A Good Video About Condemned: Criminal Origins

we have this almost sickening fascination with being uncomfortable and afraid when we see someone experience horror we empathize were there and feel it for ourselves and I'm not talking about cheap jump scares I mean pure dread that feeling which encapsulates your entire body a total confirmation that you are isolated and helpless movies have been doing this for a while and although we're leaving the so-called horror movie Dark Age I was in a pharmacy awhile ago it was a really good looking pharmacist behind the counter I went up and I asked where the kind of syrup was I didn't even have a car are you joking yes thankfully the horror movie industry seems to be climbing out of this chasm with films like it starring Tim Curry and it comes at night but you will never be able to compare the immersion you have between watching media and actually interacting with it the paranoia and anxiety is tenfold when you yourself have direct input in the situation but being given the reins opens up the canvas of your brain to paint a picture of horror that simply isn't possible with traditional media you think there's something around that corner what should you do do you carefully approach it slowly building up the courage to face it or do you scurry around trying to find supplies and a more appropriate way to defend yourself maybe you charge the enemy head-on turning the tables making you the hunter or maybe there wasn't anything there are all and that's why condemned is genius I swear to God get back a condemned criminal origins is a first-person survival horror game and me being the basic [ __ ] that I am adore both the first-person perspective and the concept of survival horror so the chances of me liking this game are about as high as someone with an anime profile picture being into traps attracts game that is a philosophical question that has been following us since the dawn of humanity do you love your wife even if she had a schlong the size of God then no it is not get all of what God put on this condemned has a focus on first-person melee combat with a heavy emphasis on using the environment as weapons can't find a gun well just go ahead and rip a conduit off the wall they'll be sure to crack some skulls there are firearms in the game but there are rare commodity and most the time they're half spent or worse condemned takes inspiration from thriller horror films like Silence of the Lambs and seven both films star detectives trying to track down serial killers which is pretty much condemns plot how's it going guys and welcome to best trends today we're gonna be going over five fortnight youtubers who's and once you've done all that go down below in the comment section so this is a horror game with much more Western inspiration compared to Japanese the game was developed by monolith who are known now for their recent middle-earth franchise before that they were known mostly for the first-person titles like alien vs. predator to Duke what are we looking at a suicide mission hell we're still short eight soldiers and our synthetic after that last drop the no one lives forever series pardon me do the time no sir I do not have a dime and I don't have much useful beggars are you deaf and their psychological horror franchises fear and condemned also they made the matrix online you guys remember that right and Gotham City Impostors no no apparently the matrix online is also canon guys out of everything monolith made the two that go hand in hand were condemned and fear both were first-person psychological horror games with a focus on combat both were released the exact same year both have a supernatural twist but only one of them you could beat the living [ __ ] out of a hobo and then finish him off like Fiona from Shrek in condemn you plays Ethan Thomas an agent for the fictional serial crimes unit it's your job to investigate crime scenes deduce clues with your near science fiction etch Detective tools and bring serial killers to justice well that was your job because condemned criminal origins features a downward spiral story motif be ready for definite agent Thomas it shall come visiting again if you're a person who watch the shoot sideways the only reason that you would be doing it is maybe you're laying on your side shooting under a vehicle maybe you you have a situation when you're shooting under a table but generally this isn't very effective enemies give up this almost lustful hatred to vent their aggression on you think of the purge but tenfold what allies you have in the game of few and far between and usually stuck on the other side of an impassable object or on the other end of a cellphone also can we take a brief moment to appreciate how good the main theme is it perfectly encapsulates the fact this game will be about being a detective but there's something darker going on I just Marcel were you going with that disc you are not putting that on again myself okay if you press that button you are in very very big trouble [Music] [Applause] [Music] you begin the game with Ethan driving to his next crime scene the only context we have is that there's been a massive surge of crime within the city where is the game set you might ask well that would be Metro City with a name so generic it can only be beaten by the Powerpuff Girls [Music] Thomas I don't got all day here let's get a move on who's that a jump-scare without an audio stinger excellent choice condemned thank you leaving the car you follow your partner detective Dickinson voiced by Peter Jacobs there were only five voice actors for condemned so the majority of the cast had to be extremely flexible with their voice work people are scared we need to get this one follow me bodies this way don't you want to know what it feels like we're not even done Becker here FBI on the scene over and out the opening area you can already see the unset decay of the see everything looks so lifeless and dirty and this rot increases as you progress through the game I know most of you are thinking the graphics look like total [ __ ] everything