Condemned 2: Bloodshot
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Condemned 2: Bloodshot (entitled Condemned 2 in Australia/Europe) is a video game developed by Monolith Productions and published by Sega for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Condemned 2 was released on March 11, 2008 in North America and is expected to be released on March 27, 2008 in Australia and April 4, 2008 in Europe. It is the sequel to the 2005 game Condemned: Criminal Origins.
Plot
Players assume the identity of Ethan Thomas, the former Special Crimes Unit investigator, who’s been called back to duty to track down Malcolm Vanhorn, the uncle of Leland Vanhorn aka "Serial Killer X" from the previous game. Malcolm sent a message to S.C.U. for Ethan, desperate to find him. However it is soon discovered that Malcom has been murdered and completely sliced open with his vocal cords removed.
Condemned 2 begins soon after the events that occurred in the previous installment, Condemned: Criminal Origins. The many strange and unexplainable things that happened to Ethan in the past have left him a desperate burnout, homeless, and a drunk. Ethan is now prone to many more hallucinations and strange visions that are mostly made up in his mind. It has been confirmed that the fact that Ethan has become an alcoholic will somehow be played into the storyline, such as when the player aims down the sight of a firearm, Ethan's arms will be unsteady. To remedy this the player will have to drink liquor which will "calm his nerves" temporarily. Late into the game Ethan will have to fight his alcohol demon. Greg Grunberg will not be voicing Ethan in Condemned 2 mostly due to the personality change. Instead, he will be voiced by Andre Sogliuzzo. [1]
Voice Cast
- Andre Sogliuzzo - Ethan Thomas
- Dave Mitchell - Agent Dorland
- Phil Lamarr - Agent LeRue/Bum
- Henry Dittman - Serial Killer X/Pilot
- Keith Szarabajka - Inferi
- Angel Parker - Agent Rosa
- Michael Bell - Magic Man/President
- Paul Eiding - Deputy Director Ike Farrell
Gameplay
Single Player
As Ethan, players will engage in visceral combat using a variety of firearms, blunt instruments and an all-new fighting system complete with offensive combo chains. There will be four layers of combat. Hand to hand combat, melee weapons, firearms, and over 40 finishing moves. You can also buy upgrades with points you earn by being creative with your destruction. Forensics will also earn you points to upgrade; three known upgrades are brass knuckles, steel toed boots, and shoulder mounted flashlight. Throughout the single-player it has been confirmed that Ethan will have to come to grips with his alcoholism. When Ethan drinks, it will allow him to have steady aim when he looks down the iron sight of a gun.
Multiplayer
The game will support 8 player online and features four multiplayer modes:
- Deathmatch - the player to reach the kill limit or the player with the most kills at the end of the time limit wins.
- Team Deathmatch - two teams of multiple players compete for the most kills.
- Bum Rush - as time based game of SCU Agents versus Influenced bums. The SCU cannot respawn, and must last as long as possible against the bums.
- Crime Scenes - another gametype putting the SCU agents against the Influenced. The Influenced must hide two cases of evidence, while the SCU agents must use their equipment to find the evidence before time runs out.
Several moves and weapons from single player are not present in multiplayer - these include the stun gun, kicks, chain attacks, and environmental kills.
Critical Reception
Reviews and awards Compilations of multiple reviews | ||
---|---|---|
Game Rankings | 80% (based on 16 reviews)[2] | |
Metacritic | 85/100 (based on 7 reviews)[3] | |
Publication | Response | Award |
Official PlayStation Magazine (Australia) | 9 out of 10[4] | Silver Award |
Team Xbox | 9 out of 10 | |
XPlay | 4 out of 5 | |
IGN | 8 out of 10[5] | |
Official Xbox Magazine | 8 out of 10 | |
GameTrailers | 8 out of 10 [6] |
The April edition of Official Xbox Magazine review of Condemned gave it an 8/10, praising the strong points of atmosphere, graphics and sound for the game, and found it to be improved in almost all areas of the original (Condemned: Criminal Origins). The review did however find the ending to be weak being one of it's major downsides.
The three reviewers in Electronic Gaming Monthly gave Condemned 2 an A-, B+, and B. They praised the atmosphere and improved combat system, but were not satisfied with the "laggy, unnecessary feel" of the game's multiplayer component.
Official PlayStation Magazine (Australia) gave Condemned 2 the Silver Award, with a score of 9/10. The magazine commented that the only minor problem was that the controls felt occasionally cumbersome.
Edge Magazine gave Condemned 2 a 5/10 stating that it had lost the first's tight storyline in favour of a deranged psycotic bloodbath, in which guns and gore had taken precedence over the tension and fear factors which had made the first installment so good.
References
- ^ Dunham, Jeremy (2007). "Condemned 2 Q&A" (scary). IGN.com. Jeff Beuchert. doi:some stuff. Retrieved 2007-06-04.
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suggested) (help) - ^ "Condemned 2 Reviews". Game Rankings. Retrieved 2008-03-13.
- ^ "Condemned 2: Bloodshot (PS3: 2008): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-03-13.
- ^ O'Connor, Anthony (2008). "Condemned 2 (Review)". Official PlayStation Magazine (Australia) (15): 76–79.
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(help) - ^ "Condemned 2: Bloodshot Review". GameTrailers. Retrieved 2008-03-11.
External links
- Articles needing cleanup from February 2008
- Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field from February 2008
- Wikipedia pages needing cleanup from February 2008
- Articles with a promotional tone from March 2008
- 2008 video games
- Horror video games
- First-person shooters
- Monolith Productions games
- PlayStation 3 games
- Xbox 360 games
- Psychological horror games