Condemned: Criminal Origins - Page 2

CaptNKILL · 06-22-09, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NaitoSan

It's not a traditional first-person shooter. The focus of the experience is on improvised melee. This game is a survival/psychological horror game. I finished it without using a firearm on hard difficult. Can you do that?

If you enjoy The Silence of the Lambs and Se7en, then you would find this game fun and enjoyable.

Eh?

There isn't anything psychological about the game.

And I can't find a reason to care about going through the game without using a gun because the melee combat consists of a single attack (which does the same thing with every weapon) and its already boring enough as it is. If the game is so psychological, it shouldn't need to focus on achievements to keep it interesting.

The Silence of the Lambs and Se7en were excellent movies because of the plot and the characters. This game is 90% smacking hobos with pipes and 10% of everything else... and I still don't see how its psychological. I don't call a flickering film noise effect while walking down a black-and-white hallway psychological. Its just a gimmick they carried over from FEAR.

RoachMojo · 06-22-09, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaptNKILL

Eh?

<snip> This game is 90% smacking hobos with pipes and 10% of everything else<snip.

Agreed. I also picked it up and found it to be so boring even half-way through that I just stopped playing it. I fail to see how it garnered so much hype.

[edit] OTOH, I am finding Penumbra to be quite chilling! Got all three on that steam deal for $5 and holy crap it's pretty creepy...

CaptNKILL · 06-22-09, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RoachMojo

Agreed. I also picked it up and found it to be so boring even half-way through that I just stopped playing it. I fail to see how it garnered so much hype.

[edit] OTOH, I am finding Penumbra to be quite chilling! Got all three on that steam deal for $5 and holy crap it's pretty creepy...

Yeah, the Penumbra games are far more suspenseful than this game. They aren't perfect but they're good for indy games.

LORD-eX-Bu · 06-22-09, 03:35 PM

mm... yeah I tried this game too, it blew ass chunks. My friend wanted to beat my ass for telling him to buy it

CaptNKILL · 06-25-09, 03:34 AM

Well I just beat it.

It was decent, but nothing I'd run out and recommend to all my friends. It was rather short as well at around 5 hours max (compared to the 15 hours I spent on Dead Space

).

The plot was kind of loose and some things in the second half of the game weren't explained enough or were just skipped entirely, but the general story was worth following. It seemed like the plot was sort of unfinished at times and the surreal flashes\visions were there as distractions so you wouldn't think about it. As a "horror" game, it never got to me once... but games rarely do because I have nerves of steel.

The non-action parts are original but way too simplified for my tastes. Still, they get points for trying to make something more than a standard shooter. The voice acting and script are decent enough to make the investigating portions interesting, though it would have been nice if these segments actually required some kind of thought from the player.

The combat is the main focus of the game and sadly its far from perfect. First off, its EXTREMELY simple. The weapons are all pretty much the same, despite all the different stats. The whole thing seemed a bit thrown together... like they made a basic combat system and when it was too easy to just do the usual hit-and-run melee attacks, they broke the hit detection so you had to use the block button more just to be safe. There really isn't any other explanation as to why they would allow a 2 foot long weapon to hit the player from 10+ feet away. The redeeming factor of the combat is that the enemies interact with their surroundings (and each other) when attacking. I really got a kick out of watching some big oaf flailing at me and taking out 2 or 3 little irritating guys that were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Other than that... the combat system was too simple, not gory enough (no dismembering or even any blood most of the time), the hits seemed to register randomly, and the guns are neutered by unrealistically poor accuracy and no ability to reload or save ammo. Overall the combat worked, but it wasn't the quality I'd expect from a game that was so action oriented.

The sound effects are some of the best I've heard, and the EAX HD effects (using ALchemy in Vista) were very noticeable and immersive. The combat sounds definitely made hits feel a bit more visceral and punchy. The voice work was solid and convincing as well.

The graphics are overall decent with good lighting and lots of small (though non-interactive) objects cluttering the scenery. But there were some horrible blur shaders that made some scenes really hard on the eyes. It wasn't bloom either. I tried a few things and nothing seemed to get rid of the pixelated blurry haze in some areas. Its obvious that the game's effects were created for a low resolution (console) display. Also the character graphics are pretty bad. Seriously, Rosa looked like a low-poly burn victim and Ethan looked like a 1999 version of the marine from Doom 3. What were they thinking showing close ups of those things?

Other than that, it ran well, looked pretty good, never crashed or glitched in any significant way and it wasn't a hassle to play.

Despite all the complaints it did manage to hold my interest straight through to the end. So, overall I'd say its a decent game if you find it cheap, or if you like games that use white noise and screen flashing effects to scare you (that doesn't really do it for me).

I give it a 6/10.

**crainger** · 06-25-09, 04:35 AM

Dolby Digital is far superior to ... Ah it's no fun without Redeemed.

