steve kwan user experience designer

Review: Condemned: Criminal Origins

(May 12th, 2006 - 2:58PM)

Your character, FBI agent Ethan Thomas, is modeled with such low-resolution textures that he looks like Mr. Hanky in a plastic bag.

(3.5 / 5 stars)

One sentence summary: A brief but engrossing horror game.

Condemned: Criminal Origins is the latest attempt from the makers of F.E.A.R. It's a short game, but it'll keep you entertained for a few hours.

Things I liked about Condemned:

• The melee combat's very well done. And that's important, because you don't have much access to firearms. You arm yourself with a collection of everyday-things-turned-weapons, which mainly consists of stuff you ripped off the wall. Whacking your enemies over their heads with a 2 x 4 - or even better, the dreaded 2 x 4 with nails in it - is vicious and satisfying.
• It's tense and frantic right through to the end.
• Its excellent use of the first person perspective. I like FPS games, because they feel more intimate; it's almost like you're really there. Condemned takes that to the next level. There's a place in the game where you get kicked down an escalator, and you tumble down the steps in first person. It's a fantastic touch.
• I'm not easily scared, but this game has at least one memorable moment that I won't soon forget.
• The sound is positively excellent. For example, if you're in an old house and someone else is prowling around, you can hear floor panels creaking.
• The voice acting is pretty good. Not outstanding, but it doesn't detract from the game.
• The final boss fight is amazing.
• The name "Condemned" isn't a stupid acronym like "F.E.A.R." "First Encounter Assault Recon?" Come on.

Things I didn't like about Condemned:

• The textures are awful. Really awful. I suppose this is because the game was also released on console. Take a look at the screenshot above. Your character looks like a pile of shit wrapped in Seran Wrap.
• Just like F.E.A.R., Condemned has a confusing plot and leaves many unanswered questions.
• Although the melee combat is fun, sometimes it doesn't behave as expected. There were many occasions where I meant to take a long swing with a shovel and wound up trying to poke things with the handle.
• The game's a bit short. Perhaps that's a blessing in disguise, because the gameplay is kind of simple and might have gotten tiresome after too many hours.