Back at E3 2006, I had a chance to sit down with Condemned 2: Bloodshot's producer, Conatantine Hantzopoulos, who showed me an early demo of the game. The focus was mostly on the game's enhanced forensics mode, the expanded and impressive combat system. Along with this, Hantzopoulos also demoed what he called "Hobo Fight Club."
In this sneak peek at tonight's X-Play hands-on of Condemned 2, Hantzopoulos goes into detail about this new mode, which is now been renamed "Bloodshot Fight Club." As not to upset the strong hobo gaming community, I'm sure. The object remains the same -- it's you versus a collection of the game's dirty, bloodthirsty hobos. Thrown in a room, you're left to not only defend yourself, but to bloody the crap out of as many opponents as possible. As you can see from the demo, the combat system has been markedly improved from the first game, with context sensitive actions, and nifty environmental brutality.
Tonight's X-Play will feature even more footage when the show airs on G4 at 8pm ET/PT. Also to make you insanely jealous, Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb will also go head-to-head in Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii, further perpetuating the completely unwarranted and immature disdain some of your guys seem to have for the hosts.
I was pretty impressed with the variety of the combat. There's some pretty great things you can do (pull arms out of sockets, smash people through televisions, light people on fire), and most of that was said to translate into the multiplayer experience, which is even more exciting. It was interesting to see a first-person game that wasn't necessarily a "shooter" per se, get an online mode I was interested in. Hopefully it'll come together.
The forensic stuff was also very cool. It was definitely more puzzle oriented, with the game asking you questions (is the subject male? female? old? young? did someone drag the body from another location?) that would help you "solve" crimes. Seems like a cool idea, and I was told they'd be (mostly) optional.
2) Pick up baby, pull pin.
3) Throw baby.
4) ???
5) PROFIT!
Condemned 2 looks like instead of building a better storyline, characters and overall game experience they just went the cheap route and just added to the melee combat and included some more macabre finishing moves. It's like Rambo-syndrome where each new installment they just make the body count higher and the kills more gruesome.
I have high hopes for the story and gameplay in C2. The backstory that was unlocked by completing achievements in the first one was super creepy and I would love to have it expanded on.
*possible spoiler alert*
Did anyone else notice that the level with the babies in it looks a lot like the last house with Serial Killer X from the first Condemned? Maybe we'll be revisiting old haunts?
I might give it another play through before 2 comes out...
:(