Condemned: Criminal Origins - Second Play - Chapter Eight

Since my last post on Condemned it occurred to me to check the development history for Monolith. Turns out that they also masterminded the recent PC title, F.E.A.R., which explains some of the similarities between the two games. If you were to judge them side-by-side purely on cutscenes and flashbacks, they could easily be sequels. However, the world design and art direction does differ significantly between the two titles. Condemned has a much more claustrophobic feel to it. It also easily tops F.E.A.R. in the gritty realism department. Strangely though, I thought F.E.A.R had some of the best FPS kick moves I’ve ever seen, while Condemned leaves quite a bit to be desired in the kick department.

I’ve also thoroughly changed my view on the game’s storyline during my recent play sessions. The characters have grown on me as I’ve progressed through the game, and the crime scene investigation sections are actually pretty cool. My favorite character is Rosa who represents a welcome 180 degree turn from the traditional maiden in distress archetype. The voice actor who portrayed her manages to pull off tough, battle-weary, and slightly bored simultaneously. All characteristics you’d expect to find in an overworked FBI lab tech. The way that Ethan is calling her on his cell every 2 minutes make her seem like a babysitter in Condemned’s opening scenes; however, her character quickly becomes central to the story as it progresses.

Another aspect of Condemned that I’ve really enjoyed is the extensive use of the filters Monolith has built into the game engine. These filters are used in short bursts to give you the sense that you’re going insane, and give the engine a grainy overexposed look. High dynamic range lighting goes the extra mile to sell the effect, and lead to some genuinely terrifying moments.

The middle portion of the game also has some terrific set pieces that make good use of the lighting engine. Light streaming in through windows is something the Condemned engine does really well. Combine those dust filled light beams with anti-aliased shadowing on the floor and I’m a great deal closer to believing I’m actually traversing an abandoned public library. Lighting on the character’s faces is also well done.

I’ve got one more thing to say about graphics, and this goes for all you 360 developers out there. If an effect isn’t working out, turn it off! I say this because one of the coolest sections of Condemned is pretty broken due to frame rate issues caused by an overdone smoke effect. If I’m busy sneaking through the burned out stacks of a library, every sense attuned to listen for the sound of scuttling creatures knocking books off the shelves a few rows down, I don’t want to blow my suspension of disbelief as the engine chugs down to 15 fps.

Another grievance I need to mention is that I really don’t like backtracking to look for the blue key card. I didn’t like it in Doom 2, and I don’t like it now. Even if the blue key card happens to be disguised as a “need fire ax to continue” dialog box I’m not fooled.

Melee combat continues to be not very good. However, I find that the sluggishness of the melee combat make the limited firearms very satisfying to use. I can’t recall another game in which I’ve been overjoyed to find a shotgun with two shells left in it. “Oh the bounty of these two shells is not lost on me great Monolith, thank you for bestowing them upon me.” I also find the ammo check animations to be an ingenious development to the survival horror genre. Popping open the shotgun for a visual inspection of the remaining ammo is a visceral way to immerse players further into the world. I’m a firm believer that any time a HUD can be avoided, it should.

One more thing I forgot to mention last time, concerning the heckle test at our LAN party. Despite good fun being had by all, there was one moment that had the entire room jump. Survival horror games since Resident Evil live and die by moments like these, and Condemned manages to stuff in several good bone chilling terrors per chapter. The real beauty of these chills in Condemned is that a lot of them happen without the intervention of a scripted event. The game’s AI and level design is good enough in combination to provide some spontaneous scares on their own merit.

Tune in to my next play rating to find out how well Condemned’s climatic final moments play. Will they need to insert three or more moronic plot twists to keep things interesting, or will the game’s story be one to remember?