looks drab and faded but this works massively in condemns favor compared to fear or most first person shooters condemned is a game where you're forced to get your hands day you'll be dealing with most of the enemies at point-blank range and this ugly state the game has works massively for building the atmosphere around that getting up close and personal is key to survival and plays into the story which we'll talk about later this isn't a game with the cover mechanic where you can just safely dispatch enemies aren't you Maria I'm not your Mary walking with detective Dickinson to the crime scene and I genuinely don't think I've had an opening character complain more in my entire life the patrolman on duty said there was a mannequin involved just like a man man oh my god when does this guy die thank you we linked up with the beat cop who called us in and have ourselves a crime scene to solve condemned has a few segments like this where you use gadgets to help you solve clues to progress the story your arsenal of gadgets is split into two sections detection tools and collection tools detection tools used for finding stuff usually leading you towards a crime scene you have your ultraviolet light used to find organic substances like blood and stained bedsheets and tell her myself this shows up bodily fluids does that make anybody else feel sick yes right now I am [ __ ] disgusted your laser light to find inorganic elements and also to annoy the living [ __ ] out of people over Blackheath India 99 has a problem a dangerous one someone in the crowd below is shining a green laser right into the cab of the helicopter and a gas spectrometer used to detect airborne elements usually leading you to a decaying Birds you can pick up what the hell are you doing oh yeah condemned as collectibles by the way metal plates TV sets and the aforementioned birds can all be collected these can net your achievements bore zooming I'm playing on the PC port there's no achievements making the venture [ __ ] pointless plus you probably got bird flu picking up all those dead crows I'm just saying but it's okay guys I've got all the achievements for Dark Souls 3 and that's all the Mars collectibles aren't entirely worthless however because the areas where they're found usually harvest stronger weapons or even guns both of which we'll talk about in a bit while investigating the crime scene we get a call Thomas that's right guys Thomas is a voice protagonist I genuinely thought would ever mute protagonist as Ethan doesn't speak at all during the opening parts of the game Ethan is voiced by Greg gun buck [ __ ] Ethan is voiced by Greg Grunberg Bret great it was it was this guy right remember him no neither neither do [ __ ] I sorry hey it's snap Wesley what's up from one x-wing fighter too many x-wing fighters you guys doing the job only promised probably his most noble role was Matt Parkman in the NBC series Heroes there he played a man of the law with the power of precognition among other things quite a coincidence that Ethan Thomas is also a man of the law and also has the power precognition among other things but we're getting ahead of ourselves I do like Ethan as a character in condemned you can tell he's someone that knows everything is going to [ __ ] but still trying to mellow out but sometimes this goes off the far end where he can sound way too chipper than any normal person would now imagine this is a scenario you're in an abandoned suburb schedule is from someone jumping out are you with a lead pipe you see someone lying dead on the floor you investigate the body only to find out it's actually you how do you think you'd react Thomas speaking you would not react like that Silent Hill 2 had a similar theme making the characters voices abnormal and amateurish so would purposely unease the player oh I'm guy see I play James Sunderland in Silent Hill 2 and I'm here tonight with Dave Shelley who plays Eddie Dombrowski Dave is gonna ask questions so Dave say hi MA custom piece of [ __ ] Eddie what are you doing this was definitely not monoliths intention the voice works which is from good consistency to a total mess Carrodus can deliver a genuinely good speech and then just act like a [ __ ] robot if your character starts to sound like Samurai Jack I think you have a problem yes we're then introduced to Rosa our lab assistant amis she helps ethan with crime scenes and becomes a bigger player as the story progresses we find out that this murder was performed by the matchmaker one of the many serial killers within metro sea legend has it if you're lucky enough to be killed by the matchmaker you'll appear on the game's box art after wrapping up our Scooby Doo investigation detective Dickinson smells of stale meme and goes to investigate he's right above us call for backup now this is officer Becker we need backup immediately and it's here we find out Ethan has had a gun this whole time like I mentioned previously guns are a rarity in condemned and rightfully so as they can end most confrontations pretty much instantly indicate that's what I call [ __ ] a Danish shop they can be found hidden throughout levels usually out of sight places like dumpsters and bins more directly you'll find them being used by enemies most of the time killing you before you get a chance to react this creates a great dynamic as enemies with guns we'll always have them fully loaded so if you're able to kill a guy before he fires a single shot you'll be able to commit your Second Amendment right with a full magazine you need to manually check the ammo as well unloading the magazine to check how many bullets you have remaining games have tried this in the past but thankfully condemn'd isn't near as intrusive [Applause] you can't hold spare ammo reload your gun or carry a secondary weapon so you start planning out the environment urine so you can backtrack and pick up guns you left behind I'd even empty the guns I know I had to leave behind in case some folk grabbed it when I wasn't looking and used it against me this was totally undone however when I found a guy reloading