Joystiq Review: Condemned Criminal Origins (Xbox 360)

After getting my first taste of Condemned: Criminal Origins back in October, Monolith’s FPS survival horror game quickly became one of my most anticipated Xbox 360 launch titles. When I got my hands on a copy this past Monday, it took a mere 10 hours to tackle the 10-mission campaign and unlock 35 of 50 achievements.

Thrill rides are often short, and I won’t hold that against Condemned. To be fair, the game has enough replay value to satisfy the hardcore, as the “Playtime” leaderboard will attest—the Top 50 ranges from 43-210 hours. And really, if the game had gone on any longer I would have lost interest. Condemned is a one-trick pony, and even after a few hours you’ll have experienced 99% of what the game has to offer. What that boils down to is a unique, albeit savage, fighting engine.

Ready to bust heads?
Melee combat has never felt this lifelike—so much so, that's it's terrifying. You'll cringe the first time you connect a blow. And after you collect yourself, you'll notice that your lead pipe is now painted with blood and there's a toothless maniac ready to return the favor. Your first few fights will be frantic, but as you adapt to Monolith's combat system, you'll learn that timing is everything, and that, if you want to stay alive, you'll have to sidestep and parry, waiting for an opening to attack. Think of it as a brutal dance… step-swing-crack-kick… block-thwap-kick-snap. (That "snap" refers to a set of "Finish" moves, selected using the directional pad. Occasionally, you'll force your enemy on his hands and knees, and for a limited time, you'll have the ability to snap his neck, ram him with your forehead, deliver a knockout punch, or slam his head into the ground.)

If you prefer to take on your opponents from a distance, Condemned is not for you. Firearms are extremely limited, and the game will reward you for avoiding them altogether. The only gun you'll be using regularly is your stun gun (an invaluable addition to your primitive arsenal). It’s refreshing to play an FPS that isn’t forced to “wow” players with nifty weaponry; a lead pipe is about as simple as it gets. Sure, there's plenty of variety in the objects you can wield, but you'll wield them all the same way; you can swing vertically or horizontally and block, that's it—a few items are also used to bust through doors or force open containers. Weapons are rated using four categories: Damage, Speed, Block, and Reach. An on-screen indicator will automatically compare your current weapon with the potential weapon using color-coded plus and minus symbols.

It's dark in here...
Condemned unfolds in darkness, and almost every step requires the use of your flashlight. Because you spend so much time tumbling though the dark, it can be difficult to appreciate the quality of the textures in the environments. If you look closely, you'll notice how damp the underground tunnels look and how rusty the pipes have become. Additionally, when light is present, it's a treat, as in the first level when the early morning light is seeping into the dusty rooms. Plus the engine does a remarkable job casting shadows—you'll jump at the sight of your own more than once. Monolith has also populated the environments with detailed props. I found myself gazing upon a recreation of Jean-Baptiste Thibadeau’s The Fall of Babylon, which is mounted on a wall in one of the later levels. It’s the first time I’ve admired a painting while playing a video game.

The action unfolds across a number of varied locales, including a department store, library, and reform school, but coincidentally, these places have all long since been deserted. It ends up feeling like a cheap trick, as if Monolith has tried to fool us into believing that the environments are different. Instead, it’s the darkness that prevails. There’s also a stiffness to this world. Too many objects are glued in-place, serving as artificial barriers. True to its predecessors, Condemned is a corridor-crawler, and Monolith has done well to create the illusion of open space, but in the end we’re moving—slowly—through a maze of hallways.

Understandably, many of these potential setbacks are necessary for the ambiance to succeed. And succeed it does. Whether it's investigating a grisly murder scene, searching for that mannequin that was just there a second ago, or battling a warped hallucination, Condemned will creep you out, constantly. What really ties the package together is the sound. It’s the sound that alleviates the stiffness of the environments. Whether it’s the eerie hum of ambient noise, a kicked soda can rattling across the ground, or muffled curses emanating from the darkness ahead, sound surrounds you, immersing you in the terror.

The terror, starts off as a hunt for a sadistic serial killer, but quickly devolves into supernatural mishmash—which one will only come to understand through meticulously collecting bird carcasses and metal pieces hidden in each level (don't ask). That being said, the casual gamer will likely finish the game with a lot of questions. Much of the general plot is fleshed out through superficial detective work. That is, the game does the work for you, you’ve just gotta do a little fine-tuning and press the right trigger. I liked these portions of the game, but they didn’t quite live up to my expectations. Despite its “Mature” content, Condemned often feels juvenile.

There’s another gripe I have with the game: the cutscenes. While constructed using the game engine, the cutscenes appear less detailed than the actually game, muddy even, and the character models are stiff and blocky. To make matters worse, you can't skip the cutscenes, even upon a second viewing. And you can't fast-forward the tedious cell phone conversations either.

Luckily, the foes you encounter throughout the game fair better. Their movements are fluid and their twisted looks remain intact up close. Even more impressive, is the enemy AI, which, while occasionally spotty, will take cover, flush you out, and even upgrade its weaponry. The fact that enemies will attack each other is also a nice touch. I won’t knock Condemned for this, since every game does it, but I’m looking forward to a day when each enemy is an individual and not birthed from a mold. However, there is enough variety to keep your encounters fresh.


Final thoughts
In a launch lineup plagued with sequels, Condemned offers early adopters a shimmer of hope—that indeed, next-gen developers will strive to create original franchises. Condemned is a step forward in the FPS corridor-crawler genre. And it's the first game to succeed with a primary first person hand-to-hand combat system. But the game's foundation is all too familiar: work your way through a series of "hallways," find a "key," backtrack, and continue through a new set of hallways. However, the biggest concern with Condemned is that it's not for everyone. It's rated "M," so of course it's not for kids, but even most adults might shy away from this one. Yes, the gameplay is accessible enough for casual gamers, but the graphic violence is in a league of its own, mostly because of its lifelike detail.

You might also want to consider Condemned’s length. At around 10 hours, it could be considered rental material. Still, Condemned is a must-play launch title for those that can stomach it. You down?

Overall Rating: 8.0 / 10

[Note: Condemned uses Monolith’s own internal game engine, which shares some aspects of the technology used for F.E.A.R. For example, the bleach bypass effect was created by the Condemned team, but borrowed by the F.E.A.R. team. Despite these similarities, the two games were developed by separate teams.]