Review Notes : Condemned 2 : Bloodshot was developed by Monolith, published by Sega, and released on March 11th. The game is available on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, reviewed on the Xbox 360. I played single player campaign to completion, and tested all multiplayer modes. This review will contain some minor spoilers. If you don't wish to know about the game, do not read this review.
Condemned 2 : Bloodshot is the sequel to one of the first games to be released for the next generation of consoles back in '05. And it improves on nearly everything the first game lacked.
If you played the first Condemned, your main complaint will probably be; insanely slow movement, and the small amount of firearms. Well in Condemned 2 they address these issues. They have greatly improved the movement, and firearms are very abundant. So much so, that they hurt parts of the game.
Guns play a much bigger role this time around. Maybe too big of a role...
For example, in the "Black Lodge" level you literally never need to fight with anything other than an assault rifle. They practically throw the things at you. Running low on ammo? No worries. Because evidently the former owners of this lodge kept a mass about of ammunition in
every single room.
While I will say it made the game much funner in parts, it does take away from the "
survival" part of Condemned. They even added a "FPS Mode" in which you can replay levels with infinite ammo. Which sounds fun, but really makes the game insultingly easy.
Now as far as gameplay goes, things really couldn't be better. With the new combo system, and environmental executions, the gameplay really flows. The combo system works in various different ways. For example, if you hit a enemy 3 times without being hit, whether you dodge or parry his counter attacks, you will score a combo. Which can do anywhere from 1.5 to 3 times damage. The other way is with a short "
QTE" type scene, where you can take out a enemy by hitting the right combination of buttons in a sequence. My personal favorite of those being one where you grab their arm, break it backwards, knock them down, and snap their neck. Now thats just good clean fun.
The boss fights in the game can be very fun at times. Mixing it up from the first game, almost every boss is unique and interesting. My favorite boss would be the girl you meet in the "Doll Factory" level. She is wearing a sort of Alice In Wonderland type outfit, with stripped clothing and the whole deal. She flips around giggling and mumbling things about playing patty-cake and tea parties. Perhaps the coolest thing about her is her weapon of choice. She sports a circular saw blade on a long stick painted to resemble a large lollipop. Which she licks a few times before attempting to bash you in the face with it.
While all the other bosses in the game don't measure up to the polish that seems to have gone into the Doll House boss. They are still unique and sometimes stressful to fight. The bear was pretty badass. Oh yeah, forgot to mention theres a giant fucking bear that chases you. I'll let you think about that for a minute...
Here we see a bum from the "Museum" level. But when he puts on some lovely knight armor he becomes utterly invincible.
By far the worst boss in the game is "The Magic Man". Which is a complete and utter rip-off of the Sander Cohen character in BioShock. And when I say "rip-off" I actually mean, "Shitty rip-off". They make the level insanely short, and then the actual "fight" is perhaps the lamest boss battle I have ever played. Only to be topped by the final boss in the game. Oh.. But I probably shouldn't have said that...
Where the game really shines is in the graphics and environment. They really nailed the creepy/dark look. Overall, the game looks great.
The lighting, what little there is, is near perfect for the horror style. They give you just enough level lighting, and then allow you a flashlight for just a bit more. You will still find yourself missing enemies in the dark, but thats the point of the game, wondering what lurks in the dark.
The levels do have a nice variation in the settings, but they all seem to end up with you inside of a dark abandon building or house.
The levels have a nice change from the first game's nearly endless dark hallway after dark hallway. You play in the city, move on to a snow covered lodge, a school, a barge, and even a bowling alley. So you really get to see different settings. But at the end of the day, you still find yourself running through maze-like hallways.
Wait, this game has multiplayer? Forgot all about that. Oh yeah thats right, because it was about as much fun as ramming my face into a blender.
The modes include deathmatch, team deathmatch, crime scene, and bum rush. Deathmatch is the standard "Kill everyone that isn't you". Team Deathmatch is the usual "Kill everyone that isn't you or your teammates". The only difference being, in Condemned 2, instead of actually using skill, you just grab a weapon and swing the fuck away hoping to christ you kill the guy before he kills you.
Crime Scene is a decently unique gametype. The criminals, or "infected", hide two coolers with severed heads around the map. They then attempt to defend them from the cops who's mission is to kill all enemies and/or scan the evidence. Sounds kinda fun huh? Well whenever the cops have shotguns, and you are stuck with a fucking stick, it gets kinda lame. If the melee took a realistic amount of hits to kill someone, it would be great. But instead they set the damage meter to "Giant-assed Elephant Mode" so you basically could demolish the pyramids before you could kill a enemy.
Overall the game was a great improvement from the first, and is a nice change from the standard FPS. If you like horror, single player games, or loved the first Condemned, then you should give this game at least a rental.
The Good :
- Graphics - Great models, animations, and lighting really brings the gritty underworld theme to life.
- Sound - Nothing like hearing some crazy, half-stoned junkie running behind you about to swing a 2x4 into your skull. Sound quality is great.
- Gameplay - Fun, smooth play makes for a much better, less clunky game than the first Condemned.
- Melee Weapons - An amazing amount of hand-held weapons. Everything from a toilet seat to a bowling pin.
The Bad : - Firearms - Way too abundant in Condemned 2. Removes the entire point of hand to hand combat.
- Multiplayer - I really cannot find the words. Well how about "SHIT".
- Scare Factor - Condemned 2 really fails to deliver the scares like it's predecessor did. The only moment I found creepy was when you have a brief run-in with the moving mannequins. Which was first featured in Condemned 1.
- Visuals - The game is supposed to be dark, but at times you can't see a fucking thing. So it can take you five minutes just to figure out what the hell is hitting you. And to top it all off, whenever you get hit the blur and blood effects make it nearly impossible to even try to live for more than two seconds.
Justin "
Laz" Burrow -
GamerNade.com Xbox360 Editor
Condemned 2 : Bloodshot Review, Posted 03-20-2008 at 07:59 AM.
Linear Mode
