Visceral entertainment at its best

User Rating: 9 | Condemned: Criminal Origins X360
Condemned: Criminal Origins is the sort of game where everything is believable, you spend many hours trudging around some of the most depressing areas ever created in a videogame. An excellent story, great graphics and sound and terrifyingly good gameplay combine to make this one of my favourite xbox 360 games.

Graphics
To put it simply the graphics here are fantastic, the environments are dark, hostile and extremely creepy, every are that you explore in this game is very different from the last, you feel as though the buildings you are in have been left to rot and only the brilliantly creepy enemies would want to be there, the fact that you use parts of the environment as weapons makes the whole thing all the sweeter.

Sound
From the sound of your foes desperately fighting to stay alive to the great voice acting the sound is universally great across the board. The sounds of weapons cracking into flesh and bone sound so real you will end up wincing.

Gameplay
This really is a great game to play, armed with whatever weapons you can lay your hands on you pace through darkened environments waiting to hear the slightest sound to alert you to the presence of an enemy, combat is fast and furious, you attack and parry and can use your taser all to very good effect, if you beat you opponent to within an inch of their life you can finish them off with a head butt punch to the face and other equally vicious attacks. The story is well told and very intriguing, it makes you want to play so as to solve what on earth is happening to you.

Overall
I really enjoyed this game, its blend of in your face combat and tense moments as you try to work out what is going on are very unique to this game, on the down side it isn't very long but what is here is fantastic, The story will hook you in like no other and keep you guessing till the end (even after most likely). This game can be found very cheap now witch makes getting this essential.