I’ve just played through Condemned 2 for the XBox 360 for the third time, and I have to say that it is a great, nay fabulous, game. The graphics are great, the story is almost as weird as Bioshock and the FPS mode is fun enough to play through again and again.

What I loved:

1. The Graphics - Gorgeous, clear, etc.

2. The Story - Creepy and weird, with plenty of bizarre twists and turns.

3. The Overall Environment - I can’t stress the creepiness enough. Much like the original, this game is made to be played in the dark with the sound cranked up. I screamed out loud several times. A+ for fear.

4. FPS Mode - One of the reasons I played through it the first time quickly is because I wanted to play FPS mode. While it’s hella easy, enabling me to play through the whole game in about 6 hours, it’s simply so fun I am thrilled they made it available.

There are a few parts that I would change, of course, but overall it’s $60 well spent. The things I would change:

1. Save System
I’d love to be able to save after a particularly difficult period, but this game autosaves. Now, the autosaves are well-timed to occur right after many of the difficult periods, but because of this I did get saved in mid-death or in the middle of a battle several times, which of course means I’d have to restart the entire level. When you’ve spent an hour or two collecting, taking photos, killing bums and slime monsters and getting lost in the map several times, that restart will piss you off quickly.

2. The Darkness
The levels are dark, and rightly so as this is definitely a horror game, but when you can’t see the slime monsters, despite turning the brightness to absurd levels, the playability suffers.

3. Game Modes

While I love the FPS mode and I look forward to the day when there are more than 8 games going on in Multiplayer Mode, I wish they’d made the overall design of these modes a little more generous. I mean, I want to play the game in FPS, but I’d also like to play it in Hard mode with a gun too. As well, it would be cool to choose a Multiplayer game type that offered a starting gun.

Even with all this whining, this game is a 9 in my eyes. I loved almost every minute of it and I give kudos to the developers.

Some hints (spoilers):

Level One - Rock Bottom: The ceiling sacs in the last part of the level are a pain. The first 7 are in the initial room you enter after you see Van Horne captured/killed. One is behind the bookcase near the shotgun. The next 2 are on the way to the tunnel/hallway. When you reach the tunnel/hallway, turn left for 2, one right behind the other. Now, go the other way down the hallway and the last 1 is at the end, in the small dark room with the wheelchair on the left. It’s the one most people miss, so if you are missing just one, it’s probably this one. At this point, you will have 14. Continue towards the end of the level, and you’ll walk right under the last 1 right before you head into the medical area on the right. If you don’t have 15 ceiling sacs by now, you need to turn around and backtrack. My time wasted here: Hours replaying level one to find the darn thing.

Level 11 - Peninsula: I got stuck at the top of the elevator near the end of the level, with no place to go. I noticed that there were others having the same problem, so I decided to post this here. Exit the lift and go straight into the dark room. On the right is a door, and you probably think it won’t open because it’s not prompting you to open. This is either a bug or something the developers did on purpose (not nice, developers), regardless, this door does open. Just walk up to it and press A and you’ll be on your way. My time wasted here: 30 mins.

If you have this game and want to play with me, hit me up on LIVE. My gamertag is Duzins.

Once you’ve put more than 200 hours into a game, you live for the download-able content. I noticed the Nights of the Nine release but haven’t had a free day to enjoy it until yesterday. It was a quick 10 hours or less, but oh what fun!

Now, this wasn’t a silly ‘repair the orrery’ or one of the several homes (Frostcrag Spire, The Vile Lair, Thieves Den, etc.) that we’re used to seeing. Not that I didn’t buy all the others, hey I’m addicted, but I do appreciate the amount of work that certainly went into the storyline of this one. It’s by far my favorite addition. Granted, it could be that I’m just far out of an Oblivion fix, but I think it’s more likely that this is one fine add-on.

Here’s what it offers you:

1. A compelling, epic tale
2. Some gorgeous armor (with bizarre mantle)
3. Yet another place to sleep
4. A chance to find some new places

If you don’t like it, I’d be surprised. Now, I’m a level 33 Monk Bosmer, so the end battles were relatively easy, but the story was really great and the castles, dungeons and ayelid ruins were creepy/crawly just like we like it.

I think I’m going to play through it on my daughter’s character (she’s only a level 10 and has no invisibility) to see how it feels on that level. Let’s be honest though, I’m not going to update the post to tell you how it goes. If you want an update, leave me a reminder in the comments. I never remember to update a post…