an empty gun that I dropped I killed him and then found the gun fully loaded again condemned give me very inconsistent a running theme I'll bring up more lair dude I did nothing and he started drinking and Estus flasks firefights are very quick and condemned you'll be dead in three seconds or the enemy will shooting an enemy we'll send them into a stun lock animation so they're pretty much screwed the second a bullet makes contact with them but at the same time so a you because even though Ethan looks like a pro bodybuilder he's basically an origami swan there's actually quite a large arsenal of firearms in condemned which is surprising for a melee base game you've got your 45 caliber pistol revolver pump action shotgun sawed-off shotgun m3 submachine gun or grease gun and a mini 14 yet remember that from battlegrounds back to the story and we get a phone call from DOM and DOMA as they give a brief and very vague explanation to what's going on - which we see our first enemy and we saw a very important lesson kill first or die trying' enemies in condemned are ruthless and none are intimidated by you even if you're brandishing a firearm there's no arresting mechanic and condemned and even if there was I don't think these guys would sell for being cuffed federal agent come out peacefully or I will use force again nothing much reveals and I like that the biggest fear in any media is always the unknown and you're always fear but you don't understand so all we can gather is that something is going around the city making people crazy and increasing their aggression tenfold we go upstairs and a given free reign to use r45 on any thugs we see I think we got a problem the AI in condemned is phenomenal they fully utilize the environment to their advantage these aren't just guys with guns that pop in and out of cover to fire a few rounds they'll use any weapon they can find even if it's attached to the walls sometimes you'll even be chasing guys to grab a weapon before they do basically lot pub G but with butts and no screaming Asians anyway Vaughn even though this immersion can sometimes be ruined as they pull a weapon from literally nowhere not to mention they can also feign attacks pretending to hit you so you panic block making yourself open for a free here afterwards and if that doesn't work they'll hide behind cover waiting to jump you but as shown before this is kind of a mixed bag that's because character models in this game are about as broad as Bob the Builder meaning you'll see they're wide shoulders or legs sticking out making them an easy kill [Music] throughout the course of the game ethan has these supernatural moments where you can see visions into the past these visions are always shown in a gritty unpleasant way with the cameras shifting to various angles fairly quickly almost like you're in the mind of whichever person you're viewing that or the Saw movie but I try not to think about the liar okay now he's playing with the change of plans Becca secured that door Thomas check out the building and get these lights back on turning the generator on gives Ethan a shock causing him to recreate the dolphin dive from black ops 2 and in the space of three seconds through a series of unfortunate events you've gone from being the hunter to the hunted this is where you're introduced to the melee system of the game press mouse button 0 2 swing weapon you only have a single functional swing but it changes in whatever direction you're moving moving left to right will produce an angled swing forwards will be a downward thrust so let's answer the hard question with dark souls 3 by looking at the facts did it fail these attacks also depend on what weapon you're using with larger weapons having massive downward attacks that homo your enemy or short little jabs that are incredibly satisfying to use you can also block incoming attacks but your window to block is incredibly tiny so it's more of a power a than a natural block this will recoil enemies allowing you to get a few hits in or just finish them off each of these weapons have their own statistics they need to be considered damage speed block and reach damage and speed are constantly working against each other if a weapon has high damage it's usually going to be incredibly slow and vice versa with a small lead pipe not doing too much damage but being quick to swing block and reach a more subjective usually relating to the size of the weapon with larger weapons like sledgehammer fire axe is having amazing reach but poor block due to the added time to raise them up to Ethan's face what do you think of the fire axe gia and di Milano fei-long y ey I love ice ki-i-i-ng tou is peace later he acts he do SPE anxious on your I see there's no skill tree or leveling up and condemned your toughness is dependent on how much health you have and the weapons you're currently holding you also have a kick ability it's actually really surprising how high Ethan can raise his leg I'm still waiting for that condemned kick only run guys I better I better see one of their videos if you manage to down an enemy without killing them they'll drop to their knees allowing you to finish them with one of four possible moves ram snap slam or punch my personal favorite is the punch is the only finisher where Ethan speaks channeling is energy Oh Jo [Music] the main problem with these finishers is that you need to be directly in front of your enemy to initiate them so you'll finish a fight and then have to awkwardly shuffle to the front to prompt the execution let me just slide in here so the combat system is great for the most part right mix of firearms and melee I mean sure it's fairly surface level but there's a lot of variety to be added with mixing attacks and Lux now allow me to show you the one mechanic that [ __ ] all of that up the Taser was a sick practical joke implemented by monolith games see monolith were worried that they might actually get a game of the Year award and because all of them had social anxiety none of them wanted to appear to accept it so they added the Taser into the game