CaptNKILL · 06-25-09, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crainger

Dolby Digital is far superior to ... Ah it's no fun without Redeemed.

... aww... I miss him.

CaptNKILL · 06-26-09, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slaWter

Where is Redeemed anyway?

He got smart and decided to do more with his spare time than sit around here like us bums.

Mr. Hunt · 06-26-09, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaptNKILL

He got smart and decided to do more with his spare time than sit around here like us bums.

False. He got stupid and is playing WoW... freaking idiot.

06-22-09, 03:35 PM	#16
LORD-eX-Bu Horus the pointy master Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 4,609	Re: Condemned: Criminal Origins mm... yeah I tried this game too, it blew ass chunks. My friend wanted to beat my ass for telling him to buy it __________________ ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ!

06-25-09, 03:34 AM	#17
CaptNKILL CUBE Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: PA, USA Posts: 18,844	Re: Condemned: Criminal Origins Well I just beat it. It was decent, but nothing I'd run out and recommend to all my friends. It was rather short as well at around 5 hours max (compared to the 15 hours I spent on Dead Space ). The plot was kind of loose and some things in the second half of the game weren't explained enough or were just skipped entirely, but the general story was worth following. It seemed like the plot was sort of unfinished at times and the surreal flashes\visions were there as distractions so you wouldn't think about it. As a "horror" game, it never got to me once... but games rarely do because I have nerves of steel. The non-action parts are original but way too simplified for my tastes. Still, they get points for trying to make something more than a standard shooter. The voice acting and script are decent enough to make the investigating portions interesting, though it would have been nice if these segments actually required some kind of thought from the player. The combat is the main focus of the game and sadly its far from perfect. First off, its EXTREMELY simple. The weapons are all pretty much the same, despite all the different stats. The whole thing seemed a bit thrown together... like they made a basic combat system and when it was too easy to just do the usual hit-and-run melee attacks, they broke the hit detection so you had to use the block button more just to be safe. There really isn't any other explanation as to why they would allow a 2 foot long weapon to hit the player from 10+ feet away. The redeeming factor of the combat is that the enemies interact with their surroundings (and each other) when attacking. I really got a kick out of watching some big oaf flailing at me and taking out 2 or 3 little irritating guys that were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Other than that... the combat system was too simple, not gory enough (no dismembering or even any blood most of the time), the hits seemed to register randomly, and the guns are neutered by unrealistically poor accuracy and no ability to reload or save ammo. Overall the combat worked, but it wasn't the quality I'd expect from a game that was so action oriented. The sound effects are some of the best I've heard, and the EAX HD effects (using ALchemy in Vista) were very noticeable and immersive. The combat sounds definitely made hits feel a bit more visceral and punchy. The voice work was solid and convincing as well. The graphics are overall decent with good lighting and lots of small (though non-interactive) objects cluttering the scenery. But there were some horrible blur shaders that made some scenes really hard on the eyes. It wasn't bloom either. I tried a few things and nothing seemed to get rid of the pixelated blurry haze in some areas. Its obvious that the game's effects were created for a low resolution (console) display. Also the character graphics are pretty bad. Seriously, Rosa looked like a low-poly burn victim and Ethan looked like a 1999 version of the marine from Doom 3. What were they thinking showing close ups of those things? Other than that, it ran well, looked pretty good, never crashed or glitched in any significant way and it wasn't a hassle to play. Despite all the complaints it did manage to hold my interest straight through to the end. So, overall I'd say its a decent game if you find it cheap, or if you like games that use white noise and screen flashing effects to scare you (that doesn't really do it for me). I give it a 6/10. __________________ ---- Primary Rig ---- CoolerMaster 690 II Advance - Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 4.0Ghz + Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme 6GB DDR2 @ 942Mhz 5-5-5-20 1.9v (2x1Gb Wintec AMPX PC2-8500 & 2x2Gb G.Skill PC2-6400) - EVGA Geforce GTX 470 @ 750/1500/1850 (1.050v) Sparkle Geforce GTS 250 1Gb Low-Profile (Physx) - Crucial RealSSD C300 64Gb SSD - Seagate 7200.12 500Gb SATA - Seagate 7200.10 320Gb SATA ASUS VW266H 25.5" LCD - OCZ GameXStream 700W PSU - ASUS Xonar DX - Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Surround - Windows 7 Professional x64 ---- HTPC ---- Asus M3A78-EM 780G - AMD Athlon X2 5050e 45W @ 2.6Ghz - 2x2GB Kingston PC2-6400 DDR2 - Sparkle 350W PSU Seagate 7200.10 320Gb SATA - Seagate 7200.10 250Gb SATA - Athenatech A100BB.350 MicroATX Desktop - Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic

06-25-09, 04:35 AM	#18
crainger Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia Posts: 29,535	Re: Condemned: Criminal Origins Dolby Digital is far superior to ... Ah it's no fun without Redeemed.