Have you ever broused your local games retailer and thought hmmm i like the look of this old game, lets just say its condemnd 2, while looking at old reviews for the game may tell you what its like back then, how will it stand against todays games. As a registerd cheapscate i tend to only buy old/preowned games, often finding once precious jewles of gaming now slightly dusty when compared to newer games. My plan is to reveiw older games and then compare them a little against newer games to see how they stand. So without further stalling for time.
MattRooney's Re-reveiws
Condemned 2.
Condemned 2 is a game that doesn?t fuck around, in the first ten minuets of game play I had already screamed like a little girl a number of times, regardless of this Condemned 2 is a truly unique game, it?s a first person game set in?well that I?m not quite sure about but it?s a city that is strangely similar like New York, except all the happy places like Central park and the Lincoln memorial have been replaced with dark alleys and derelict apartment blocks full off murderers, rapists and crack heads all ready and willing to merrily beat you into a bloody pulp. Condemned 2 is very interesting in the way that it is a first person games that more relies on Melee combat rather than the frankly overused shooters that litter today?s gaming market, Weapons come in the form of your fists, feet, stun gun and many inanimate objects, no really, bed posts, baseball bats, bowling pins, crowbar?s you name it and it probably features as an object you can use to brutally smash a misunderstood homeless man?s frail skull in with, now In my opinion the first person brutal melee combat adds an extra layer of tension on top of the already tense settings, there really is nothing tenser than creeping around an abandoned block of apartments clutching nothing but a broom handle listening intently for the sounds of your enemy knowing that if you see him the most you can do from afar is to throw your weapon for minimal damage, annoyingly as a sort of fuck you to the player the enemy in question will then often pick up your previously airborne weapon and use it against you .
The basic plot of condemned is that you are a disgraced investigator Ethan Thomas who has been picked up of the streets to help solve a case involving his old nemesis, the infamous serial killer SKX, and that?s all you really need to know, as well as the violent hand to hand combat there is also a forensic detective side to the game, a surprisingly fun part of the game is examining dead bodies and making judgements on who they were, what they were doing and how they died, sometimes this is integral to the current mission but at other times it can hint that something is not quite right, one example of this is a level taking place in and around a hunting lodge, walking around outside you come across a mess of blood and also a human arm, naturally thinks start to look fishy and that?s when the strange noises start, Condemned 2 uses the power of noise to a great effect in this game, junkies cackling in the dark or the sound of a weapon being picked up in the next room are great examples of sound effects that always send a chill down my spine, these coupled with ominous shadows darting across a hallway can make the atmosphere very spooky indeed.
I only have a few gripes with Condemned 2 and one of them is your flash light, this is a very dark game in both storyline and lighting, it is quite literally a dark game and this isn?t a bad thing, it adds to the tension, the storytelling and if you look into all those hidden meanings the personality and mindset of Ethan Thomas himself, but the flashlight is abysmal, when prompted to turn on my flashlight on the first level I actually had to inspect my television and controller to make sure that they were working correctly, the flashlight is a barely noticeable speck of light amidst a sea of darkness. Another problem is the upgrades, while it is nice to receive a knuckle duster or a stun gun, a lot of the upgrades are one hit wonders, and you are never really rewarded for doing a mission better like when I unlocked a knuckle duster in the first mission, after going back and replaying the mission I was awarded a slightly better knuckle duster or when one of the upgrades I unlocked was simply called, rubber soles, it gave me that ability to sneak around solid snake style meaning my enemies could not hear me which would allow me to do the old surprise attack routine and render them unconscious rather then brutally murdering them, so far I have only found one level where I could have used that and it was for an optional objective, the objective was not to kill any of the night guards at a museum now turned murder scene, fuck that I remember thinking as I threw a punch into the back of a night guards head, a small scuffle later I delivered a kick to the chest which sent him to the floor, ha ha I though rather pleased with my non lethal attack when I small beep notified me to a change in my objectives, yes it seems that these guards could not even take one minor beating, I had failed my optional objective, you see Condemned is rather picky with how its missions are done, there either done its way or not at all, a perfect example of this is a mission that involved me running away from a horde of homeless men, after a brief chase I began to fight at a dead end, after several deaths I later found out that the game wanted me to stand on a very specific spot while an out of control train smashed a barricade and allowed me to progress. What the fuck! I remember thinking, why did I have to stand on that exact spot, was that the summon train spot or something? And further more why don?t I have a gun, all the other policemen had one, I was expected to make do with a toilet seat, yes a toilet seat! Even some of the crack heads had guns! This is one of the problems for condemned 2, as early on as the second mission I was facing shotgun wielding thugs while I was armed with a bed post, this really broke up the flow of the game for me, one level in particular was guilty of this, after carefully walking round the game armed only with melee weapons I was put onto a level where I was to investigate the office of a key suspect, after being chased around by a bear yes a fucking three ton infected grizzly bear! I was instructed to walk around the house defusing explosives, this was then turned into a gun only level, sure I could have used a tennis racquet, but against several machine gun using policemen I decided it was best to fight fire with fire, the level ended in a rather boring fire fight that dragged on for a good five minuets.
