Zero Punctuation loves Condemned 2 ... until halfway through

by Alexander Sliwinski { Apr 16th 2008 at 7:30PM }

Zero Punctuation's Yahtzee beats up sleep-deprived hobos this week for his Condemned 2: Bloodshot review and, up until the midway point, was all set to name it "game of the year." Apparently, Condemned 2 suffers from the same disease which afflicted Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit to our European friends), where the game took a left turn halfway through and players were introduced to concepts that ruined everything built up to that point. Those who played Indigo Prophecy (and were enjoying themselves) probably remember the moment that game went from intriguing to ridiculous.

Get your homeless-beating fix after the break with this week's NSFW review of Condemned 2: Bloodshot.

Tags: condemned, condemned-2, condemned-2-bloodshot, condemned2bloodshot, escapist, yahtzee, zero-punctuation, zeropunctuation

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Kael @ Apr 16th 2008 7:47PM

And he does another fine video. Bravo!

aReEeNeN @ Apr 16th 2008 7:50PM

Look forward to Wednesdays every week now! Thanks Yahtzee!

Mromson @ Apr 16th 2008 7:51PM

Woot! MOAR ZP! Boring game though. =P

Maverick Saturn @ Apr 16th 2008 7:51PM

hilarious

Kael @ Apr 16th 2008 8:04PM

Help list some other games afflicted with "Indigo Prophecy Syndrome".

Perfect Dark Zero: Near-future spy adventure turned loony with the introduction of the Graal and its ability to give people magic powers.

Platinum_Skeet @ Apr 16th 2008 8:35PM

Breakdown for the Xbox is a perfect example...

Mr Khan @ Apr 16th 2008 9:35PM

Some of the Metroid games have ventured into that, like all of Metroid Prime 2, or Bryyo on Metroid Prime 3

t_m @ Apr 17th 2008 3:53AM

Call of Cthulhu: Dark corners of the earth.

I guess that being based on lovecraft it was required to have weird monsters, but in all honesty the 1st half of that game rocked, where you had no weapons and it was essentially a FPS adventure game, and all the lcals were scary.
As soon as it went off into undersea labyrinths inhabited by seamonsters it became pretty generic and dull.

Then of course there is always Xen, which managed to ruin the best game of all time.

Mortigi Tempo @ Apr 17th 2008 6:42AM

Yeah some of you guys really weren't getting the gist of what he was saying.

A Fahrenheit Moment is not when a game suddenly goes bad half way through, but when all the details you liked about the game are suddenly smothered in heaps of incoherent bullshit, usually involving cults, magic and an OLD LADY EMBODYING THE INTERNET WTF FAHRENHEIT. Ahem. Xen is none of this.

LesbianHam @ Apr 17th 2008 9:59AM

Don't remember it too well, but Perfect Dark 64?

Very cool game, cool shooting, infiltration, story, etc. Then about half-way through the bad people are actually aliens in disguise, then you meet another alien named Elvis and you guys go to what I only remember as other planets and kill some deeply religious aliens.

ScottyGEE32 @ Apr 16th 2008 8:05PM

Makes me wanna try Condemned 1.

Raikage (LDF CRAB BATTLE!!!) @ Apr 16th 2008 8:31PM

First game to make me scream out loud... Well besides playing Ninja Gaiden on hard... If you wanna count that:D

Brian Fantana @ Apr 17th 2008 2:45AM

You should. It's a much better game.

snarfoogle @ Apr 16th 2008 8:08PM

Man if Yahtzee was scared I have to buy both these games now.

Brian Fantana @ Apr 17th 2008 2:47AM

Unfortunately, Condemned 2 isn't scary in the least.

Fullmetal Salchemist @ Apr 16th 2008 8:15PM

Uncharted did the same thing; I have called it "Indigo Prophecy Syndrome" ever since I played the game. It goes from cool murder mystery, to Matrix rip-off, to a plot twist ripped straight from every sci-fi movie in the '80s (OH NOZ! A computer program becomes evil and sentient... and apparently it also comes to life...)

Fullmetal Salchemist @ Apr 16th 2008 8:16PM

I should clarify: Indigo Prophecy does those things.

Uncharted starts off as a pretty cool action-adventure film thing, then OUT OF FREAKIN' NOWHERE vampire monsters attack you.

Ethan @ Apr 16th 2008 8:55PM

The middle of the plot of the game was ripped out. It might all have made sense if left in.

