Condemned 2: Bloodshot Member Review for the Xbox360

Holy crap, this game is scary.  Hell, it gets the blood pumping before you even reach the title screen, in a fast paced, tense scene in which you learn where the game's violently cool cover comes from.  After completing Condemned: Criminal Origins, I thought I would never again find a game as frightening.  Well, I was wrong.  Condemned 2: Bloodshot is even scarier than the first game.  It makes Silent Hill look like Pony Friends for DS.

One of my complaints with the first game was that while fun, the combat system remained the same simple thing throughout the entire game.  This game adresses that problem head on.  The official GR reviewer said that he thought that the combat system was too intricate for a game of this nature, and while I could see someone thinking that, I don't.  I very much feel that this game retains the feeling of "Get this f*&#ing thing off me!"  It just requires that you do more than the simple block, smack, repeat.

Guns also play a larger role in Bloodshot than in Criminal Origins.  There are some parts of the game where you could theoretically shoot your way through an entire level if you're careful with ammo.  These parts are pretty fun, but I personally like the all melee parts better, because they are scarier.

The graphics are more than serviceable, and a notable step up from Criminal Origins, but that's to be expected as the first title was a 360 launch game.  The technical aspects of the graphics are slightly above-average for your high-buget/high profile 360 game, but the art style is just fantastic.  The locales, enemies, everything, just works so well it's amazing.

The sound is the best I have ever heard in any game ever.  Low, evil laughter, and grunts/groans, just ooze the brutal, violent atmosphere, and before long you'll be nervous to go any further.

The story and voice acting is great, although the plot falls apart slightly towards the end of the game.  I really like the early scenes, though.  In just the first scene you'll be fighting with leg braces and prosthetic limbs.

Forensic investigations return, and are refined to make for a better, more free experience.  Last time around, you weren't allowed to choose what tool you used when you used it; the game just kind of forced you through the crime-scene investigations.  Now you have to examine every aspect of the body and the environment surrounding it to come up with correct information to feed your contact at the Serial Crimes Unit.  This is so much more immersive it's almost unbelievable.

So, that about wraps it up.  I think that this is a fantastic game.  That it makes Resident Evil 4's "scary" scenes look laughable says it all.  This, in my opinion is the best survival horror game ever made.  There are a few trip-ups here and there, but no one game is entirely perfect, though fanboys will try to tell you otherwise, but for a title in this genre, Bloodshot comes pretty damn close.  Anybody who likes horror, or even thinks they can handle the frights this game throws at you shouldn't hesitate to pick this gem up.