As disgraced investigator Ethan Thomas, your search for your missing partner plunges you into a twisted world of psychological terror and bone crushing brutality. From found weapons to high-tech forensics, you must use anything and everything to survive...

Condemned 2: Bloodshot is the follow up to SEGA's Condemned, which was one of the launch title for the Xbox 360 back in December 2005. Almost two and a half years on and the basic idea is pretty much the same, but SEGA has altered quite a few elements in a bid to improve the game.

Condemned 2: Bloodshot is a first-person action thriller immersing players in a world of psychological terror. Following a string of gruesome murders, players must use their deductive skills and brute force to track down sadistic serial killers.

Players assume the identity of Ethan Thomas, former Serial Crimes Unit investigator, who has been called back to duty to track down his missing partner. The disturbing events from Ethan's past have left him a broken man - a desperate burnout drifting aimlessly through society in an inexplicable decline. Fighting inner demons throughout his one-man investigation into a sinister conspiracy, Ethan needs to use anything and everything in the environment to survive as he unravels the mysteries shrouding the city in darkness.

As Ethan, players engage in visceral combat using a variety of firearms, blunt instruments and a new fighting system complete with defensive and offensive combo chains, as well as grapples and holds. To help track the killer and solve the mysteries behind Condemned 2: Bloodshot, players crack open an all-new set of high-tech forensic tools. Using wits and brute strength, murders can be solved a number of different ways to keep players guessing throughout each suspenseful investigation.

While the basic plot sounds promising, there are quite a few negatives. Firstly the environments are all too similar. Go into a rundown hotel and room after room looks the same. Yes, I know that hotel rooms all look the same, but this makes it difficult to work out where on earth you've been and where you are going. It's only after a couple of levels have been completed that you are shown how to use your GPS, camera, and other gadgets you are carting around with you. Now maybe this is all carefully explained in the instruction manual, but as usual with review games all we receive is the disc.

The worst crime is some of the vocal acting. The female newsreader has obviously never done any vocal work before, and I'm surprised she got the job. She's sounds terrible (she has a fake regional dialect that sounds forced, and there is no emotion at all in her voice).

The plot becomes a little too tedious too soon, and then endless roaming and punching/shooting enemies soon starts to become way too dull. To be honest, if you've got the first game I don't think I can seriously recommend this sequel. It's far from bad, it's just not as good as it should have been. Someone forgot to put some interesting gameplay in here.

6

Pete Boomer