I found a lot of horror to love in Condemned. The combat is weighty enough, but we have since seen far better first-person combat systems. For one this old, however, it holds up well enough.

I've an issue with some of this games bland feeling level design, and a bigger issue with the games final two chapters. Chapters one through eight all feel completely standard for this era in gaming; ruined city blocks, subways, sewers, abandoned school, library - it's all here. The last two chapters, however, made me want to drop the game. I didn't, I stuck it out, but it was close.

The supernatural elements that get revealed right at the end after only being hinted at through visions fell flat in my opinion. This game at it's best is about clubbing vagrants with blunt objects you pull off the wall in a scary setting; at it's worst it throws boring encounter after boring encounter at you while you trudge through a dark field.