I found Condemned 2 to be a game that deteriorated itself over time, the first real level was set in an abandoned block of apartments full of drug addicts who could randomly attack you, a stand out moment of this level was when I opened a mirrored medicine cabinet for some pills, after closing the cabinet a thug appeared behind me attacking me from behind, this obvious reference to old Slasher horror films kept me on edge for the entire level, needless to say I didn?t wonder into another bathroom for the rest of the level, another great level was level three set in an abandoned doll factory, with dolls coming to live for a little homage to chucky, or level five when I went for a cat-scan at the local police department, only to find out after hauling my alcoholic arse out of the scanning machine the building was in ruins and everyone had disappeared. After that though the game lost its touch, gunfights, conspiracy theories, teleporting monsters, and even superpowers made it rather strange and less spooky, one thing that did annoy me was that two levels after the greatly tense oh fuck its got me shit where is it bear chase I was faced with the same situation just instead of a bear it was apparently a thug in a humongous old diving suit, as soon as it jumped out at me I knew what to do whereas when the bear jumped out at me the chase was a terrifyingly confusing chase through unfamiliar territory, and when the superpowers I mentioned earlier became an integral part of the game play, blowing open doors and melting enemies with my sonic shouting (I kid you not) I began to become less and less scared by the dark rooms and spooky sounds, safe in the knowledge if I just shouted at the door to a room I would kill anything inside. Other than this though the game is pretty solid, nice (if dark) visuals, pretty good voice acting, an interesting plot and some unique uses of sound and light, compared to your more recent games such as Modern Warfare 2 and Assassins creed 2 I think it manages to hold its own as a survival horror, I certainly preferred to first person to modern warfare 2 as it brought something new and refreshing to first person and I preferred the level design to Assassins creed 2.
I would say if you get a chance to buy this game and you like first person games than this is for you, there are some nice mini games and scenarios to help the games duration, the first person combat works well and the levels have more variation than today?s first person shooters (corridor, corridor, corridor, JUNGLE, corridor). Overall I would say this game is a competent game that can hold its own against the games of today and while lacking in the later levels and seriously failing in the multiplayer with next to no servers on online and a span-campingly good griefing engine, I feel that this game can still provide a few laughs, scares and strained eyes.
If you still want to know more watch Yahtzee's review on Condemned 2
MattRooney's Re-reveiws
Condemned 2.
Condemned 2 is a game that doesn?t fuck around, in the first ten minuets of game play I had already screamed like a little girl a number of times, regardless of this Condemned 2 is a truly unique game, it?s a first person game set in?well that I?m not quite sure about but it?s a city that is strangely similar like New York, except all the happy places like Central park and the Lincoln memorial have been replaced with dark alleys and derelict apartment blocks full off murderers, rapists and crack heads all ready and willing to merrily beat you into a bloody pulp. Condemned 2 is very interesting in the way that it is a first person games that more relies on Melee combat rather than the frankly overused shooters that litter today?s gaming market, Weapons come in the form of your fists, feet, stun gun and many inanimate objects, no really, bed posts, baseball bats, bowling pins, crowbar?s you name it and it probably features as an object you can use to brutally smash a misunderstood homeless man?s frail skull in with, now In my opinion the first person brutal melee combat adds an extra layer of tension on top of the already tense settings, there really is nothing tenser than creeping around an abandoned block of apartments clutching nothing but a broom handle listening intently for the sounds of your enemy knowing that if you see him the most you can do from afar is to throw your weapon for minimal damage, annoyingly as a sort of fuck you to the player the enemy in question will then often pick up your previously airborne weapon and use it against you .
The basic plot of condemned is that you are a disgraced investigator Ethan Thomas who has been picked up of the streets to help solve a case involving his old nemesis, the infamous serial killer SKX, and that?s all you really need to know, as well as the violent hand to hand combat there is also a forensic detective side to the game, a surprisingly fun part of the game is examining dead bodies and making judgements on who they were, what they were doing and how they died, sometimes this is integral to the current mission but at other times it can hint that something is not quite right, one example of this is a level taking place in and around a hunting lodge, walking around outside you come across a mess of blood and also a human arm, naturally thinks start to look fishy and that?s when the strange noises start, Condemned 2 uses the power of noise to a great effect in this game, junkies cackling in the dark or the sound of a weapon being picked up in the next room are great examples of sound effects that always send a chill down my spine, these coupled with ominous shadows darting across a hallway can make the atmosphere very spooky indeed.
