Xbox 360 Factor

Games as unique and compelling as Condemned: Criminal Origins™ come along once in a blue moon, and there's a reason why. Not every publisher is willing to take a chance on a new and unproven intellectual property—especially for a brand new, next-generation console—but SEGA® is hedging its bets on veteran studio Monolith to deliver the goods, and with good reason. The darling of Warner Brothers' interactive entertainment arm, Washington-based Monolith is responsible for a string of Windows® PC and console hits that include F.E.A.R., Tron 2.0®, and No One Lives Forever.

The ghetto never looked so good.

Condemned merges effective storytelling techniques from cinema and interactive gaming, and weaves the player into a thrilling adventure packed with suspense, horror, and action-packed moments. While the core mechanics of the game could be represented on any hardware, it truly shines on Xbox 360™. Read on to find out why the game hits its stride on the next-generation powerhouse console.

A Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy
It's one thing to describe a scene or situation to someone, but to truly hit the point home you have to show it. In much the same way civilians didn't understand the horrors of World War II until Saving Private Ryan shoved the Normandy Beach landing down our collective throats in graphic detail, the same can be said of video games. Blocky pixels and long-winded text only go so far to create a mood, but when you can drop a player into a dilapidated abandoned building littered with refuse, rodents, and maniacal derelicts, you truly immerse the audience in the story.

Condemned: Criminal Origins is composed of equal parts crime drama and psychological thriller. Its visuals are inspired by television shows like CSI, films like Se7en, and games like Silent Hill. In many ways, it is a convergence of story telling mediums that effectively put you on the run. From the moment you enter the first crumbling structure you are sucked into the darkness, your path illuminated by a single shaft of light. You feel a stark sense of uneasiness from the things you can barely see, and those things that you can barely hear shambling around in the blackness. Empty beer bottles, broken toilets, crumbling walls—all the signs of decay surround you. And since they're in high-definition, they've never looked so good.

Hamlet this is not ...

Who's There?
Like the Renaissance masters employed chiaroscuro to give paintings a sense of depth and weight, so do the artists at Monolith construct the world of Condemned. Color is used sparingly, but instead substituted for stark contrast, harsh lighting, and long, thick shadows. Brick walls ripple with subtle textures and concrete glistens from your flashlight beam—the effects are used to great effect. You are no longer restricted to moving about in static, flat levels but full-bodied, realistic locations that are so convincing you'd swear you've been there before.

But good looks are only half of the picture. The black shadows and seemingly vacant nooks conceal many things. Weapons, health items—even pipe-wielding fiends—await your discovery. Sometimes, it's only the sound of footsteps or the buzz of a swarm of flies over a rotting corpse that will draw you near. It's not uncommon that you enter a room, only to find evidence that someone (or something) was there a moment ago. Smoldering cigarette butts and disrupted furniture are punctuated by muffled shrieks and distant footsteps; all these things serve to creep you out in ways you've never experienced in a game.

Faceless dolls make terrible toys.

Heavy Barrel
The illusion of realism created with impressive graphics is easily shattered if not backed up with interactivity. The fatal blunder made by so many games is their inappropriate usage of physics. Gamers are too often given superhuman strength to lift and toss weighty objects about like toys, when in reality such feats would be impossible. Condemned, on the other hand, maintains the reality that heavy objects don't fly through the air if you accidentally brush against them.

Instead, modest real-world items like bottles, trash cans, office chairs, and paint buckets react as you'd expect them to. They roll, tumble, and skid the same way as in life, even giving off chillingly realistic sound effects. So whether you've just nudged some furniture in a dark room or dodged an aerial bar stool thrown by a maniacal street urchin, the illusion of realism remains intact because objects obey the laws of physics. A little realism goes a long way.

Condemned: Criminal Origins is a unique game in every sense of the word. To learn more about this truly next-generation Xbox 360 launch title, check out our additional preview and tips coverage.

Article by Franklin Beans