Condemned Criminal Origins - Review

MRG

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Greetings all,

One of my all time favorite games is the original AVP, which was released way back in May of 2000. It is my belief that it is one of the scariest game ever released for the PC. Crawling around in the dark, with nothing between you & a hungry alien was a motion tracker & your finger on the trigger of your pulse rifle. I remember spending countless hours playing the scrimmage mode, seeing how long I could stay alive against wave after wave of intergalactic overgrown cockroaches.

Then a few years later a great game based on another favorite movie of mine, Pitch Black, was released by the name of "The chronicles of Riddick". That game, while not scary, offered the player an amazing hand-to-hand first person melee combat experience. One of the best ever released for a PC game.

However, no game has yet been released that offered both in a single game, a creepy as hell setting, while at the same time, offering true first person melee combat.

Well that game has arrived & it is called Condemned Criminal Origins

The player is cast in the role of Agent Thomas, an investigator in the FBI's Serial Crimes Unit, who has been (wrongfully) accused of murdering two of his colleagues while on a crime scene, while investigating a brutal murder of a young woman. The murder they were investigating is the work of a crazed serial killer, dubbed The Matchmaker. Seeing how this is a survival horror game, deeply rooted in fiction, there's naturally more to these murders than meets the eye. Birds are dying all across the city from brain hemorrhage, and ultimately you discover that you have been chosen to play a pawn in a supernatural game of life and death.

1) Realistic first-person view: Gives players the maximum visceral effect.
2) Next-generation lighting, mapping, and filtering: New graphics techniques provide for environments of unprecedented detail and visual quality.
3) Intelligent enemies: Bad guys respond strategically to your offensive and defensive maneuvers.
4) High-level physics: Allows players to manipulate background items, which respond realistically when picked up, kicked, or bumped.
5) Fresh characters and plot: A tightly wound story is backed with strong character development and major plot twists.
6) Surround Sound: Meticulously crafted surround sound will cue players to the location of off-screen enemies.
7) Brutal Melee: The ability to use pretty much anything within reach & within reason is yours for the taking. Knives, Sledgehammers, 2x4's, Lead Pipes, Rebar & several other unconventional weapons & various guns are yours to use. Each of which do a different amount of damage. Ammo is extremely scarce, so if you find some, might want to save it for when you really need it.

Words alone cannot convey the true magnitude of just how stunning this game is. The melee combat is utterly amazing. The AI is brutally clever, not to mention deadly. When forced to defend yourself, you better pay very close attention, otherwise it?ll be lights out.

To give an example of the AI:

Near the start of the game, I am investigating a murder in this rundown warehouse. All around me I am getting a taste of how incredible the audio is. As I walk into a room, I hear a sound behind me, as I quickly turn around & shine my flashlight behind me, I see a trashcan slowly rolling out from the hallway, then I hear mumblings and what sounds like footsteps running away. So I follow. All the while the audio has me transfixed. Even with my old 2.1's I am hooked. I can only imagine how the game sounds like on a good set of 5.1?s which is what the game defaults to! As I progress around a corner, a bigger room opens up, just at the very last possible second, I see from the corner of my eye, a guy run and hide behind one of the pillars supporting the roof. Had I not been paying attention, I would have missed him & walked into his trap. As it was, I still got owned. So now that I saw him, I slowly walk up to the pillar, thinking I could sneak up on him, well he heard me & jumps out (in an extremely lifelike manner!!) & proceeds to attack me. Its at this exact moment, that I realize, I have never fought any enemy even remotely as clever as this guy. He comes at me with a 2x4 swinging wildly, I manage to block his first swing, & follow with a swing of my own, ( I decided to save my ammo, so I have a firm hold of the barrel of my gun so that the stock is sticking out to be used in a pistol-whip manner) I manage to hit him, knocking several of his teeth out & he reels back in a fashion that was creepy, because it looked pretty darn close to how a guy WOULD reel back if hit. As he staggers back, I step in to kick him, except he was ready & allowed me to get close, as I did so, he dropped the staggered act and came at me with a totally different attack than he did just a moment ago. I am hit hard & blood splatters across the screen. Whoa! I manage to lash out again with a wild kick & get a glancing blow, knocking the 2x4 from his hand. As I get ready to press the attack, he charges me and grabs me around the throat and begins to choke me, All this is in First Person don't forget, so I get a good look ay his ugly mug. My screen starts to go red. As I manage to shake him off ( there is a special way to do this!! ) I am stunned. I see through a red haze, the guy looking all over the place for his weapon. Unable to find it, he runs over to a pallet leaning on the wall AND PULLS ANOTHER 2x4 FROM IT!! All in the space of a few seconds this has happened. The guy then turn towards me and leaps at me with the 2x4 held in both hands above his head, as he lands he brings down the 2x4 in a chopping manner & I'm killed right then & there.

