Just when you thought it was safe to turn off the lights, out comes Condemned:Criminal Origins for the Xbox 360. Not since the first Resident Evil for the PS1 have I jumped more!! It can get a bit cumbersome and the story skates on thin ice at times, but for the 360 there's nothing else like it.
Playing the game in HD is the only way to go. All of the textures in the environment look crazy fantastic. The character models animate well and their lips move to the dialogue for the most part. Sometimes if you don't pay attention though, you'll notice one thing that some of the 360 games have in common...sometimes things look like plastic or that they've been sprayed with oil. All that normal mapping and graphical horsepower sometimes make things look a little TOO real. Not complaining though. The highlight would have to be all the lunatics that are out to get you. My personal favorite happened like this. My five year old and I were playing late one night with the lights off (he loves to watch me play this game, of course for the really bad stuff he's usually run off to hide under his covers). I thought I'd look over this railing in the subway station to the level below. Low and behold some crazy whacko jumps up all screen filling like and basically makes both of us scream like we've both just been physically attacked ourselves. Now I'm a 28 year old male who's been in the Navy for 6 years. That scared the bejesus outta me!!! Believe me, my wife made sure she told all our friends of what a weiner I was. Many more moments like this abound throughout the rest of the game. The beauty is none of these moments feel contrived and they fit into the feel and flow of the game perfectly. This game definately nails the spooky atmosphere vibe. I guess the most noted comment I've heard about this game that I agree with whole heartedly is....the game is just creepy. Playing be yourself late at night with the lights off can get REALLY unnerving. And I mean really. I don't care who you are.
The gameplay is topnotch at first and then kind of grates on your nerves the rest of the way. Kind of like an itch you just can't reach, you'll start to wish there was just a little more to the combat engine. Now don't get me wrong, whacking a doped up lunatic with a steam pipe is still pretty graphic with all the associated noises of pipe smacking skull bringing the whole experience home for you. It's just around chapter 5 or 6 you'll wish there were more guns around or something. And speaking of guns, when you do get one it'll usually only have like 2 or 3 rounds in it.
The story is kind of like someone whispering to you from another room. You think you know what's going on but you never get the whole gist of it. There are definately cool concepts here but the developers seemed a little preoccupied with getting it out the door than fixing it. Understandable. A little more time in the oven would have made this sucker a Must Play.
Condemned is by no means unplayable or broken. Quite the opposite. Going in knowing there's a few bumps along the road will help though. I recommend playing late at night with all the lights off with your special someone that hates scary movies. Not only will you both be scared but you'll have a lot of fun laughing at yourselves whilst you're looking over your shoulder!!
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