to [ __ ] everything up ensuring they didn't get any awards look at this fight waiting for the invader to Telegraph an attack that you could block giving you the upper hand all these fluid animations it creates this amazing dynamic of dealing with an unpredictable enemy and now look at the Taser yeah about him the Taser takes all the tension out of the game making any fight hiss easy this thing doesn't even need ammo it only has a cool down timer and it only takes in most games eight seconds sounds like a lot but with how slow and methodical condemns layout is plus the fact you only ever fight a few enemies at a time meaning you can stun a guy instant kill him and then run away like a [ __ ] or your taser recharges for another shot if you find yourself in a sticky situation use your taser to temporarily stun your target this defeats everything condemn'd is about a game about getting your hands dirty placed into a level and just cleaning house with whatever means you can find guns don't count however they can be incredibly scarce usually have low ammo and you need to put real effort into getting a hold of one Plus later on in the game they'll grate the [ __ ] thing oh and I also left something there on the counter for you popular modification to the standard taser the super taser instead of just stunning an enemy puts them in an instant knockdown state making it even easier for you to finish them off [Music] look I'm gonna be honest with you if you want to try condemned in the most wholesome way possible stay away from the Taser it makes the game a complete cakewalk and you lose that building tension of what's around the corner when you know you're just instant ko them anyway hey you're a funny man tell us a joke all right we created an amazing survival horror game but the player has one-hit-kill weapons with infinite angle [Laughter] back in the story and we given a fire axe and Dickinson tries to give you a tutorial on how to use weapons you can use things like an axe this is one of the game's few utility weapons these weapons have a secondary use apart from caving people skulls in the fire axe lets you take on the role of Jack Torrance knocking down doors with ease here's Johnny respect it's something that I feel has been lost lately the sledgehammer enables you to break the locks off doors and in lair levels medical cabinets have locks on them so having one of these is invaluable it also kind of looks out the sledgehammer from going over it there's no feeling more intense than starting over although I did find it kind of stupid how you couldn't just use another weapon to break these locks it had to be a sledgehammer it seems that Metro City used the last of their budget to make every lock bulletproof shovels can be used to bypass electronic locks in an intense hacking minigame and finally the crowbar will you channel your inner Gordon Freeman to open up gun safes and commit theft one thing I have to employ you do is bump up the game to hard mode the game is already difficult but on hard mode the tension is racked up to its highest there's something really cathartic about winning a fight and only having one pip of your health left you might get unfairly one shot on this difficulty but hey that's what the tase is for being up the rest of the thugs you enter a force cutscene forced in the sense this guy teleports behind you no matter what direction you're looking how does it feel to be on this end of the gun he spews a bunch of nonsense and then your cop buddies come in to save you and the path takes strange to race please drop the weapon now what the [ __ ] was that human reaction time is a core of a second how can anyone be that god damn slow what a shame and then he tosses you out the window [Music] you later find out this guy wants you alive so why did he Chuck you out of a three-story window fair enough we then see Ethan in his apartment still in his uniform did he not go back to the station I don't even think he called an ambulance we then see him going to the bathroom and have another spooky supernatural vision number 15 Burger King foot lettuce the last thing you'd want in your Burger King burger is someone's foot fungus we then see another figure in Ethan's apartment resembling some kind of Polish hitman the detectives there dead shot with your weapon and you will be blamed for their deaths ridiculous I'll just tell them what tell them the truth they have already decided the truth this is insane I can't just give up the Bureau yeah Ethan not gonna lie most normal people would have gone straight to the police or their respective department to report the incident it's not ever like you were cut off it shows throughout the level the use of your cell phone you could have just used that to call someone you could argue that Malcolm boy Ethan straight to his apartment but Ethan never brings up why he suddenly woke up here and to counter that you could say that he's too busy thinking about the murders of the two offices but to rebuttal that I'm gonna tell you to shut the [ __ ] up and enjoy the goddamn video smash what's your business here my name is Malcolm van Hoyt I'm an old friend of the family please stand clear we need to search the premises you're not gonna ask him I got in the house uh all right then - so what the [ __ ] is wrong with the script this game what the [ __ ] here's a guy using a crowbar this is a common trick with progression throughout condemned giving an enemy a specific utility weapon used to progress I like this idea even though this guy's clearly never held a weapon in his life two more guys show up and were given a brief glimpse of some enemy infighting I love her he kicks the guy out the way just to make sure he doesn't interfere enemies usually don't attack each other by default they just go straight for you but you can pay enemies into attacking each other usually making them hostile until one of them dies actually suck a [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] it's a great mechanic and help sell the fact that everyone's gone batshit insane and they really don't care