Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10383 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Sega
• Released on: 2006-04-13
• ESRB Rating: Adults Only
• Platform: Windows XP

Manufacturer's Description
Developed by award-winning Monolith Productions for the next-generation consoles and PC, Condemned allows players to experience an unnatural level of psychological tension as they use their instincts, forensic tools, and melee combat to track serial killers and bring them to justice. Gamers will play as Ethan Thomas, an FBI agent in the Serial Crimes Unit (SCU), whose pursuit of relentless serial killers leads him through detailed urban environments filled with socio-paths who lurk on the periphery of humanity.

Presented in a first-person view for maximum visceral effect, this atmospheric thriller is best played with the surround-sound up and the lights off. Given the power of next-generation hardware, Condemned is able to feature photo-realistic backdrops, life-like physics, and highly sophisticated artificial intelligence. Weapons and ammunition are scarce, leaving the player vulnerable to the game's gallery of mentally deranged criminals. Careful detective work and precision reflexes are a player's primary means of survival. Inspired in part by the films of the psychological thriller sub-genre, Condemned maintains an intense, focused pace. Players can never be sure what waits around each corner.

Customer Reviews

To linear and slow !
I've played a good couple of hours, and this game has promise. It has a distinct feel of the movie seven about it, which is a good thing. Graphics are great, the whole feel of the game is of darkness, of dread and of being alone in dark damp environments.

This is however where I find the game a bit limited. You will find 95 percent of the time navigating your way through narrow hallways and using pipes of various sizes to defend or attack against a range of deranged drunks/druggies who attack at will. You also collect items on each level. The plumbing found in all these environments are of such a nature that you always find something to defend yourself with. My problem lies with the lack of variety in this game. Early on you realise you are going to walk through miles and miles of corridors, every now and then a bad guy is going to come out of the darkness and try to bash your skull in, and basically, that is all the gameplay you can expect. Luckely you are given a pistol or shotgun from time to time, but have only 2 or 3 bullets in them to not make much of a impact. Your caracter also moves about as fast as a turtle, and even when he runs you sense he must have a case of the piles that inhibits his athletic ability. Yes, you find clues to find the bad guy/'s who commited a murder. That's all nice, however with thext installment we need more ways to interact with our environment. Hallway after hallway, corridor after corridor does become boring real quick. I understand they are trying to create atmosphere, however after the first few attacks, you know what to expect in the game, and it loses it's appeal.

All in all not a bad game, just don't expect any major gunsfights, or fast moving action. Well worth the purchase, even though I have mentioned the things that I found to be lacking. If you like a slow pased murder investigation with some atmosphere, this game is for you.

what?
i can not beleive how much this game is being shot down by all these reviews.

i played the majority of this game in the dark by myself and i found it hard to leave the room afterwards.and the storyline will stay in your mind for months afterwards

the graphics are just short of reality- from the creaters of F.E.A.R no doubt.

it is however a little short

this isnt a shoot-em-up traditional game, there are guns however but they come with realism unlike other games you cant carry everything you want in your back pocket and once you run out of ammo your gun becomes a melee weapon untill it breaks after being smashed into peoples faces over and over.
you can pick up anything you can get your hands on with a completely interactive enviroment. and the crime scene investigation part of the game is superb.

firstly ide recommend buying F.E.A.R if youve already got it then i would recommend buying this. hands down

Dark, moody and definately disturbing...
Well im one of the lucky ones to have got this now and clocked in around 4 hours worth of play. I have to admit id not even heard of this until a week ago but its safe to say im extremely impressed.

The first striking thing about this game is its likeness to Se7en and also SAW. The moody detective backdrop, a city in eternal night and constantly pounded with rain. I wont give away the story but put in a basic way, an FBI agent (yourself) is framed for 2 murders and you must find the real killer before your put behind bars.

Ive tested this on the following -

AMD64 Athlon 3600+ Clawhammer
1.5GB Kingston DDR400
Radeon 9800 PRO 256Bit 128MB
Soundblaster Audigy 2NX

The graphics are beautiful and will run fast on a moderate to high pc spec platform.

So far all the gaming ive played is set at night, so for the most your using a torch and the view is extremely limited giving an almost choking sense of claustrophobia throughout. A worn technique is used on the graphics, like in Se7ens titles, an almost worn look, run down effect to the game. The games weapons effects are excellent aswell as the character motions.

The sound is a huge bonus to this game, its brilliant use of surround sound systems causes such a jumpy effect on yourself. You will more often than not be constantly turning around after hearing someone run past or something break.

The gameplay is slick and easy, the controls are easy too, a nice feature added to a fight is once the enemy is nearly dead, you can finish them off with a serious headbutt or a neck snap etc, this looks good and pretty gruesome. A downer about the controls is the lack of a jump action but is understandable to some extent after playing the game for a short time.

A nice feature in the game is the use of the enviroment for weapons. You cant simply run around shooting, if you pick a gun up with more than 4 shots left, your lucky. You cant reload or find ammo packs so you use whats around you. If say you plug a enemy with 2 shots and run out, turn the rifle around and use the butt of the gun to beat them with. You can take pipes out the wall, bars from clothing racks, spades etc to attack enemies with if your stuck for a gun.

Another good feature is the use of investigation tools. Like finding a trail of a dead body, you use a small tool that detects a certain gas in the air left by a body, so you can track it or scanners to find prints etc. This adds another depth of realism to the game.

So far this game has impressed me, i have always been tough on Survival horror/thriller games as they bore and become predictable over time, but this is definately a generation up from Resident evil etc and has left its mark.

Worthy of anyones First Person Shoot'em'ups or Survival Horror collection....