You take the role of the same character from Condemned, but rather than being an SCU agent right off the bat you're drunk. Drunk and halucinating. The tutorial stage has you chasing after a halucintion of Ethan Van Horn, the mysterious old man from the first game who helped you out. You get some quick training in combat basics and get plenty of opportunity to explore the environment. After this stage you team back up with SCU, who are looking for the real Van Horn. When the investigation reveals that Van Horn's nephew, the serial killer called SKX from the first game is possibly still around, you start hunting him. This hunt leads you into a deeper conspiracy that goes through the ranks of SCU, the city government, and even into the ranks of national leaders.
Combat is simple on the most basic levels. The right and left triggers allow you to throw a punch with the corresponding fist when you are unarmed. Picking up one of the plentiful weapons let you swing in the corresponding direction, and the right trigger fires any guns you might pick up while the left trigger steadies your aim. Also of use in combat is the ability to kick by pressing the right thumbstick button. Kicking doesn't do much damage, but it can push your opponent back for a moment, giving you the opportunity to land a punch. The left shoulder button lets you charge, and you can deliver an elbow to an opponent's face. The right shoulder button throws whatever object you're holding, and throwing a weapon at a foe's legs can trip them up, giving you yet another opportunity for an attack. Pressing both the trigger buttons at the same time lets you block and opponent's attacks. Time it just right, and you'll make the attacker stagger, giving you - you guessed it - another opportunity to start landing attacks of your own.
Added complexity to combat comes in the form of combos and environmental kills. Combos are a string of attacks that give you a multiplier to your damage, letting you finish a foe more quickly. They range from simple left, right, left to combos that require you to parry and then start hitting. Combos also earn you charged attacks which start a slow-motion sequence of attacks that devestate your opponents. At their highest level you end these attacks by snapping an opponent's neck. When an opponent is down on their knees you can finish them off by dragging them over to objects in the area and perform multiple different finsihing moves. These areas are clearly marked by white skulls visible only while you're dragging your stunned opponent, and the finishing moves are fun to execute.
All of these factors make combat fun, though fighting multiple oppoenents can require some work. Later levels require more use of firearms, something that I don't think game handles quite as well, but in a pinch you can always chuck that empty automatic rifle at your opponent, bum rush him, and then unleash a combo on him ending with an environmental kill or a charged attack. And then you can pick up his gun and keep on dishing out bullets.
The game has more going for it than just slaughtering enemies. There's some faux-forensics work to be done, requiring you to use your evidence kit to examine crime scenes and find clues. Your kit includes a GPS unit that doubles as a communications device, a UV light to help find blood spatters and trails, a spectrometer that can identify odd sonic vibrations in the air (and apparently traces of formaldahyde as well), and a digital camera. Once you've entered a crime scene you'll be directed by Rosa, you partner in the forensics lab, on what to look for first. You'll then get a series of choices to choose from, allowing you to identify evidence. For example, if Rosa wants you to try and identify a victim, you might start by identifying that he's male (getting the choice of either male or female), his age (chosen from things like adolescent, adult, elder), the clothes the victim is wearing, and any other features. After you've chosen all the evidence the game wants you submit it to Rosa, and the game informs you how well you did by rating you as poor, good, or perfect. Getting a bad rating doesn't stop the game from progressing, as Rosa normally finds your mistakes and helps you move along. The forensics work puts a nice touch to the game, harkening back to the original Condemned, and really helped me to feel like the main character was actually a trained SCU agent.
The storyline is about average. It verges into the scifi in what seems like a departure from the more realistic original game, though the storyline makes the more fantastic elements of the original Condemned make more sense. You interact with a number of other characters and a "response system" is implemented, requiring you to press the A button within a certain period of time to react to an event or statement. They could have left this part out, but at least it's something. Most of the story is told through cut scenes that take place between the different levels. When you beat the game make sure you wait through the credits, or you'll feel letdown by the last sequence. They've definitely left room for a sequel.
The downside of the game is that things can sometimes be hard to make out. For example, while being asked to identify a body by looking at the victims wallet, I couldn't actually make out the name on the ID because there was too much light reflecting off the wallet. The graphics are otherwise very good, but when you do run into this problem it can be quite frustrating. The game also has a few sequences where you are chased by something too tough for you to fight. For example, a killer bear. These sequences are frustrating, not in the least because if you do something wrong you're dead. No chance to escape again, just dead. Still, the game doesn't penalize you (at least that I could tell) for dying, so you have plenty of opportunities to get things right.
Overall, Condemned 2: Bloodshot for the Xbox 360 does a lot of things right. The hand to hand combat is some of the best I've played, and the forensics element of the game helps keep things from becoming a non-stop slugfest. The story is of average quality, and may seem a little "out there" compared to most of the original Condemned's story, but it did make the ending of the first game make sense and served to create a setup for a sequel that I can look forward to. Finally, a few areas where it can be hard to make out parts of evidence or sequences that are either "make-the-right-decision-or-die" detract from the game, but the game forgives your mistakes enough to keep on playing.
Ultimately the game made me want to keep playing it through to the end, and I had fun doing so. What more can you really ask from a game? 4 out of 5 stars ****.
End of Demented Rambling.
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