Alcoholic, destitute, shamed and exiled, life seemed like it couldn’t get much worse for ex-FBI agent Ethan Thomas. Thrown out of yet another bar for starting yet another bar fight, he thought he’d finally hit the bottom of the barrel. He’s about to find out that the barrel just gets deeper and stranger. Unshaven, unwashed, and reeking of booze, Ethan isn’t exactly the picture of a hero, but a hero is exactly what he’s going to have to be, if he wants to survive the next 72 hours.
Ethan is the star of Condemned 2: Bloodshot, sequel to Monolith’s 2005 Xbox 360 launch title, Condemned: Criminal Origins. In the three years since the launch of the original title, developer Monolith has had a lot of time to improve its formula, and that improvement is easily visible in every area of the game. The most immediately noticeable improvements have been to the melee-focused combat system, one of the most revolutionary features of the first title.
The combat engine has been dramatically improved, making every fight a unique experience. In the first title, your primary choice was which weapon to use in a fight: pipes, sledgehammers, guns if you could spare the precious little ammunition. If you approached a fight with the same tools, you generally knew how it was going to play out. Now, the same fight never has to play the same way twice. If you have a weapon, you can choose to use it to parry blows from your enemy, setting him up for a devastating counterattack combo, or just hang back and take quick shots when your enemy lets down their guard. If you’re more a fan of fisticuffs, you can throw your weapon at their legs or head as they approach you, knocking them down or stunning them, leaving them easy prey for a savage beating. You can focus on savage, random beatings, or string together a quick set of combo attacks to drop an enemy in a few short hits.
In addition to the regular combat options at your disposal, you now have access to ‘chain attacks’. Once you’ve filled a chain meter through the infliction of pain, a quick double-tap of the left or right shoulder button will initiate a quick time event, ala Shenmue, where following the button-press prompts that appear onscreen trigger a cinematic beat down, with consequences ranging from heavy damage and stuns to instant broken necks.
The chain system isn’t the only way to dispose of your foes, either - once they’ve been sufficiently beaten, your enemies will slump to their knees, waiting for you to grab them and haul them into an environmental hazard, triggering one of the many environmental kill sequences. From doorjambs and glass windows to electric fences and hydraulic presses, you’ll never have to kill a man the same way twice.
The forensic investigation system has also undergone some serious revision. In the previous title, when you happened upon a crime scene, it was a static environment where you’d safely remain until you figured out the right answer to progress with the story. Now, forensics plays both a larger and smaller role. There are fewer times when you’ll need to puzzle out the proper answers to mechanically advance the story, but there are now frequently multiple forensic examinations per level, some of them optional, and you’re just as vulnerable to enemy attack while analyzing a blood spatter as you are while chasing a suspect.
Unfortunately, some of the forensic examinations practically demand trial and error. Do you know how to tell the difference between the blood pattern made by an exit wound spray, an arterial spray, or an impact spray? I certainly don’t - and I watch CSI! As a result of these sometimes obtuse puzzles, I found myself just guessing on more than one occasion. Furthermore, you’re graded on the quality of your investigations, and that grade, along with your completion of optional objectives and discovery of various hidden items, determines whether you receive a bronze, silver, or gold score for the level. If you don’t perform perfectly in each forensic sequence, your maximum level score drops from gold to silver. This matters, because each level of accomplishment unlocks a new bonus. For example, in the first level, your reward can range from brass knuckles to a punch dagger to, at the bronze level, a sad little roll of quarters to clench for increased striking damage.