I only have a few gripes with Condemned 2 and one of them is your flash light, this is a very dark game in both storyline and lighting, it is quite literally a dark game and this isn?t a bad thing, it adds to the tension, the storytelling and if you look into all those hidden meanings the personality and mindset of Ethan Thomas himself, but the flashlight is abysmal, when prompted to turn on my flashlight on the first level I actually had to inspect my television and controller to make sure that they were working correctly, the flashlight is a barely noticeable speck of light amidst a sea of darkness. Another problem is the upgrades, while it is nice to receive a knuckle duster or a stun gun, a lot of the upgrades are one hit wonders, and you are never really rewarded for doing a mission better like when I unlocked a knuckle duster in the first mission, after going back and replaying the mission I was awarded a slightly better knuckle duster or when one of the upgrades I unlocked was simply called, rubber soles, it gave me that ability to sneak around solid snake style meaning my enemies could not hear me which would allow me to do the old surprise attack routine and render them unconscious rather then brutally murdering them, so far I have only found one level where I could have used that and it was for an optional objective, the objective was not to kill any of the night guards at a museum now turned murder scene, fuck that I remember thinking as I threw a punch into the back of a night guards head, a small scuffle later I delivered a kick to the chest which sent him to the floor, ha ha I though rather pleased with my non lethal attack when I small beep notified me to a change in my objectives, yes it seems that these guards could not even take one minor beating, I had failed my optional objective, you see Condemned is rather picky with how its missions are done, there either done its way or not at all, a perfect example of this is a mission that involved me running away from a horde of homeless men, after a brief chase I began to fight at a dead end, after several deaths I later found out that the game wanted me to stand on a very specific spot while an out of control train smashed a barricade and allowed me to progress. What the fuck! I remember thinking, why did I have to stand on that exact spot, was that the summon train spot or something? And further more why don?t I have a gun, all the other policemen had one, I was expected to make do with a toilet seat, yes a toilet seat! Even some of the crack heads had guns! This is one of the problems for condemned 2, as early on as the second mission I was facing shotgun wielding thugs while I was armed with a bed post, this really broke up the flow of the game for me, one level in particular was guilty of this, after carefully walking round the game armed only with melee weapons I was put onto a level where I was to investigate the office of a key suspect, after being chased around by a bear yes a fucking three ton infected grizzly bear! I was instructed to walk around the house defusing explosives, this was then turned into a gun only level, sure I could have used a tennis racquet, but against several machine gun using policemen I decided it was best to fight fire with fire, the level ended in a rather boring fire fight that dragged on for a good five minuets.
I found Condemned 2 to be a game that deteriorated itself over time, the first real level was set in an abandoned block of apartments full of drug addicts who could randomly attack you, a stand out moment of this level was when I opened a mirrored medicine cabinet for some pills, after closing the cabinet a thug appeared behind me attacking me from behind, this obvious reference to old Slasher horror films kept me on edge for the entire level, needless to say I didn?t wonder into another bathroom for the rest of the level, another great level was level three set in an abandoned doll factory, with dolls coming to live for a little homage to chucky, or level five when I went for a cat-scan at the local police department, only to find out after hauling my alcoholic arse out of the scanning machine the building was in ruins and everyone had disappeared. After that though the game lost its touch, gunfights, conspiracy theories, teleporting monsters, and even superpowers made it rather strange and less spooky, one thing that did annoy me was that two levels after the greatly tense oh fuck its got me shit where is it bear chase I was faced with the same situation just instead of a bear it was apparently a thug in a humongous old diving suit, as soon as it jumped out at me I knew what to do whereas when the bear jumped out at me the chase was a terrifyingly confusing chase through unfamiliar territory, and when the superpowers I mentioned earlier became an integral part of the game play, blowing open doors and melting enemies with my sonic shouting (I kid you not) I began to become less and less scared by the dark rooms and spooky sounds, safe in the knowledge if I just shouted at the door to a room I would kill anything inside. Other than this though the game is pretty solid, nice (if dark) visuals, pretty good voice acting, an interesting plot and some unique uses of sound and light, compared to your more recent games such as Modern Warfare 2 and Assassins creed 2 I think it manages to hold its own as a survival horror, I certainly preferred to first person to modern warfare 2 as it brought something new and refreshing to first person and I preferred the level design to Assassins creed 2.
I would say if you get a chance to buy this game and you like first person games than this is for you, there are some nice mini games and scenarios to help the games duration, the first person combat works well and the levels have more variation than today?s first person shooters (corridor, corridor, corridor, JUNGLE, corridor). Overall I would say this game is a competent game that can hold its own against the games of today and while lacking in the later levels and seriously failing in the multiplayer with next to no servers on online and a span-campingly good griefing engine, I feel that this game can still provide a few laughs, scares and strained eyes.
If you still want to know more watch Yahtzee's review on Condemned 2
