Condemned 2: Bloodshot

[Nembot]

I've heard rumblings that the achievements in this are pretty stingy. The one's in the first game were fairly decent, finding the birds/TV's etc. How do the one's in this stack up?

The achievements are pretty good. There some are combat related and others are related to your investgative prowess. There is also a sprinkling of MP achievements too. There isn`t anything to collect, but there are TV`s and sonic devices to find, so there is still some exploration required.

I managed to get my last achievement in wee hours of this morning, the SKX achievement. So that`s 1000/1000 for me, a really enjoyable game in both SP and MP. I`m surprised to didn`t really get on with it, Bleeders, I thought that it would`ve been right up your street.

[Bleeders]

So did I mate, loved the first one as well. Maybe it's due to the focus on the combat this time that I'm not enjoying, where as the first was a complete surprise, well-paced, and erred more on the CSI-esque side of things.

I actually preferred The Darkness over this. I'll get it polished off though, can't have it sitting there half-finished, but I do concur some of the MP stuff is good fun, different as well.

[Nembot]

I think I`m in the minority that prefered C2 to the original, but opinion is deffinately split it seems.

I had the game a week before trying the MP. I really wasn`t expecting anything, but it was surprisingly fun! I love Crime Scene, me! Could do with a couple of new maps, but will we see em? Maybe not.

[GODZOOKI]

I've heard rumblings that the achievements in this are pretty stingy. The one's in the first game were fairly decent, finding the birds/TV's etc. How do the one's in this stack up?

Single player is pretty stingy! I done perfect runs (all responses, tv/radio tuning's and gold investigations) on normal, FPS and hard and after the three playthrough's i had earned under 400GP's!!

All MP achievements can be easily exploited with an achievement buddy in a few hours!!

[MattyD]

I've heard rumblings that the achievements in this are pretty stingy. The one's in the first game were fairly decent, finding the birds/TV's etc. How do the one's in this stack up?

I only got 145 for a play-through of the story on normal mode, so there you go. A hell of a lot of them seem to be multiplayer only as well.

[Family Fry]

Think the only achivement that could be a swine to get without help is the
SKX Achievement - Kill 9 unique players with the Serial Killer.

So you have to kill 9 different people with this achievement..
Serial Killer - Kill 1000 Players in MP.

Tis an evil one.

Anyways started playing on this last night, thought it was a cool first level now onto searching the hotel still got a good atmosphere but the fighting takes a wee bit time to get used to.

[Nembot]

All MP achievements can be easily exploited with an achievement buddy in a few hours!!

With the exception of "Bum King" and "Restraint... Not". These have to be done on ranked games with a minimum of 4 players present.

The serial killer achievement isn`t too bad. People that play (especially the host cos they start as SCU) Bum Rush can be SCU a few times each match racking up 40 kills per turn. So 100+ kills per game is posible.

As for the SKX achievement, there have been americans and owners of NTSC copies playing for a while and there are a fair few serial killers out there. I hadn`t played much MP and I was already upto 7/9 so I actively tracked down 2 more (in the same game luckily) and shot them in the face, "Achievement Unlocked!"

[Plisken]

Right, the last 3 chapters are crap crap crap - it should've ended after chapter 8 if you ask me (well if they fleshed out the other levels a bit so we have a better run time of course)but i still enjoyed it on the whole, the combat system is aces, in stead of LT to block you press LT and RT together, it's not that hard, master parrying (block just before an attack) and you'll become a close combat monster.

It's such a pity to end the game on such a bum note, the last 2 levels of the original Condemned were my favourite in the game. The last level of C2 is just ****ing HORRIBLE, i was having a Metal Gear 2 moment while playing through it, where i just stare at the TV playing on with an eyebrow raised wondering WHAT THE **** HAS JUST HAPPENED?

With the inevitable 3rd game Monolith need to take it back to the gutter and keep it there - slight SPOILER but the end does give the sense you're off the bottle.

What i'd like to see in the 3rd game is the sense of reality it so desperately needs again, Rosa to put back on around 40 pounds, Ethan to be re-recruited to SCU proper and a nice tie up to all the general madness in a SATISFYING way.

