Sega Nerds

Review: Condemned 2: Bloodshot

by Chris on March 26th, 2008

Similar to Graham’s schoolgirl-like excitement over Viking: Battle for Asgard, Condemned 2: Bloodshot has been at the top of my most-wanted list since I wet my pants while playing Criminal Origins.

It was so damn scary, so frightening that I had trouble playing it in a darkened room. Oftentimes, I’d have to put down the controller and turn it off for a little while when things got too intense, but that’s what attracted me to the game and kept me coming back for more.

No game since then has recreated that sense of panic, fear and excitement until now. I don’t know how they did it, but the guys at Monolith Productions have once again created a game that delivers intense action, a fun combat system and more violence than anything you’ll ever see in any Hollywood flick.

How’s the story
I can understand that there are a few unfortunate souls who have never had the opportunity to play the first game. I feel sorry for you, but I’ll give you a brief rundown of what’s happened so far.

You control Ethan Thomas, a Serial Crime Unit investigator, who’s hot on the heels of a serial killer named Serial Killer X, or SKX. In your hunt for the killer, you begin to unravel a much larger problem - something is making the city’s inhabitants murderously violent. At the same time, Ethan begins to awaken supernatural powers within himself and is haunted by mysterious creatures called the “Dark Watchers” or “The Oros.” As the game came to a close, Ethan finally disposed of SKX, but it was apparent, The Oros weren’t through with him yet.

Condemned 2 picks up a little bit later with Ethan an out-of-work, homeless alcoholic battling his inner demons when the SCU comes calling for help due to more mysterious deaths and the inhabitants of the city still continuing their psychotic murder sprees.

Ethan reluctantly decides to help the SCU once more when he learns that SKX could still be alive and killing again. But once more, it seems The Oros play an important role in this madness.

I hear there’s a new combat system
Monolith has touted the game’s improved combat system, and I can say it’s definitely better than its predecessor. There are a variety of improvements, namely mapping each trigger to the corresponding hand to make combat feel more fluid. While that may not seem like a big deal, it certainly helps the player feel more involved.

Guns have never played an integral role in the series, and they still don’t. However, one unique twist plays up Ethan’s rampant thirst for booze. Throughout the game, you’ll find bottles of alcohol Ethan can consume to increase his wits and better his aim. Once the alcohol meter drops to empty, though, things tend to get a bit blurry and shooting isn’t as easy.

You’ll also use some insane meat choppers like a broad sword, a prosthetic arm or a saw built to look like a giant lollipop. Additionally, weapons can be thrown, but they’re also susceptible to breaking, too, so players have to use them wisely or be forced to take on an opponent empty-handed.

As you’re kicking your opponent’s ass, you’ll have the chance to perform “chain combos” that slow the action down into a Quick-Time Event. These usually kill an opponent immediately and are pretty damn cool. Once you progress far enough in the game, Ethan will unlock an ability to produce shockwaves from his voice that he can use to kill enemies or blast off Oro headpieces.

Lastly, Monolith really ramped up the violence in finishing off your enemy. Criminal Origins didn’t offer a lot of variety in dealing death blows, but in Bloodshot, you can pick up your opponent, drag him to a nearby toilet and crack his skull into dozens of bloody pieces, just one of the very satisfying fatalities Ethan can pull off.

Does it look any better than the first?
It doesn’t take long to notice the upgrade in the visual department. While they’re not a huge jump, character models are definitely more detailed, and the environments themselves look great, too.

Ethan takes on a different look, as well. It may be due to the alcohol abuse or that Monolith just wanted to give him a more crazed look. Either way, Ethan looks like a complete psycho, but he seems right at home battling the evils that come his way throughout the game.

However, the series has never been about just visuals. Lighting and shadows play a more integral role in setting the mood than just raw graphics. In this area, Condemned 2 shines. Oftentimes, you’ll enter a room with very little light other than your trusty flashlight that, for some reason, never runs out of batteries. When you hear things scuttling about around you or see a Coke can suspiciously roll across the floor but can’t see anything, it really starts to freak you out.

Will this here magnifying glass work?
Like the game’s combat system, the forensic system has received some work. In your field kit, you have four main pieces of equipment - a digital camera; GPS; UV light, which helps illuminate blood; and a spectrometer that can track gases and audible sources.

For the most part, each of these items are pretty easy to use, but the camera’s the only one that you can actually use and screw up an investigation. If you take a photo and don’t bother correctly focusing on the correct portion of a scene, you’ll lose points.

Players can now choose if they want to investigate a scene, and they’ll get rewarded by successfully doing so. After investigating the crime scene, the game will ask you a series of multiple-choice questions that you can answer based from the evidence you gathered. If you answer correctly, you’ll receive equipment or health upgrades.

It’s online, right?
To give the game a longer lifespan, Monolith graciously added multiplayer in Condemned 2. It supports eight-players online and has four modes - Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Bum Rush and Crime Scenes, and for the most part, they’re pretty fun.

You know what you’re getting with the first two modes, but Bum Rush and Crime Scenes are kinda unique.

In Crime Scenes, the “Influenced,” or bums, hide two cases throughout the level, while the SCU agents use their tracking devices to find them, all while everyone’s shooting, hitting and bashing each other into bloody pulps - what fun!

Bum Rush once again pits the Influenced against the SCU agents, but there’s a twist - the SCU agents can’t respawn, but they have a lot more health and can kill the Influenced in a hit or two. Sounds pretty unfair, but the catch is the SCU team is grossly outnumbered, so they’re always trying to fend off several oncoming attackers at once - it can get pretty crazy.

That’s not all, folks
If that wasn’t enough, Monolith added another swell feature called Bloodshot Fight Club. In this mode, you play through several mini-games and can upload your score to an online leaderboard. At first, there are only four games to play - Riot Control, Smoke ‘Em, Deadly Day Care and Streets of Rage (I guess there are a few Sega Nerds at Monolith, eh?), but there are other unlockable games.

By far my favorite of these is Riot Control. In it, you have to help a group of cops kill attacking “speedballers” as quickly as possible. The catch here is that you’re on the second-floor looking down at everyone else, so all you have to worry about is killing the bad guys with bricks or Molotov cocktails. I can’t tell you how often I’ve had sadistic thoughts of throwing heavy objects upon unsuspecting passersby while I strolled through the mall. This is probably the closest I’ll ever get to accomplish that dream and not go to jail.

Surely it can’t all be good
Honestly, it’s hard to find fault in Bloodshot. At times, the combat system can feel repetitive as you’ll find yourself alternating between blocking, then throwing a punch until your opponent has died, which can make the combat feel a bit tedious.

Additionally, the storyline tends to jump around, and that may confuse newcomers. But the game is so damn crazy, it really fits right in with the overall experience.

Summary
Condemned 2 is honestly everything I hoped it would be. Monolith took everything that made the first game so damn awesome and made it even better. And while I don’t think this title will be remembered for its online mode, I think that’s because the campaign is just so great.

What makes Condemned 2 so appealing is that it awakens that deep, dark part of your subconscious that enjoys inflicting pain on others. When you have a stressful day work, instead of going out and shooting up the neighborhood, perhaps you can ease your stress from the comfort of your living room while beating a homeless man to death with a wooden plank - now how great does that sound?

Score - 9/10

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POSTED IN: Chris, Microsoft Xbox 360, Review