Before the Xbox 360 even launched, its first survival horror game, Condemned: Criminal Origins, was on the shelves. Using the graphics power of the Xbox 360 to good advantage, Condemned takes the player on one dark and twisted adventure following the trail of a serial killer. Sadly the gameplay does not quite live up to the excellent mood the game sets.

The player is Ethan Thomas of the FBI’s Serial Crimes Unit. He’s an agent who is a bit on the ragged edge. One night he starts what seems to be a fairly routine investigation into a murder in a condemned building. Things go badly, the killer takes his gun and uses it to kill two police detective. Now a suspect in the cop killings, Thomas is on the lam and trying to catch the elusive Matchmaker killer to clear his name. His search will take him into some of the creepiest places that exist in the real world.

The city that Condemned takes place in is experiencing some problems. Aside from the serial killings, the overall crime rate is spiking. There are crazed, violent "drug addicts" roaming the dark places. And for some reason large numbers of birds are mysteriously dying. Yeah, it all ties together ... kinda.

Condemned is played from a first-person perspective. Of course this is a great view for a shooter game, but the primary death dealers of Condemned are the weapons of opportunity that can be found in the crumbling buildings you’ll be making your way through. Things like iron pipes, rebar, fire axes, or even a good sturdy piece of 2x4 makes a very serviceable weapon against the wild thugs who come at you with the passionate desire to cave in your skull. Guns can be found in the game, but ammunition is limited to what is in the weapon at the moment you pick it up. For example, that nice, powerful pump shotgun you just picked up with the eight-round magazine capacity may have only two actual shells in it, and you’ll even have to check manually to find out that is all it has. There is no heads-up display for that information. Once those shells are expended, that shotgun is just an inferior club. As standard combat equipment you also have a stun gun that gives your opponents a nasty shock, allowing you an opportunity to land a solid blow. You also have the ability to kick opponents and block their blows.

The fighting system is not deep but it is serviceable. Weapon swings, blocks, punches or kicks all are responsive and elicit the pain you’d expect from your enemies. Finishing moves are gratuitously violent ways to finish your opponents once they are stunned and on the ground. They are almost overly detailed and grisly, but they are impressive.

Of course you are investigating, so you will have a full compliment of investigative tools at your disposal too. These tools are context sensitive, and the game will choose the correct tool for a given situation simply by entering an area your instincts say contain evidence and pushing the button to access the investigation tools. The player can then snap scans of the evidence and send it back to Rosa, a technician back at the lab, for analysis. Thomas’ investigative tools make the junk they have on CSI look like children’s toys.

Condemned starts out pretty intense and just stays there the entire game. The feeling of unease and impending attack from almost any quarter is omnipresent. The game tightens the screws on your nerves and just won’t back off even half a turn.

The game manages to do this by immersing the player in a film-extra-noir environment with the Xbox 360’s superior graphics and sound. The lighting effects are amazing, with deep shadows and beautiful textures on the walls of the decaying buildings. Often the only light is the pool of radiance cast by your own super-Energizer-equipped flashlight that never runs out of juice. Using 5.1 Dolby surround sound, Condemned throws in ambient sounds that have the player constantly thinking someone is in the room with him, fraying his nerves even further. The sound of a knocked-over bottle can signal the scurrying of an innocent rat (rabies-ridden and filthy, but innocent) or be the prelude to a mad rush from the shadows by a killer.

The presentation is just top notch. In addition to the creepy environmental elements, the actual enemy characters are well detailed and fluidly animated as they attack you. Not that they will give you much time to look at them in detail. He who hesitates to think and look at the pretty attacking nut job, is lost in this game. Enemies also display a fair amount of intelligence, tactically retreating only to attack again when the situation is more favorable.

There are a few problems that keep Condemned from being a really great game. The big problem is in the variety of gameplay. It just gets a little repetitive after killing a few hundred club-wielding bad guys. The lack of choice in gathering evidence also wears thin quickly. You are really just doing what the game tells you to do during the investigation – simply a pair of hands to hold the tool the game decides you need. The absence of a radar display may make the game a little less artificial feeling, but it also means you’ll often find yourself going in circles in the maze of rooms and halls. Also, the story is okay but does not really come together in a satisfying way.