The original Condemned game was, in my opinion, a breakthrough in the first person action genre. The fighting system is the standard to which most action type games should be judged upon. Amazingly, the sequel to this innovative game improves on most aspects of this system, at the slight cost of losing the feel of its predecessor.
Condemned 2: Bloodshot places you in the shoes of an ex-FBI agent, who explores the supernatural with the aid of some nifty equipment. Your character is essentially a forensics officer that not only must face off against insane looking crack heads and whores, but have to be a pretty strong puzzle solver. You have four gadgets at your disposal (a black light scanner, a digital camera, the Stemioscope, and a PDA) each with there own particular use. When you get to certain areas, such as a place where you need to try and solve a murder, you have the option to go into search mode. In this mode, a little iris appears on which can be moved around the screen to search the area for clues. The black light finds blood or other fluids that have been cleaned and usually lead to some clues. All evidence you find is photographed with your digital camera and uploaded via your PDA. Enabling your partner Rosa to analyze things for you and give you feedback on what your findings mean. The last gadget (The Stemioscope) is only used to find these crazy sonic emitters that are only used for achievements, so it does not have an inherent use for the game itself.
The main combat controls are the left and right triggers, which control either of your characters hands respectively. Whether you have a weapon equipped or using just fists, you can do almost anything you could in real life. Uppercuts, jabs, grapples, even combos. The really interesting thing is, almost anything you can see you may use as a weapon, be it some conduit on a wall or a board with nails from a crate. Other than some awesome puzzle solving and some pretty intense and creepy ass enemies, this sequel just seems…off. The story does not have the same appeal as the original did, however it is still a great game. So if you are in for some intense violence, gore, decapitations and exploding babies…yes it has them…then this game is for you.