WOW!!!

As my heart is thumping like crazy, I reload and fight that same guy over a dozen times & each time he fought me a different way. If I manage to hit him enough times without killing him, ( Depending on my attacks!! ) he'll stagger and fall to his knees. At this point you have 1 of 5 ways to kill him. 4 of the 5 ways are finishing moves & the 5th is by simply shooting him or hitting him again.

However, if you do nothing he gets back up and comes after you again?..

The graphics are very nice. Crisp & clear. I would however like to advise that you get this game ONLY if your PC is fast. When I played this game, it was on my previous PC which was a standard Prescott P4 clocked @ a slow 3.4ghz & it was having a very hard time running this game at full graphical settings. Also unless you have a widescreen monitor, you'll notice that this game will *only* run in widescreen format, even if your monitor is not a widescreen. This just means that you'll have Black stripes at the top & bottom of the screen. Soon as the game starts though, you'll be too busy to even notice.

You know, forget it. I'm not gonna say anything more about this game. Just go out & get it. You'll be glad you did.

Official Website
http://www.condemnedgame.com/flash.php

Final Score - 4.5/5

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-MRG
 
Dude you have 45 posts per day!!
I don't want to be insulting, but honestly you need to request boldie to make a separate section for you, where you can post your guides and reviews, because this forum just isn't big enough for you and Stern both.

Edit: you would also be great as a news poster for this site, posting news and reviewing mods.
 
Who is this guy, and what does he want?
 
Who is this guy, and what does he want?

He probably wants to be a content writer on HL2.net. Although he would probably be better off going to a site like gamespot and making reviews there...
 
Who is this guy, and what does he want?

LMAO!

Who me? I'm just a regular Joe that joined a forum in the hopes of being able to read and join in on interesting, pointless & at times funny discussions. I wasn't aware that it was frowned upon to post more than 1 post per day. I'm not trying to be anything else. If i'm asked to post more info on a certain topic, then if i'm able to I will, but i'm not going out of my way to be "Noticed" For that I could care less. I enjoy gaming as do countless others & instead of being a forum lurker, I choose to be a forum contributor. If the info I post is frowned upon by every single member here but one, then for that one member I will post my info for. :thumbs:

-MRG

He probably wants to be a content writer on HL2.net. Although he would probably be better off going to a site like gamespot and making reviews there...

Nope. I'm not looking to become a content writer for HL2.net. Way too many people here know a whole hell of alot more than I do & so i'll leave it in their competent hands. I just enjoy posting info on topics I have experienced. Regardless if i'm totally wrong. If only one person ends up reading them or finding what I posted helpful, thats all that matters.

-MRG

Review HALF LIFE 2 ! :D

You would not like my review for HL2. It would appear that I am one of the very few that thought HL2 sucked.

I bought HL when it first came out & have played through it prob 3 times over the years. It's an amazing game that was a huge amout of fun. Then along came the expansions that were a blast to play in their own right and further carried the HL universe even further.

Then came the years of hype surrounding HL2. Oh sure it looked & sounded nice, but I expected so very much more. Perhaps I was just mad that they didn't start the game off in a manner I had hoped (Start off exactly where HL1 ended, with the "choice" and then proceed from there.) Also the ending just didn't cut it for me & then having to pay more money to continue a story they should have been included in HL2. No thanks. Thats why I haven't played either of the 2 newer episodes. I would like to, very much so, but I can't justify the extra expenses for something I feel should have been in the retail game to begin with. Perhaps if one day I get to play the 2 or however many more episodes comes out, I might feel differently. But until then...

