether an enemy is close. You can hear them cough and shuffle around - which is extremely creepy yet helpful.
Weapons consist of whatever you can find laying around. Pipes of all sizes, rebar,2X4's, shovel's, fire axes, sledgehammers, conduit pipes, crowbars and signs all pose as weapons which you can literally rip off of the environment and use on your enemies. Of course they can use them too, and often you will run into an enemy who will run away from you in search of a pipe or some kind of makeshift weapon to bash your skull in with.
Combat is fun, especially since you and your enemy have a block feature that works really well. Combat actually has some soul behind it as well, it not just button mashing. You have to strafe, stick-n-move and block (the enemy AI has good aim). The Enemy AI in general is very top notch and smart. They will flank you, take cover, run off to find more weapons, adn try to ambush you. They block your moves and react to each other as well. If a group attacks you and they accidentally hit each other, they will forget about you and try to kill each other - this leads to some interesting moments where you can just sit back and watch all of the enemies kill each other, doing all of the work for you.
You also have access to finishing moves (available when you have an enemy on their knees). They consist of: A headbutt, a finishing punch to their face, slamming their head into the ground, and snapping their neck.
There are more traditional weapons around (guns). You actually start off with a gun, however you soon lose it. There are handguns and shotguns scattered around the levels, some hidden. The only stipulation is that they are limited to the ammo that is already loaded into them, so don't expect to run around on an ammo hunt like in most games.
Since you ARE the federal agent, the point of view for this game is a First Person point of view. The game does really well of hardly ever breaking that view either, save for the cut scenes. If you get kicked down some stairs, your point of view does not change, and it seems like YOU actually got kicked down the stairs.
Your only point of contacts is a lab rat who analyzes the evidence that you find and gives you some tips at certain parts of the game, and a guy named Valhorn who somewhat helps you. They contact you via your cellular phone.
The game features a whole laundry list of achievements, from finding all of the dead birds and metal pieces in a level, to actually passing a level, to finding hidden XBOX 360 systems hidden throughout the game. You also get an achievement if you finish the game without firing a gun (you can use the guns as blunt objects also). No online features, however it would be hard to have some kind of multiplayer game without it getting boring fast.

Overall, Condemned: Criminal Origins is a very engaging game that should have you investing about 10 hours or so into it. There are 10 missions, about one hour per mission (this is considering that you are looking for the dead birds and the metal pieces, but not considering if you get lost enjoying the graphics of each level). Visually this game is a great representation of "next-gen" gaming, the gameplay is great and the sound is killer.
Condemned comes off as a very realistic game where you have to think before you move. You cannot defeat the game by running and gunning. Pacing and nerves of steel are required for this game, as it will test both.
I really enjoy Condemned, graphically and in gameplay.

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