Reviewed by: BobiRoka
Developer: Monolith
Publisher: Sega

Close your eyes and think of a happy place… Picture a landscape of oak trees and swaying cornfields and hopping bunnies, whilst in the company of your most cherished friends and relatives, all of whom are there just to celebrate you being the wonderful person that you are, the great things you’ve done and positive trials to come. Imagine a veritable heaven on earth…

Because it isn’t here.

It’s no great secret that the Xbox 360 has yet to find a true killer app, but you can’t criticise the launch line-up (or indeed, the slowly emerging second wave of titles) for a lack of variety. We’ve had fluffy fairy encounters with Kameo, new benchmarks in established genres franchises (PGR3, FNR3, Dead or Alive 4) and a token smattering of established cross-platform sporting titles. Yet, strangely, hidden amongst this glossy ‘next-gen’ image of the future, is an astonishingly distasteful XXX first person horror ride.

My use of the term ‘ride’ will become more apparent as I proceed, but for now let’s start with the basics. Condemned: Criminal Origins is a sadistically unnerving experience. From twisted opening to grim conclusion, it simply wants to scare your pants off. So much so in fact, even hardened vets of survival horror may find it uncomfortable to sit through for longer than an hour at a time.

Why? - Some elaboration is probably required here. As if you were just gonna take my word for it…

You play as FBI agent Ethan Thomas, who arrives at the scene of a grisly crime (Mannequins, Missing Body Parts, Large amounts of ‘Se7en’-esque grime etc) only to get framed for two cop-killings in the space of the game’s introductory chapter. I shan’t elaborate further for risk of devaluing the experience (£5 per chapter ain’t cheap!), yet screenshots alone suggest a journey thru some of the most unsavoury locations imaginable: Abandoned Subway stations, Dilapidated shopping malls-come-crack dens, rundown schools and so on. Condemned just wants to take you everywhere you’d never want to go, and that’s probably where the fun comes in – at least for the more desensitised among us.

Inhabiting these claustrophobic corridors of doom are some of the most appallingly modelled – yet technically and conceptually amazing – adversaries yet seen on digital canvas. You will recoil in fear when the drunkenly possessed loons jump out at you with a length of 2x4, yet this is merely the beginning. It’s when they retreat into the darkness after a semi-successful battering that the panic starts to set in…

This cast of malformed misfits exhibits some truly evolved AI, partly out of necessity (for a melee combat game), but also to enhance the unsettling atmosphere of the piece. The ebb and flow of up close fighting will often allow an adversary time to make a quick getaway, disarmed foes will retreat to re-arm themselves with whatever props are close by and there are sometimes instances where you can just stay out of reach and let the fiends finish each other off. Some enemies will run behind pillars ready to leap out at you and even when you can clearly see them do it, it’s still quite difficult to get the jump on them without somehow evading first. They come in different shapes and sizes too, from the tougher end-bosses to the smaller scuttly things that make a habit of knocking books off shelves as they, erm… scuttle about, unseen, until it’s almost too late.

As previously mentioned, combat in Condemned is as upfront and personal as it gets. Firearms are very rare and even when you do get your hands on an SMG, you get a clip of 20 and that’s it (unless the previous owner used it at all, and then you have whatever’s left). Only one weapon can be carried at a time, so you often find yourself discarding firearms (even when they’re loaded) in favour of a trusty fire axe or sledgehammer, which often serve the dual purpose of getting through blocked doors. Other - more improvised - weaponry comes in the form of pipes (pulled off walls), locker doors (pulled off lockers) and street signs (need I explain?), all of which can be compared against each other in terms of damage/speed/block/reach attributes. Depleted firearms can also be used as bludgeoning weapons, though are prone to breaking after repeated application. Left trigger attacks, right trigger blocks. It’s a shame this simple dynamic doesn’t take advantage of the analogue properties of the Xbox Controller, but then again, all weapons have their own pre-defined attributes – I guess you can’t have it all.

The only other tools at your disposal are your feet (for opportunistic kicks) and the ‘tazer’ for stunning opponents – great for slowing enemies down and/or disarming them and subsequently equipping yourself with whatever they were intending to bash you with. This tactic often instigates a bit of a chase as they run off to re-equip themselves. Clicking the left thumbstick down whilst holding forward instigates your limited sprint ability. I found the physical act of crushing the controller with my left hand added a satisfying level of feedback at times, not to mention the (now customary) rumble feedback and my own self-induced spine tingles.

With combat and corridors now covered, all that remains to be explained are the range of investigative tools at your disposal, but before I get started, those expecting a range of gadgets in the splinter cell/NOLF mould will doubtless be disappointed. You’re quite clearly prompted as to when and how these devices need to be used. It’s all to do with our player avatar’s spidey sense, see, (which doubles as a cunningly conceived plot device) and the application of these tools serve mainly as a distraction from the otherwise relentless corridor exploration/melee combat. For example, you may enter an area and be prompted to swap your crowbar for a UV light. Scanning the area with this device will highlight any ‘evidence’ in a bright purple color. The problem occurs when you’re prompted to switch to a collection tool before you’ve actually spotted said ‘evidence’ for yourself. The Gas Spectrometer sections are slightly more successful, requiring you to navigate areas until all the LEDs on the device have lit up. In fact, many of the game’s highlights seem to involve the use of one or more of these devices, for they are in fact mini-games all of there own…

And so we come to it: This is the most ‘On rails’ game I have ever played. Even climbing a ladder requires you to move to a hotspot and hit the green button to begin climbing at a linear forced rate. It’s impossible to fall off ledges. You just need to find the hotspot and hit the green button. Wanna crouch underneath this wall? Hit the green button. And so on… It’s bound to infuriate some gamers, but by binding all these actions to a single context sensitive action button, Monolith have given themselves license to create some truly inspired moments of first person action/narrative. Such as the moment when you’re climbing over a chain rail and someone jumps out of nowhere and pushes you down an escalator. No. You don’t feel in control, but that’s quite clearly the intention. It’s a point of contention nonetheless, and will doubtless split the game’s audience. The only times I felt this approach did the game a disservice was when I was required to investigate a piece of evidence to unblock the way forward. It’s that kind of scripted stuff that is bound to annoy…

At 10 hours long, Condemned isn’t likely to outstay it’s welcome, though I won’t deny I was relieved when it was all over. Monolith have succeeded in creating a first person adventure with Hollywood quality production values and storytelling, yet by being so deliberately spiteful to the player, a feeling of revenge becomes your primary motivation for pressing forward. It’s almost like you have to teach this game and it’s clever-clogs AI a lesson sometimes, though it only requires a further suspension of disbelief on the part of the player to feel like you’re really taking part in a horror movie.

Coming to a PC near you soon…

Buy 'Condemned: Criminal Origins' from GAME and help support the Alfies!

Available for	Reviewed on
Xbox 360 PC (not yet released)	Xbox 360