Condemned Criminal Origins is a game that was developed by Monolith Productions and published by Sega in the "distant" year of 2005, in order to distinguish itself from the rest of the FPS crowd, Monolith got away from the typical shooting mechanics, replacing them with unique (for the time) first person melee combat.
In Condemned you play as Ethan Thomas, a Serial Crime Unit (SCU) investigator that apparently has extremely well developed detective skills, at least that's what the characters and story promise, classifying Ethan as one of the best inside the FBI.
You begin the game investigating yet another crime scene from the serial murderer known as "The Match Maker". While going through the condemned building that your partner for this case describes as a "maggot infested dump", you will start to understand how rotten and broken down the core of Metro City is.
After arriving to the crime scene and conducting an investigation your partner notices something is off, a pursuit after the presumable suspect quickly ensues. After a few rookie mistakes Ethan looses his gun to the man suspected to be The Match Maker, everything goes wrong and our SCU investigator ends up being accused of a double homicide, it's now your job to prove Ethan Thomas innocence and find out exactly what is going on in this wreck of a city.
The plot has actually a few more holes than it should, clearly leaving a lot o questions unanswered by the end of the game, this is mostly because of the very uneven pacing in how it unfolds, starting off pretty well, even if a bit nonsensical at points, but stagnating after two, maybe three hours into the campaign. Only in the last hour or so does the plot progresses significantly, making it very hard, even for the most interested of players to make heads or tails of this convoluted storyline, too much new information is introduced in a rushed manner, nothing is ever really explained.
Without spoiling anything for the player, Monolith clearly sets Condemned up for a sequel, fortunately this sequel answers most of the questions that Criminal Origins raises.
Like it was previously mentioned in this review, Condemned moves away from the traditional "shoot everything in sight" most FPS's are known for, replacing it with a more slow paced and methodical attitude.
While weapons like shotguns and pistols make an appearance, they never take center stage, the very short supply of ammo guarantees that you only take down maybe a couple of enemies before dropping the firearm.
Replacing all the "pew-pew" is a very interesting and satisfying melee combat system, it's simple and easy to learn, you can block and attack using the left and right trigger respectively, it's extremely fun to go around the environments looking for some new makeshift weapon (most of them with different stats) and take it for a test-drive on the face of some psychotic junkie unfortunate enough to cross paths with you.
Ethan Thomas also has at his disposal a very useful taser that can temporarily stun his opponents, allowing you to get a nice heavy hit, it is particularly useful when facing (fire)armed foes, as during the stun you can also perform a disarm.
The taser has its flaws though, enemies sometimes have predetermined animations which make them immune to the stun, which is quite frustrating, especially when you're dealing with multiple "crazies", all looking to kill you. Still, alternating between the taser and the melee weapons you will find scattered throughout the levels is essential to Ethan's survival.
As a side-note, the game also gives you the ability to perform four finishing moves when the enemies are down, they don't add a lot of depth to the gameplay, but look really cool, working as a nice stress reliever after a tough fight.
To help you survive, you'll find several first aid kits sprinkled throughout the city of Metro, these kits will recharge your health (no regenerating health) to a certain degree but must be consumed on the spot, so there is a nice risk/reward system in place as you have to sometimes take the chance of getting hit a few more times before coming back to pop those pills.
Combine the fixed "health stations", the slow walking of Ethan and a very limited sprint and you have all the ingredients for an extremely immersive title, rushing through the game is not an option.
To keep the gameplay from getting too repetitive, Monolith regularly alternates between investigation sequences that work like very easy puzzles (they're all very straightforward), and action sequences that can range anywhere from extremely furious to terrifying as you have no clue where the next enemy will come from.
Like most games that bet on its atmospheric world to keep players engaged, Condemned has extremely linear levels, with little space left for exploration. The problem is the way these "corridors" are set up, lots of invisible walls and barriers that would be super easy to overcome are to be expected.
The game logic also has a few flaws regarding the "entry tools" presented to the player (Fire Axe, Sledgehammer, Crowbar, Shovel). For example, some doors require the use of a fire axe to bash through them, well, why can't you use the sledgehammer or the crowbar?
It's nothing game breaking, actually most games have these sort of inconsistencies too, the problem is that in Condemned they are just way too obvious and feel like a cheap way to set up the levels and keep you from using the same weapon from start to finish.
Visually Criminal Origins is a bit schizophrenic, while the environments and light effects still look decent, the character models are clearly outdated and just plain ugly, back in 2005 they didn't look great and age certainly hasn't helped either. In a game where immersion and atmosphere are two of the most important factors, this lack of realism in the characters is a big deal.
In the sound department Condemned excels, I actually recommend players to use quality headphones when playing, as it makes the experience that much better. While music is very subtle, the sound effects are powerful and certainly aid the gameplay, as weapons and impacts feel that much more vigorous and impressive.
Another quick side-note to point out the suffocating silence you will find at times during the campaign, these moments are extremely disturbing.
To finalize, Condemned is for the most part a unique title, the plot stands as one of the better aspects of the game, even if it's presented in a rushed and incomplete way. To get the full experience you have to also play the sequel, Bloodshot.
Even the last decision you get to make is somewhat puzzling, if you see the outcome from both choices available you will realize that it's not that much of a choice as the end result is pretty much the same.
Still, in a city full of addicts, vagrants and psychotic individuals, Ethan Thomas can hold his head high because the Condemned series is excellent despite the shortcoming of Criminal Origins.
Year of Release: 2005
Platform(s): PC, Xbox360
Developer(s): Monolith Productions
Publisher(s): Sega
This game was played using the Ozone Rage ST headset
(Our Review: Link)
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