Condemned: Criminal Origins

Decidedly Average

By Sam Curtis

Hot on the heels of survival horror classics like Resident Evil and gory creations like the Suffering series comes first person disturb-em-up Condemned. You play a cop who gets framed for the murder of two of his colleagues at a crime scene, to clear his name he goes underground and tries to follow a trail of clues left by the real killer.

Condemned is a bizarre hybrid of good concepts from other games that sadly never gel together. It combines the lack of health and ammunition popularised by Resident Evil, the shocking gory-horror of The Suffering with themes pilfered from the cyberpunk genre. This somewhat unusual combination could translate into brilliance with the right storyline but despite a promising start it quickly descends into formulaic banality.

The game also tries to bring something new to the genre, the designers have created a slick hand-to-hand combat system that allows the player to string attacks together in a similar manner to a beat-em-up. Different hand-held weapons may be picked up or wrenched from walls and each has a different strength or weakness. There are also a selection of guns left carelessly lying around although ammunition is scarce.

Monolith also make much of the forensic detection system which in reality serves no other purpose than to slow the player down (although it arguably builds tension). Also, worryingly for a police officer trying to clear his name, the hero seems to spend a lot of his time bludgeoning tramps, drug addicts and anyone who gets in his way to a bloody pulp.

It’s not a terrible game. Monolith should be commended for trying to add something new to a stagnant genre and the new elements are entertaining and well implemented. It’s genuinely creepy too, the modified Doom 3 engine helping to crank up the fear.

The end result is something that’s easy to pick up and play and is quite entertaining but that will leave your socks firmly attached to your feet.