This is a great game that has been massively underrated by the gaming community. Immersive world, and great gameplay.
You're an FBI agent, hunting down serial killers. There have been an increased activity lately and the whole city is on the alert. Investigating another case, and while you think the killer is still there, you are lowered into the underground world of the city, psychotic killers, and derranged hobos. In the process of the chase, you are framed for deaths of two cops and now you do not only have the difficult task of catching the cunning serial killer, but also prooving your innocence.
The gameplay is intersting. It looks like the first person shooter, and at the beginning its what you expect, but very early you find out that that is not the case for Condemned. The regular shooter tactics will not work here, and for the most parts, you wont even be shooting. The fire arms are so few and far in between that you will cherish times you get your hands on them, not to mention try to conserve bullets. The fighting is well done, except that I didn't like the lack of finishing moves. They're fun, but I am already looking forward to the second environmental kills. The forensics aspect is also very fun and brings a different aspect to the game. The only thing I disliked was the intuition, maybe its just me, but I would prefer to look for evidence a bit more. At least give me the general area and not only start giving me signs when I'm standing right by the evidence.
The controls are good, its pretty much standard for what you would see in most first person games, with a little variation on some things (like A being the action button). Switching between forensics investigation and fighting gave a little bit of the creeps when I was playing because sometimes I took a few wacks to the head when I was ambushed.
Furthermore, the atmosphere created in the game is just terrific. The environments are immersive, albeit a little bit linear. You really feel like you are in the dark and abandoned buildins, scared. The use of the lighting is good. The sounds are amazing, and sometimes they will have you jumping from your seat terrified of whatever comes from behind the corner (or creeps behind you). You'll be turning Ethan around a number of times, just to make sure what you've heard.
The visuals are solid for the time that this game came out. The environments are well crafted, and the opponents are great, and terryfying. Level design presents you some intersting dark and frightening environments. Some graphics are quite sharp for one of the first 360 games even though they might not be as great as CoD4 or Gears of War they are still quite impressive.
All in all this is a great game, that can keep you coming back for its atmosphere. If not anything, it is a great bargain at 20 bucks at the moment, and you can claim to have played one of the more underrated games for the 360 so far.
Gamertag : Shady9XD
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