Condemned 2: Bloodshot Review

As promised, my review of Condemned 2.

Let me start off by saying I have not played the first game, so the story is sort of lost on me. However, it didn't seem like much of a factor after playing this game. Some would say that this was scarier than the last Condemned, but to me, it seemed creepy at best. I haven't been scared in a video game since Resident Evil 2 on the Playsation. Scary video games are like scary movies, they don't work when you get older. Nonetheless I was surprised by how disturbing some of the enemies looked and behaved. I would describe them as superhuman bums. Speaking of the main character (zing), he wasn't very likable and I could care less about him. It's hard to relate to an alcoholic that beats on other bums, unless of course you watch Bumfights constantly.

The combat was the highlight of this game. It felt like the combat system from Oblivion without all the suck. There are combos if you get the timing down and if you get an enemy on the ground, you can do something along the lines of a fatality. There are environmental triggers all over the levels for some variety. You can pretty much pick up anything from the environment to use as a weapon. There are some instances where you will use a gun, but for the most part it's just hand to hand combat, baseball bats, lead pipes etc. Another cool feature in this game was the investigation set pieces. You basically have to play as a CSI detective and figure out certain things using the clues in the crime scene. You are graded every time you send information back to the other cop. At one point in the game you have to identify a specific blood spatter on a door. It's a good thing I watched a lot of seasons of Dexter or I wouldn't have gotten it right.

One thing that annoyed me about this game was that the screen became distorted every time the developers wanted to freak the player out. I have seen this trend in other games like Fear 2 but here it became frustrating especially when enemies would attack you. Overall, the game was fun even though the story was a little weird (I guess I should have played the last one) and since I only paid $10, it was a decent experience.

-Rob