Guest Review:Internet Wifey does horror video games.

I am reviewing the video game Condemned 2: Bloodshot. Why am I starting with number 2? Because I haven’t seen or played the first one. After playing this one, I can guarantee you that I am going to be looking for a cheap copy of it(not because it is bad, but because I’m a poor college student and everything has to be cheap before I get it).

The horror in a video game usually never gets past a level of disgusting that the Silent Hill series as well as Resident Evil have capitalized on. Warped and disfigured creatures, that can no longer, or never even were considered human run around trying to kill you, eat you or otherwise maim you. I see the allure to these games, but they never rise beyond grotesque and macabre.

Condemned 2 seems to take to real horror rather than disfigurement. The enemies are mostly human and human-like even in their most depraved states. **Spoiler warning** The story is based around Ethan Thomas, an ex-police officer turned drunkard who must face the horrors of the present day world. Gangs, insane serial killers and just about everyone in the world it seems, it would to make life hell. To make matters worse for poor Ethan, he has random blackouts where he encounters another world. In this world the buildings, the people and the crimes are all the same, except for the tar and ash.

Thick tar covers every crevice, cranny and body. You must face the people who are suffering from this tar infection. Many are simply bleeding the tar from various places in their bodies, though as you progress they become more and more tar-like, while still possessing a completely human form.

Those that do not seem affected by the tar are in fact, just as much a part of Ethan’s mind as the rest of this world. Upon their deaths, most likely vicious and unpleasant deaths, they burst into black, bleeding tar. Ethan must survive this world of his own invention before he can come back to the real world where he must hunt for Serial Killer X. There are a lot of twists along the way, including help that Ethan could never have expected to receive, and the discovery of a power that while centuries old, is rare and precious. **Spoiler End**

The way in which the bad guys are made is by far more terrifying than any disfigured zombie could be. A man bleeding tar from his eyes and mouth as he tries to wail on you is far more frightening than a zombie that just needs shot in the head. A junkie, that suddenly appears behind you, while the speakers play his stoned, high-pitched cackle in surround sound, was enough to make me want to crawl out of my skin and see if I could fit beneath the couch. The tar pitched world that exists in Ethan’s own mind draws on the terror of the world that Ethan truly lives In at first and then becomes more and more depraved, expanding so far as to hang man-like beasts from the ceiling who hide in giant balls. They only open when you are close enough to be grabbed, choked and bitten. The vision of that wide, disjointed mouth gaping at me was enough to give me nightmares for days.

It was the terrifying, almost human aspect of this game that made me want to stop playing, and yet that same aspect made me have to finish. The plot was great, the voice acting was fitting to each character and the bad guys of both worlds are as memorable as they come.


Rating: 5/5 You just can’t find a better game that instills fear with a great storyline.