Shagittarius @ Apr 17th 2008 11:18AM

So all you guys complaining about this I guess you hate the Indiana Jones movies as well then eh? Cause they have indigo prophecy syndrome as well.

tooPrime @ Apr 16th 2008 8:16PM

The Indigo Prophecy comparison is interesting, and the reasons he cited is why I do hate that game, however I didn’t have the same problem in Condemned 2. Although the story does go off the deep end, the protagonist started the game off crazy and insane. I mean the first level is made of tar… Condemned 1 and Indigo Prophecy were relatively realistic only to go completely bonkers later, and Indigo Prophecy sucked in general, but that’s another story.

Jase @ Apr 16th 2008 8:20PM

indigo prophecy was still great, despite the DBZ turnaround.

even his hair went blonde. wtf.

Shmil @ Apr 16th 2008 8:26PM

I would've used the True Crime: Streets of LA syndrome. Why did i play it? I was a fool!

Raikage (LDF CRAB BATTLE!!!) @ Apr 16th 2008 8:37PM

I'm pretty sure he just alluded to the song Rockin' The Suburbs by Ben Folds.

"Being British, middle class and white..."

"Lemme tell ya'll what it's like, being male, middle class and white."

If you have doubts, Ben Folds currently lives in Australia, same as Yahtzee:D

Amazing review, I loved the lights on the head...

BTW here is the video to that song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUkiFLURt38

Amazing artist...

j.howlett @ Apr 16th 2008 8:55PM

haven't seen that vid in years. still hilarious.

Raikage (LDF CRAB BATTLE!!!) @ Apr 16th 2008 9:04PM

Yeah, Weird Al directed it, also, Ben Folds played the piano in Weird Al's album Poodle Hat.

Poisoned Al @ Apr 16th 2008 9:04PM

"I'm just a regular Joe, with a regular job
I'm your average white, suburbanized slob
I like football and porno and books about war
I got an average house, with a nice hardwood floor"

ronald.raygun @ Apr 17th 2008 12:43AM

ben folds divorced his wife, now lives in tennessee. but he did live in australia for a while. but yeah i see the reference.

Shmil @ Apr 17th 2008 1:04AM

@poisoned AL
you know, you really are an asshole

BIGGEN @ Apr 16th 2008 8:44PM

i was loving the hell outta this game until halfway through the lodge level when i died and then continued and only one button on my controller worked!

got over it, started the level over, made it through all the way until you first get the sonic scream. had to quit and go to bed (cause i do work), when i tried to continue the next day, the game wouldn't recognize i had a saved game! checked in my system memory, sure enough, there it is. never did get it back, so i never finished the game i loved that turned into a piece of shit. good thing i only rented it. still pisses me off.

Jeff @ Apr 16th 2008 8:46PM

Scully and Mulder definitely did get it on. Twice, at least.

But other than that, spot on.

Cox Attack @ Apr 16th 2008 11:15PM

Dude The Descendents are the greatest punk band ever.

And this review had A Specials song which is the greatest ska band ever.

This game was good until the end. It really sucked. The boss fight was a joke. I loved the shit out of the first one, and the ending of the first one was great. This one was just....I don't know. The "new" Ethan sucked too. I just wanted to punch him the whole time. Just a lot of poor design choices.

mr mobius @ Apr 16th 2008 8:48PM

I want a ZP T-shirt.

Cutty @ Apr 16th 2008 8:51PM

I'm sure you mean 'Indigo Prophecy to us US/Canadian residents' considering it was developed in Europe (France). Where it's called Fahrenheit. =D

And yes, I realise Yahtzee said that.

Gordon @ Apr 16th 2008 8:59PM

Hey, I loved all of Fahrenheit, but you're right, there was a very definite point where things when batshit insane.

THE WICKER MAN (BWF) (GT: Dalek Prime) @ Apr 16th 2008 8:59PM

great game i agree the twist is SOOOO stupid. the game tries to steal from Millennium as well.

Burn2 @ Apr 16th 2008 9:15PM

Zero Punctuation is the funniest thing since jesus
http://www.burnedbytheman.com/politics/the-gamestop-conspiracy-the-final-solution/

Cephas @ Apr 16th 2008 9:24PM

Every week I forget that this is coming, and then I see the post on Joystiq, and I'm like, "Hey! Awesome! I almost missed it this week, but I just keep getting reminded!"

mopo @ Apr 17th 2008 5:21AM

me too!

Markez @ Apr 16th 2008 10:03PM

Ahhh crap. I picked up the 2nd Ratchet n Clank game for PS2 and Indigo Prophecy for XBox at Blockbuster for a measly 2 for $5 deal, and now I feel ripped off even in spite of the fact that I've only put like 20 minutes into Indigo Prophecy.

Oh woe is me, woe is me. At least R & C is always a hell of a deal.