FPS without guns

by ERIK LEIJON

Two games from 2007 I enjoyed far more than most critics were a couple of alternative first-person shooters: The Darkness and Call of Juarez. I consider them alternative FPSs because neither placed much emphasis on the shooting aspect of the genre when so many of their peers concentrated on packing as many weapons and multiplayer modes as possible into their Doom clones.

The former was a story-driven comic book adaptation with captivating character facial animations and voice-over work, the latter a sparse, atmospheric, gun-slinging Western. Bioshock was another FPS that utilized the unique camera perspective (literally seeing through the protagonist’s eyes) to fully immerse players in another world, and Condemned 2: Bloodshot (X360, PS3/Sega, Monolith) is an adventurous project in that vein. Even if the gameplay isn’t very innovative, the single-player story mode is both frightening and intense.

Not a radical departure from the first Condemned (one of the first successful new franchises of next-gen, might I add), what separates this series from other FPSs is that very few guns are used—most of the combat is done with fists and random items hero Ethan Thomas finds lying around. It might not be sexy to advertise a game where the alcoholic main character beats homicidal speedball junkies with toilet seat covers when Halo spacemen are engaging in flashy high-tech warfare, but fans of gritty crime dramas might find a non-sci-fi/fantasy angle more palatable. In Bloodshot, the rust belt-esque Metro City has descended into anarchy and the homeless population has transformed into bloodthirsty degenerates. A disheveled and unshaven Thomas rejoins the police force to solve a case involving his old mentor.

As a reformed police officer, Thomas has to search for evidence pertaining to his case in the most dilapidated areas of the city, including an abandoned hotel with drug addicts as tenants and a creepy doll house factory. Taking place exclusively at night, every mission involves tight spaces, very little light and unstable murderers lurking in the shadows. Because of the need to keep things dark and for highly detailed shadow effects, Condemned 2 is the result of developers thinking in the high-definition age. Even with your flashlight permanently on, visibility is terribly reduced, making you susceptible to attackers in your peripheral vision—and thus only adding to the tension. Occasionally, Thomas will examine crime scenes with typical cop show tools, comparable to the eventual CSI: Bumtown (or East Detroit) spinoff.

My only complaints are the personality-lacking boss battles, which don’t expand beyond the punch/block/punch fighting template. The character designs were weak, especially since I was hoping for the bosses to be psychos worthy of supervillain status. Ironically, the only new modes not seen in the first Condemned are online multiplayer, and none of them pack much replay value due to the limits of a melee-only combat system. Deathmatches could be described as glorified bum fighting, so there are a few chuckles as whiskey bottles are being flung.

Condemned 2: Bloodshot is far from perfect, but it’s also unique and worth exploring. For anyone seeking an FPS fix, give Condemned a try before you disappoint yourself with another lame flag-waving war simulator.

Ask a Ninja

Ninja Reflex (Wii/EA, Nunchuck) deserves a kick in the won tons. While I actually had an hour or two of fun playing this reflex testing game for the Wii, it’s just that charging $50 for six extremely short mini-games goes down like bad sushi. Ninja Reflex—the only North American game I can recall to feature actual meditation practice—would be a suitable $10 virtual console download, but not selling full price at retail.