Condemned to Obscurity

There is something about horror games. Something about being petrified. Something about having the absolute crap scared out of you which is highly addictive. I love playing through an atmospheric pants filler, however, there aren't many in the market.

Of all the games developed there have only been a few, for me, that have been truly scarey. The original Silent Hill on Playstation was one of them. With its twisted multiple endings and warped sense of place. The haunted house level in Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines is an absolute classic. Even elements of Call of Cthulhu have managed to push the horror boundaries in gaming.

Condemned doesn't seem to have received its just deserts. It is one of the most atmospheric games I have played. Even though I have played through most of the game before I started replaying the game again (I acquired a 2nd hand copy on Xbox 360 from a retail outlet at an overinflated price). In the first hour I had managed to jump out of my skin twice. Even letting out an uncontrollable exclamation from my mouth (much like a girly squeal) on one occasion.

This game must have been looked over by many people because of FEAR. FEAR was Monolith's baby. It received all of the marketing dollars with it's multiplayer action and supernatural subcurrent. However, I think that Condemned is a better single player experience than FEAR. I don't think that the AI is as well developed as in FEAR but it is complicated enough to maintain the game experience. Monolith are also brave enough to create a flash light that didn't loose power every 30 seconds. The stength of their game meant that even with the flash light turned on all of the time that they could still maintain the atmosphere of the game. Then there is the limited ammunition supply. The weapons in game (those which aren't blunt objects) have a maximum of one clip and (if you are unlucky) a minimum of a bullet. Which meant that you had to manage your ammunition and make extremely well placed shots in order to survive. There is also a brutality in this game which is an inherent part of the back story. This game is not for the squeamish. The game creates a situation where every encounter with an enemy is a brutal fight for your existance. Not a shoot out at longe range, but a hand to hand fight for your life.

Then there are the mannequins. There is nothing more frightening than walking around an abandoned shopping centre while being followed by mannequins. You know the shouldn't be moving. They should be inanimate objects. But instead they are threatening.

If you haven't checked out Condemned then definitely see if you can pick up a 2nd hand copy or purchase it online. This game is one of my favourite atmospheric horror games. It is also good to see that the Xbox 360 version runs just as well, if not better, than the PC version.

Unfortunately, if a game does not sell well within the first month of release it doesn't last much longer. This makes it difficult to catch a good game sometimes if a developer hasn't poured millions of dollars in to marketing it. By the time someone you know has played it and made the recommendation the game has been discontinued and impossible to find.