I have always enjoyed a good scare. For me nothing gets your blood pumping like being on the edge of your seat just waiting for something to jump out at you. In that respect I had found what I was looking for when I first tried the Condemned: Criminal Origins demo when I bought my Xbox 360 (once again I will reiterate the importance of demos).

Condemned: Criminal Origins follows Ethan Thomas as he investigates the underworld of Metro City to find a serial killer. Essentially you start the game chasing an infamous murder that ends up killing both police officers who are with you, leaving Ethan to take the blame. With the help of his partner Ethan explores the worst looking and freakiest places in history in an attempt to find the murder and clear his name.

I must say more than anything else I absolutely love the atmosphere in Condemned. Everything from the music to the voices to the lighting to the scenery creates a perfect atmosphere to be completely freaked out. Another thing that I also found very refreshing was the different approach to the gameplay. I liked the way Monolith and Sega tried something different instead of giving us the same old generic first person shooter formula. To begin with, unlike most first person games, there are very few guns. I constantly found myself using the ammunition sparingly and only firing when I knew I had a clean shot. As a result of the lack of guns the game requires you to be more strategic due to fairly intelligent AI. Maybe my favorite actual game play feature was the ability to investigate crime scenes. The ability to investigate breaks up the action very well and flows nicely with the story; not to mention it is just plain fun.

Although the investigation aspects were some of my favorite moments in the game I fell that Monolith really missed an opportunity. For every investigation Condemned holds your hand and leads you to the answers by choosing the tool for you and then using indicators to help you figure out what you need to do. I would have much rather preferred to investigate and find the answers on my own instead of having the game do it for me. Another issue I had with Condemned is that the story really starts to reach at the end. I'm not going to ruin it for anyone but suffice it to say that the story really doesn't set you up for the ending.

I would definitely recommend Condemned: Criminal Origins to anyone who is looking for something different. I guarantee you the game will keep you on your toes for the entire ride. If you go in with an open mind I promise you won't be disappointed.