Review- Condemned: Criminal Origins

(Xbox 360; $59.99; Rated M for Blood/Gore/Intense Violence/Strong Language; condemnedgame.com)

(four and a half stars)

While Phoenix is defending those wrongfully accused of committing murder, FBI Agent Ethan Thomas is hunting down those who have wrongfully committed murder. Specifically, Agent Thomas is on the trail of the “Match Maker”- a serial killer who poses the bodies of his murdered young women with store mannequins as if they were on a romantic date.

Thomas is blind-sided while chasing the Match Maker who uses Thomas’ gun to kill two police officers and takes off running. Framed for the murder, Thomas has to clear his name while stopping the Match Maker from killing again.

Adding to the madness is the fact that the underbelly of society has become progressively more deranged and unstable, attacking anyone near them. Are the killings and the violence of the homeless, addicted, and deranged connected? Why do I keep having hallucinations? And what’s with all of the dead birds everywhere?

That’s a taste of the atmospheric creep-fest that’s “Condemned.” Isolated from almost all normalcy, players control Thomas through a first-person perspective- relying on a flashlight and sound cues to protect themselves. As there’s a scarcity of firearms and ammunition, players will pick up a cadre of brutal weapons- from pipes to fire axes to mannequin arms- in order to beat his blood-thirsty attackers into the ground.

The developers really know how to create tension and draw it out until becoming sufficiently freaky. Even in the beginning stages, players have to investigate a condemned building while searching for the killer. Unidentified movement can be seen in the distance down dark hallways. The lighting and shadows, combined with the ambient sounds of silence, will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up as you tensely turn corners into who-knows-what.

The game is brutal, disturbing, and really friggin’ cool.