To me, HL2 was nothing more than a Tech demo for the source engine.

-MRG
 
Nope. I'm not looking to become a content writer for HL2.net. Way too many people here know a whole hell of alot more than I do & so i'll leave it in their competent hands. I just enjoy posting info on topics I have experienced. Regardless if i'm totally wrong. If only one person ends up reading them or finding what I posted helpful, thats all that matters.

-MRG

You would not like my review for HL2. It would appear that I am one of the very few that thought HL2 sucked.

I bought HL when it first came out & have played through it prob 3 times over the years. It's an amazing game that was a huge amout of fun. Then along came the expansions that were a blast to play in their own right and further carried the HL universe even further.

Then came the years of hype surrounding HL2. Oh sure it looked & sounded nice, but I expected so very much more. Perhaps I was just mad that they didn't start the game off in a manner I had hoped (Start off exactly where HL1 ended, with the "choice" and then proceed from there.) Also the ending just didn't cut it for me & then having to pay more money to continue a story they should have been included in HL2. No thanks. Thats why I haven't played either of the 2 newer episodes. I would like to, very much so, but I can't justify the extra expenses for something I feel should have been in the retail game to begin with. Perhaps if one day I get to play the 2 or however many more episodes comes out, I might feel differently. But until then...

To me, HL2 was nothing more than a Tech demo for the source engine.

-MRG

LMAO!

Who me? I'm just a regular Joe that joined a forum in the hopes of being able to read and join in on interesting, pointless & at times funny discussions. I wasn't aware that it was frowned upon to post more than 1 post per day. I'm not trying to be anything else. If i'm asked to post more info on a certain topic, then if i'm able to I will, but i'm not going out of my way to be "Noticed" For that I could care less. I enjoy gaming as do countless others & instead of being a forum lurker, I choose to be a forum contributor. If the info I post is frowned upon by every single member here but one, then for that one member I will post my info for. :thumbs:

-MRG

Use multi-quote!
 
This game was truly amazing. Agree 100% very cool story and intense gameplay. Cant wait for part 2.
 
Rated it a little too high imo, but it was a nice read.

I will agree with you that it's a damn unsettling game though.
 
nice review. I love this game too, one of the best singelplayer experiances i have ever had. Great to play with friends too. Me and 2 other friends played once and once we got so scared all of us jumped away from the monitor at the same time.


The most physological damage i got from the game was when
(WARNING, NOT SPOILER OF STORY, ONLY OF A SCARE)
i was in the school gym locker room. Opened one locker to find a dead man inside of it, nothing too scary. I started taking pictures of the body with the camera, but i needed a closer view of the face, so i slowly zoomed into his face with the camera till i was very close then WHAM HE ****ING WOKE UP. HOLY SHIT I ****ING PANICED. I jumped out of my chair gasping and screaming and ran out of my room. Im fully ****ing serious now, it was one of the most shocking scariest moments of my life. Holy shit that scared the SHIT OUT OF ME. Man, i didnt play the game for days after that.

(END OF SCARE SPOILER)

Remember to play the game as its ment to be played. In a dark room during night. Being home alone is a plus.
 
i was in the school gym locker room. Opened one locker to find a dead man inside of it, nothing too scary. I started taking pictures of the body with the camera, but i needed a closer view of the face, so i slowly zoomed into his face with the camera till i was very close then WHAM HE ****ING WOKE UP. HOLY SHIT I ****ING PANICED. I jumped out of my chair gasping and screaming and ran out of my room. Im fully ****ing serious now, it was one of the most shocking scariest moments of my life. Holy shit that scared the SHIT OUT OF ME. Man, i didnt play the game for days after that.

That part scared the living shit out of me as well. Right after that I went crazy and wasted all my ammo shooting at every locker in sight, to let off the pent up adrenaline. Remember the Department store? Whoa! Creepy City, with that twisted Christmas music playing that sounded like it was played through rusted 50 year old speakers.

I can't wait for part 2.

-MRG
 
Any word about part 2? This is one of the only games taht truley made me feel uneasy playing...what a great feeling =]
 
Any word about part 2? This is one of the only games taht truley made me feel uneasy playing...what a great feeling =]

ya, it was pretty intense
i literally had to get up and stop playing sometimes
 
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