There were worries before the game even was released. Ethan Thomas may still be the lead character, but theyve certainly changed him enough that he may as well be someone completely different. Its all gone a bit Warrior Within with our protagonist a raging alcoholic, no longer a member of the crime force he was in the first game. He is now doing nothing with his life other than sitting in a bar, beating up people and swearing a lot.
The whole characterisation and even plot is completely screwed up in this game. There's not a single likeable character here apart from your female sidekick, and the storyline is such a mess that despite completing the first game we still had no idea what was going on here. This time around the plot seems to have taken a more supernatural twist. Whereas in the first game it was very reminiscent of a movie like Se7en where it had a more series murder mystery tone (until the laughable final act), it's sequel has you fighting giant robots, alcohol induced sludge demons and a magician. And we havent mentioned your new ability of being able to make peoples heads explode Scanners style.
Unfortunately the woes dont end there, as the effective tool of darkness to convey tension and fear has been ruined by insisting that everything is so dark that its impossible to see. Your torch only has the ability to see about two centimetres in front of your face, so youre constantly wandering around the same areas trying to find that one door you may have overlooked. When you actually reach an area with a light bulb you become overjoyed, and then the joy quickly fades when a raging druggie comes and smashes it for you. The side effect is that any planned fear youre supposed to be feeling turns into frustration. It doesnt help that not only are Monolith just repeating the same scares they did in the first Condemned, but have also decided to steal a few from their other horror game F.E.A.R. Its like playing a game of horror clichs. Mannequins may have been scary In the first game, but repeating them a second time lacks the impact.
Its not all bad with Condemned 2 though. A few gameplay areas have been improved. The much loved investigation sections have been fleshed out considerably. Coming across dead bodies you can investigate them by using your detective skills. Often youll be given multi-option questions that will ask you how you believe the person died, then once theyve been answered youll see how correct you are when you speak to your partner. You also have a camera which can be used to identify key areas of the murder scene. Its mostly during these sections that you realise just how much of a gruesome game Condemned 2 is. Bodies will have chunks missing, blood splattered everywhere, its amazing that this has managed to remain somewhat anonymous during the whole Byron report issue, although the Manhunt 2 saga did influence the final shipped product.
The other area which has seen an improvement is the melee combat. Already fantastic in the original, the ability to grab pipes and toilet seats from the environments and use them to whack around someones head was a nice touch and made the environment feel alive. Its been improved here by adding a combo system. Perform a combo and you can hit back with an explosive swing which will knock enemies back. The only problem is the combo is displayed at the top of the screen like some kind of arcade game making it all a little intrusive. It works best when one-on-one, as when confronted by several charging opponents it does soon degenerate into mad swinging of pipes hoping to hit someone.
Condemned 2 really is a menagerie of bad design choices. Level design in particular is enough to make a sane person crack up. Why for instance wont it let you climb over a box knee height yet by walking up to a seven foot locker you can climb on top before jumping through a hole in the roof? Theres no visual signposting to say you can do this, you just have to guess at what the designer had in their head. We havent even mentioned the woeful multiplayer. If you really want a good first person horror title then pick up the original, this sequel is a complete mess.
