Condemned is another series that tried to merge action and horror to create a unique experience. Where The Suffering went with giving the player fluctuating powers, Condemned was about making combat chaotic.
What’s interesting about Condemned is that the sequel for all intents and purposes was a great game, but did not win over fans and ended the series.
Hobo Fights:
The first Condemned was purely an action horror game as your job was to track down deranged serial killers and not be killed by the apparently huge army of crazy homeless people.
There weren’t any real puzzles outside of having to use certain melee weapons to get around obstacles but there were many collectibles to find. What made Condemned worked was the incredible mood that the game had thanks to the first person combat which was kept mainly to melee battles.
Combat was tactical as you had to plan around what weapons you had nearby which meant using things like bats, 2x4s etc as opposed to guns which were very limited. The horror came in as each enemy would charge you while screaming insane things at you while you were in the most beat up places imaginable. A highlight was in a ruined mall where there were people disguised as mannequins who would attack you as you walked by.
Environmental design was well done despite being an early Xbox 360 title with each area being completely run down. Despite all that, the game had some issues as all the levels felt the same after awhile and you can only do so much with the combat system. This is why the developers did their best to expand on things for the sequel with mixed results.
CSI Adventure:
For the sequel, the developers went through all aspects of the first game to try and make things bigger and better. Combat was enhanced with new moves such as counter attacks and stronger blows. There was also an increased focus on firearms with the latter half of the game having more shooting sections.
A welcomed addition came in the form of new crime scene puzzles where you had to figure out how someone was killed given the evidence available. These puzzles were made up of multiple clues that needed to be solved using your knowledge and the game’s gadgets and were a great break from the combat.
An interesting inclusion was an upgrade system that rewarded you with pre-selected abilities after each level. The key point was that the upgrade in question would be different based on the score you got from that level, with score being affected by how well you did in crime scenes and finding hidden collectibles. While the basic upgrade was key to the plot, getting gold and the enhanced ones could really make the game easier.
the sequel’s focus on shooting became a determent to the tone and horror that the first game had.
The environmental design improved with vastly different levels such as a rundown school, trash barge and more. This also led to different enemies with one level taking place in a cabin while fighting military enemies.
All in all this was a better title design wise than the first, yet the series may have gone too big with this one.
Mental Breakdown:
The first game told a story of tracking down serial killers and hinted at larger issues at work, but the second game went full on conspiracy theory with shadow organizations and possible supernatural elements. The main character from the first game apparently was a chosen one with super throat powers (no really) that allowed him to scream so loud that it would cause people to die.
By the end of the game you were fighting shadow monsters, giant trash men and the final level took place in some futuristic structure where you had to scream at the final boss to win. The original’s sense of being somewhat grounded in reality was gone and the new more fanciful story didn’t really work. Even the ending tried to elevated things further and hinting at another sequel involving the White House.
While combat was improved, you were still fighting the same basic insane hobos and the increased focus on guns made the second half feel more like a generic FPS. The upgrade system made no sense and turned the crime scene sections into tedious tasks as you only had one shot per play to get them right and if you messed up you had to repeat the entire level again as it would checkpoint pretty regularly.
With multiplayer and survival modes added in seemed to distract from the original’s sense of horror which the game ended more about action than trying to scare people. And despite all the improvements, Condemned has disappeared which is a shame as it was a decent AAA horror series.
Up next we have another Xbox 360 era series that the sequel became one of the worst games on the platform and I bet you can guess what game it is.
