Well I thought I'd post my thoughts. Yes welcome to the MRU moody review 
I wouldn't say I'm 'hard' to please, but by god they could at least try.
So here I am a few hours into one of my personally highly anticipated titles for 2008 and I hate to say I'm utterly dissapointed.... so i wont. I'll just let this little smiley do it for me
So what went wrong with condemned 2 ?
The original condemned came out of nowhere and was probably one of the only gems at the 360's launch.
It was a game that showcased the hardware and technical prowess of the next generation of hardware, as well as being a highly original FPS that brought a plethora of innovation and reinvention to the table.
In many ways it had similarities to the original Half Life. Not in story or content, but in the sense that it tried to bring something very new to the table and for the most part succeeded admirably.
Also like the original Half Life it was only in the last fifth of the game that the tightly woven tapestry that monolith had weaved began to come unstuck. Namely the decision to turn its final levels into bland zombie generic nothingness (very similar to how Half Life became unstuck at the enf of the game when you warped to the alien world and was made to jump around horrid poorly designed alien levels).....
But despite its flaws there was enough good stuff to make it's sequel one of most highly anticipated from those that had played the first.
So is this the pure refined spirit of the original, minus all the bad things and gameplay tightened to near perfection ala Half Life 2 ?
Well the sad answer is.. a big resounding NO!
Where Half life 2 took everything good, dumped everything bad about the original game, Monolith have bizarrely decided to drop a lot of the good stuff and give more time and credence to the stuff that prevented the original from being a true classic.
This is pretty evident from the first main level of the game which starts out well and soon drifts into a rather bland and insipid game.
Not only has the tightly woven world painted with fantastic lighting and detailed textures been reduced to a shimmery poorly aliased grey world of bland textures.... but the fantastic story from the first game has likewise received a watering down. I don't want to say too much on this as it would be a major spoiler regardless.
There have been some improvements though. The forensic investigation parts have been expanded. But makes little difference when you don't particularly care bout what you are doing.
Generally speaking what has most been lost in condemned 2 is 'atmosphere' something the first game had in spades.
So here we are..... two years later after the first game and what we have is just yet another 'ok' fps ... what we certainly don't have is the half life 2 style classic that really could have come from such a great first title.
So... if you haven't played the first, then yes the game is ok and it will fill a few hours of 'entertainment'... but If you have played the first... and enjoyed it - then be prepared for a bit of a disappointment.
6.5/10
I wouldn't say I'm 'hard' to please, but by god they could at least try.
So here I am a few hours into one of my personally highly anticipated titles for 2008 and I hate to say I'm utterly dissapointed.... so i wont. I'll just let this little smiley do it for me
So what went wrong with condemned 2 ?
The original condemned came out of nowhere and was probably one of the only gems at the 360's launch.
It was a game that showcased the hardware and technical prowess of the next generation of hardware, as well as being a highly original FPS that brought a plethora of innovation and reinvention to the table.
In many ways it had similarities to the original Half Life. Not in story or content, but in the sense that it tried to bring something very new to the table and for the most part succeeded admirably.
Also like the original Half Life it was only in the last fifth of the game that the tightly woven tapestry that monolith had weaved began to come unstuck. Namely the decision to turn its final levels into bland zombie generic nothingness (very similar to how Half Life became unstuck at the enf of the game when you warped to the alien world and was made to jump around horrid poorly designed alien levels).....
But despite its flaws there was enough good stuff to make it's sequel one of most highly anticipated from those that had played the first.
So is this the pure refined spirit of the original, minus all the bad things and gameplay tightened to near perfection ala Half Life 2 ?
Well the sad answer is.. a big resounding NO!
Where Half life 2 took everything good, dumped everything bad about the original game, Monolith have bizarrely decided to drop a lot of the good stuff and give more time and credence to the stuff that prevented the original from being a true classic.
This is pretty evident from the first main level of the game which starts out well and soon drifts into a rather bland and insipid game.
Not only has the tightly woven world painted with fantastic lighting and detailed textures been reduced to a shimmery poorly aliased grey world of bland textures.... but the fantastic story from the first game has likewise received a watering down. I don't want to say too much on this as it would be a major spoiler regardless.
There have been some improvements though. The forensic investigation parts have been expanded. But makes little difference when you don't particularly care bout what you are doing.
Generally speaking what has most been lost in condemned 2 is 'atmosphere' something the first game had in spades.
So here we are..... two years later after the first game and what we have is just yet another 'ok' fps ... what we certainly don't have is the half life 2 style classic that really could have come from such a great first title.
So... if you haven't played the first, then yes the game is ok and it will fill a few hours of 'entertainment'... but If you have played the first... and enjoyed it - then be prepared for a bit of a disappointment.
6.5/10
