How is Condemned 2?

[Morgoth]

I know it will come out for the PC too (more or less confirmed), but I wanted to know what the console users here think of it. I heard it's somewhat "twisted" in a bad way, and not very reminiscent to the first game (like the main protagonist). Is it still recommandable? Is it still tyte and frightening, or has it been dumbed down? Please tell me a bit about the game, but spoiler free.

 

As a side note, I just watched the intro of Condemned 2, and it's actually damn well made.

It's actually funny that Bioware hyped Mass Effect two years long for their

[Pop]

It's not very good at all, honestly. The horror is stock Monolith fare, all skelingtons and black oil (the mannequins still manage to be a bit creepy) There's an added emphasis on firearms, which isn't a very good design decision at all, given the game's tight environments and low visibility. And they haven't improved on the melee combat, with melee weapons now wearing down and breaking and the addition of hand to hand combat with (ugh) combos. They instituted a few arcade elements too. There are the magical forensic investigations (with added arbitrary "choices"), of course, but there are also high-frequency sound emitters that you have to destroy and TV's / Radios that you can "tune" to find hidden messages and broadcasts. There also might be meth labs or other such items that you can destroy. At the end of the level the game tallies up all the things that you found / destroyed, and depending on how many you got you get bonuses that don't make much sense. First you get a kevlar vest, then you get brass knuckles that give your h2h attacks slight knockback, and then you get the ability to holster a pistol (why you couldn't do this before, who knows).

 

Thankfully enough, the plot is not indicative of Monolith's tradition of borrowing liberally from other media. FEAR had Akira, the original Condemned had Se7en, but Condemned 2 is somewhat original in its plot. It's just not very good. There's some occult conspiracy at the heart of the story, but it never really starts to make sense. The characters are pretty predictable and have actually become less interesting going into the second game.

 

The best thing about it as far as I'm concerned is the licensed use of Jagermeister. There are bottles endlessly strewn about the gameworld and you can slam them for added gun accuracy (that you don't pass out after downing a liter of Jagermeister in 10 seconds is used to define your character as an alcoholic). You can also throw them at people.

[Tale]

I'm rather enjoying it and finding it to be scary. If you like the first, you'll likely like the second, it's mostly more of the same. The changes from the first are near trivial except it seems to be going for even more supernatural and violent.

Edited April 8, 2008 by Tale

[Morgoth]

Well, I'm not too keen on that supernatural thing. I mean one aspect I liked about the original Condemned was that Ethan was just a struggling guy, not some owerpowered Super-Ninja. At least what Condemned tried is to keep one foot still holding in reality. Now if Condemned 2 is some Psycho KISS Clown parade, then I'll be deeply disappointed, but if it has still the somewhat serious, gloomy "charm" of the first game, then it's as good as bought.

[Pop]

There are a lot of supernatural elements to the game, but the question of whether or not everything you see in your head is brought up a lot. Nobody else can see the demonic street thugs you do, of course, and nobody notices the black oil and ceiling-pod people.

[Musopticon?]

The previous theme carried a strong undertone of the horror being subjective. Maybe you were just going mad just like all the bums? Maybe you were the only one attuned to the "sound"(basically there's an ancient cult that lives partly in a different reality, all the influence and basically their existence is based on this background frequency they share and it is also the thing that drives the bums and birds mad) and could therefore see the abnormals?

 

I don't know how they are gonna go about it this time(I mean, they acknowledge that Ethan killed over 200 people in the prequel), but I was rather impressed with Condemned:Criminals Origins, particularly because FEAR was such an Akira-hack.

 

I just hope the game has more variety than the prequel. Some of the parts were just...dreary.

[sharkz]

I really enjoyed the game, I hear the end gets a bit silly 'twisted' but from what I played it keeps the creepy tone of the original game and looks sharper, forensics and fight mechanics are much better.

 

I don't own the game I'm waiting for the PC version but after playing it on my girlfriends Xbox360 I enjoyed what I played as did she.

Edited April 8, 2008 by sharkz

[Hell Kitty]

Not only did Rosa slim down for the sequel, she seems to have gotten younger. Impressive.

 

I agree with Tale, if you liked the first you'll like the second, it's mostly more of the same. There's more to the fighting and thankfully more to the investigation. It seemed like as the game progressed the incorrect answers to the conversations with Rosa got more stupid. If you play in SD then there are two items you won't have any hope of identifying.

[Morgoth]

Not only did Rosa slim down for the sequel, she seems to have gotten younger. Impressive.

I still don't get why Monolith decided to change the looks and voice actors of the characters completely. Well, not that it makes any difference gameplay wise, but still...

[Pop]

Ethan Hunt seems to have gotten younger as well. And he's got a beard. In the first game I could've tagged him as any of the older dudes from CSI.

[Hell Kitty]

Not only did Rosa slim down for the sequel, she seems to have gotten younger. Impressive.

I still don't get why Monolith decided to change the looks and voice actors of the characters completely. Well, not that it makes any difference gameplay wise, but still...

 

I read that they wanted Ethan to be "darker", that's why they changed the voice actor and gave him the grungy look. Can't explain Rosa.

 

Ethan Hunt seems to have gotten younger as well. And he's got a beard. In the first game I could've tagged him as any of the older dudes from CSI.

 

I never thought he looked old in the first game, but then I always pictured the voice actor anyway who ain't that old, Officer Matt Parkman:

 

[Pop]

Might've been the original engine, which had UE3 syndrome, in that all the characters who had normal bodies were the emaciated ones, and the "normal" characters were all giant dwarves with wide bodies and huge hands. No wonder Rosa lost weight.