Seven years after I attempted my first playthrough of Condemned: Criminal Origins, I've finally finished it. In doing so, I have to say Condemned brings some really interesting ideas to the table with its melee combat system and narrative; on the other hand, Condemned has certainly aged in some ungraceful ways including plenty of performance issues, goofy collectibles, clunky hit detection, and its CSI mechanics being nothing but cheap (but still entertaining) gimmicks.

For an Xbox 360 launch title, Criminal Origins suffices as an intriguing combat-centered horror experience, which never outstays its welcome in its relatively short, yet sweet story. If you're wanting to experience a classic horror title, definitely give this a shot on later Xbox systems which somewhat negate some of the performance issues found on the 360.

Have had this on the backburner for many years and finally got around to it. The game excels in its atmosphere, with every location feeling decrepit and grimy. That is just accentuated by the enemies and combat being brutal to the point the game has an almost snuff film vibe to it. The combat being mainly melee focus makes each encounter much more tense as you cant just run and try to kill an enemy from a distance, you gotta get up close and personal. The game does have guns but they are pretty spare, and when you get them you are only able to kill just a few enemies before you gotta switch back to melee. The story is serviceable, the characters are interesting and their oddities add to the overall weird psychological atmosphere. I personally really enjoy the direction it takes throughout the game, though there are parts of the story that are a bit confusing and underexplained, but I expect the second game will clear some of that up. I highly reccomend giving this game a shot for its unique mix of melee combat and atmosphere which creates some genuinely tense and scary moments

It's fair to say that I wouldn't be a fan of horror games if it wasn't for Condemned: Criminal Origins. This game has not aged well in any aspect, from its depiction of endless hordes of violent homeless people terrorizing a city to its sluggish gamefeel. However, Condemned's oppressive atmosphere and decaying cityscapes are still quite unique - I can still think of a handful of images that have stayed with me for years - and its world and story are still amazing, particularly its ambiguous ending. I strongly recommend it to those who are likely to enjoy it. Though there are certainly some rough edges, this is still a great (and quite influential) game, and one of my favorites in its genre.

I didn't expect much but the AI really impressed. The hobos tried to stay hidden and prepare surprise attacks, but also often started infighting after accidentally hitting each other. The levels could be described as very cramped and linear, but the way they looped around and were set in dark and seedy dumpsended up turning that into a positive thing. The audio was also very atmospheric.

What wasn't great was the final chapter. That's where the linearity became too apparent and the combat got repetitive, and the last fight especially was an unenjoyable difficulty spike because of the arena it was set in.

I love so many of the things this game does. The first person perspective melee combat is decent, and I love the focus on guns being rare, powerful, and having limited ammo. Having to actually pull the magazine out of the gun to check how many bullets you have left instead of just having a bullet counter on your HUD is awesome. I really wish there were more games out there that would treat the actual realities of gun use to balance combat in a different way.

The game's got some pretty good atmosphere and decent scares at points. A lot of this is owed to the game's great sound design. It feels a little weird to be a cop on the run beating up dozens of insane homeless people with a pipe, though.

The actual plot is a light touch to be sure, but taken as little more than a series of spooky segments connected only loosely by a thin narrative framing, it's one of the more effective horror games I've played, even if it does eventually kneecap its own sense of horrific grounding by taking a hard left turn at the traffic lights into Bonkersville. Feels like I'm playing a horror game, not watching an interactive horror movie, and given its age and the frankly terrible state of the genre both before and since, I'd call it a resounding success.