Still the online is fun (on the big maps anyway) and i'm satisfied i've got my £30 worth. I'll play my fave levels over and over because i love the combat so much ( i did this with the first game to) and mop up all 1000 points.

I think this is destined to go down in legend as how a game can completely undo itself in the final 3rd.


Currently up to 5/9 for the SKX achievment, not been to hard - only upto 277 overall kills so i reckon it will come pretty easy

[Bleeders]

Playing this again last night and for me, the controls are ****ing terrible. The Edge 5 sounds generous so far. Surely when you've exhausted all ammunition, it should switch to melee combat, non? Nope, spend half the time ****-arsing about trying to switch back to melee combat and ended up using the U/V scanner in a frantic mess of trying to fight back, my torch flicking frantically as well as I tried to muster some sort of fightba... and I was dead by this point. "I know, surely the game options can tell me what does what?" Nope, nothing of the sort in this over-rated piece of ****.

Most people obviously have no issues with the controls on this, but I think I've established this one just isn't going to win me over, which is a shame since the first was brilliant.

For the things Condemned 2 does well (CSI-esque stuff, not enough of it, recycling of the mannequins), it undoes it with some truly awful design decisions, like the combat for example; was fine in the first one, just seems like change for the sake of it in this.

Reading the spoilers above as well means I really shouldn't bother playing through since the story was getting half-interesting, which to be fair, has been the only reason to crack on.

[Nembot]

A lot has been made of the story and how it doesn`t make sense, but I think I understand it and it sheds more light on the first game, which totally left me in the dark.

Just a slight similarity, but the story of Condmened at this point reminded me a bit of the Matrix..... kind of.

I`m really surprised that have such a strong dislike for C2, Bleeders. I`m defo of the opinion that this game is better than the first. I loved the first game (still don`t know why there were only 970 points available on it though), but I think the combat needed to be updated from the first game.

As great as the game was, I thought the combat was lacking in the original Condemned. I thought it was over simplified, which does have its merits, but combat in the first few levels was "whack", Whack", "block", "whack" and when the tazer became available it was "TAZER!", "whack" and then maybe "boot" if the dude was still alive. I think limiting the tazer makes the second game more interesting and challenging.

I love the idea of going toe to toe with the influenced and punching them in the face, then when I`ve got enough in my chain attack bar going postal like a drunk in a kebab house on a Saturday night.

As much as I love C2, I can`t help thinking that C3 is going to be so far removed from the first two games it`ll be unrecognisable, especially as Ethan is now discovering his "powers". It could end up looking more like The Darkness than Condemned.

[Atticus]

I'm tempted by this but I've never played the first game. Would it be recommended I did before shelling out on this or can it be enjoyed as a stand-alone experience?

[SuperBeatBoy]

I'd recommend it. I have to warn you though, condemned has aged really badly visually. The textures and character designs are hideous. But the gameplay, atmosphere and suspense are still there.

[Plisken]

Nah i disagree with the above, Condemned 1 still looks great , the texture work is brilliant for the most part - still looks a lot better than some recent 360 games!

the character models look a bit funky in parts but they are wonderfully animated and the lip-sync and expressions are still really really good.

One of the few 360 games i'll never sell

[MattyD]

I prefer the look of the original over the sequel because it doesn't have hidious and offensive screen filters all over it and you can actually see what you're doing. The story is also much tighter and more suspensful. Considering you can buy it brand new for less than £20 I'd recommend it even over the sequel.

[mr_woo]

The first is still a great game and very much worth playing, should be able to pick it up for around £15 these days. Classic.

It's also worth playing to see the leap in terms of gameplay mechanics when it comes to the sequel which improved most things gameplay wise from the first game. (though some people disagree with this). This is not a dismissal of the first game or to put it down at all, it's just interesting to see the way Monolith decided to develop the series from a gameplay perspective.

The one thing that honestly did surprise me is people complaining (on forums and even friends of mine) about how sometimes it's difficult to know where to go in the game and how it's got poor level design. I honestly don't understand that, sure the game's got its flaws in terms of story etc but not once did I ever have trouble finding where to go as it's such a linear path and I'm a crappy gamer at the best of times!

Basically, they are both worth playing and still unique and stand out amongst all the other FPS's out there. For me anyway they are both definitely up their in my list of favourite games ever