When the 360 launched in North America Condemned was the title I was looking forward to the most. I'm a Sega fan at heart, and the FPS with no guns seemed like a very interesting way to try something new. Having to use your fists and melee weapons meant getting up close and personal, looking foe in the eye. It also meant you couldn't just stay away from the horror and shoot at it from afar. It worked wonderfully and forced you to go into scary situations. Well, Condemned 2: Bloodshot does everything the first game did right and fixes just about everything it did wrong.

First things first, this game scares the living hell out of me. Whether it's some crazy bum yelling at me from the shadows or the "What the fuck was that!?" moments when something goes scurrying around a corner, the game does a fine job of keeping you on pins and needles. It's weird, I really don't like horror movies at all and don't enjoy being scared half to death but something about the fright level of these titles intrigues me. You're on edge at all times and the game really finds ways to screw with your head. If I play it at night I turn the lights on in the room first, though I prefer to only play it during the day.

Of course as the game progresses you get used to it's tricks and it loses something but they still seem to find a way to get you into some truly terrifying environments, like sending you off to investigate an abandoned cabin in the woods in the middle of the night. Seriously? This can't wait till morning?

The game is entirely first person, and you only see yourself in the 3rd in some of the cut scenes. The effect is thrilling when you're thrown to the ground or fall down a flight of stairs, it's disorientating to say the least but puts you in the same state of mind as the character. Likewise the melee fighting is more intense since you need to get right into the bad guys face and deal with them on a one-to-one basis. It's the same effect employed to great success in movies such as Blair Witch Project and the recent Cloverfield.

The star of the game also has some wacko visions and mental instability, on top of being a complete alcoholic, so it's interesting being stuck in his head while you play. Shadowy figures, a murder of crows attacking, weird guy talking to you in clown makeup... these are just some of this delusions that hit you. It's hard to play through them sometimes, but that's the point. And the effect works really well.

The first game employed some minor criminal investigation segments where you'd find a crime scene and have to do a little detective work. It showed a lot of promise but ultimately felt empty to me since they pretty much told you exactly what you needed to do. This time around those segments are fleshed out and you actually have to answer questions about what you find. Is it an enter or exit wound? Can you identify who the victim worked for? Male or female? So there's the chance that your investigation won't find out what you needed to. Now you actually have to spend some time and make sure you get it right. They're a fantastic addition and give a much needed break from having to make your way through some abandoned school (seriously, is there anything creepier?)

If I have any complaint about the single player game it's the fact that as the game gets close to the end, you end up using guns for combat more than anything else. Normally that's no big deal but having spent so much time perfecting the melee combat and given the benefits of hand to hand combat in a horror game, this is a bit of a letdown.

I understand having to battle smarter and more powerful enemies, but using rifles and riot guns gives you that comfortable distance from the creepy shit, and therefore lessens it's impact. Being able to shoot the weird fucked-up creature across the room isn't scary... having to walk right up to it and hitting it with a pipe is.

For some reason the game includes a multiplayer mode but for the life of me I can't figure out why. If you love multiplayer, maybe there's something here for you but for the rest of us it seems to go against everything the game's about. The whole point is that your left out here alone and put into some scary situations. If you have other people around, where's the horror angle? And since the game is mainly based about melee combat you just end up trading punches anyway. Luckily it doesn't detract from the game but it doesn't add anything to it either.

You can easily pick this one up even if you haven't played the first one. The story overlaps but they fill you in on all the details you need to know about. I really enjoyed the first one but for some reason really wasn't looking forward to this one, I'm not sure why that was. Condemned 2: Bloodshot is really well done and a truly enjoyable game. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go play some more before the sun goes down.

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