who they're hitting as long as it's something plus you feel like you're watching a scumbag version of gladiator Thomas speaking how do you know this number anyway ah hell yeah I love news [Music] this is why I love this game the build up but in a totally genuine way no dramatic Gordon Ramsay violin or audio stinger to catch you off guard as the manager Louis that cause hadiya's are you tasting the food I mean you know it's there his labored breathing gives him away instantly also that labored breathing is actually really important there's a lot of enemies hiding behind walls will do that so audio is key in a lot of situations the audio design is one of the best things about this game it complements the visuals amazingly just watch this clip [Music] most of you are probably expecting a jump-scare and even though condemned does have those it doesn't need to the pinging of broken electronics the deep boring home of dying generators and that atmospheric soundtrack it all helps immerse you in this decrepit and deceitful game world there is a soundtrack to this game but you won't even know it's it because of how subdued it is for the most part the most music you'll hear is within the game's cutscenes or it tries to emulate the movies it was based off seriously could you imagine how some modern video game music would totally ruin this game [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you [Music] again no Chomsky condemned understands that true horror is what you can't see entering the public entrance of the station and we shown how friendly the local inhabitants are you can also get a glimpse of some late-game enemies if you're vigilant enough wish that the [ __ ] from Logan poor flocks we head deeper into the belly of the subway network and meet one of the unique enemies of the game game most levels in condemned have a single unique female enemy I'm unsure why there's only the one as most male enemies are reused continuously but hey if you've had girls rejecting you all your life because you're too damn attractive like me then you can channel your inner hatred by beating up some virtual women but the times when you get to be legitimately violent against women is one of the joys in life we're then given another insight on a blockaded path these visions cover this guy in green textures so you're not meant to make out who it is here be a nice touch if we didn't [ __ ] see the guy before we're then attacked by one of Ethan's visions and this should be a really difficult boss fight a difficult boss fight if I didn't find a revolver a minute prior no one vomits like that we see the suspect and we have to track him down I don't know why is called the suspect when you blatantly saw him kill two people what also this guy's one tough cookie how can I tell not even the Taser affects him we see the killer bought a train and jump on the tail to hitch a ride this should be an intense scene a train barreling down a subway network with a killer on board knowing monolith and their amazing audio design there should be some great sound effects coming up now to accompany this scene yeah remember when I said the PC port had bugs apparently it's not the PC port but it's just the Steam port in general there are entire sound assets tray of missing in this version thankfully there's a patch for this and I'll link it in the description thanks a lot to Lourdes Mandalore for giving me the heads up about that yeah that would have been so much better if there was actual audio now we're deep underneath the sea and from here on in we start to realize something isn't quite right where did they come from why they down here what changed them none of this is fully explained and that's a good thing again fear of the unknown your brain can always make up a much more horrific conclusion than the one that's presented to you although the second game totally explains everything and it sucks don't don't play the second game we're then introduced to these big boys and they don't get on with the local inhabitants they can tank pretty much any hit you give them so pretty much the polar opposite to the gremlin-looking guys is that Alma from fear I guess not deeper into the complex and we have to increase steam pressure so the pipes can burst putting out a fire which causes an entire part of the underground to implode yeah again Oh [ __ ] [ __ ] give me a final fight before leaving the subway pits all the enemies we've encountered so far against each other it's a really nice touch you won't be seeing most of these guys again so have fun watching them or fight to the death it's actually a really clever send-off you can watch from afar or get your hands dirty it's totally your choice some detective work leads us to Bart's department store but not before having another reminder of Ethan slipping sanity there's nothing more cool than being hugged by someone you like but if someone tries to touch you in a place or in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable that's no good maybe I have gone crazy buds department store is easily my favorite level in the game each leveling condemned tries to remain somewhat grounded there's no super high-tech military bunker or alien spaceship level every environment was meant to be a grounded place full of people that eventually succumbed to the decay and no other level does that relationship between decay and design fit better than the shopping center it's almost like a slice of Willamette from dead rising dead rising 1 not for that account was [ __ ] you're always feeling like an intruder walking into other people's turf and condemned but here it's taken to a whole new level that's genius throughout the level you're shown this new enemy a type you've never encountered before totally decimating the more common enemy types and when you finally do encounter them it's one of the best horror sobs I've ever seen these guys are amazing they're basically human mannequins taking real ones and carving them up and wearing their faces to disguise themselves you can even see pieces of their mask fly off when you attack them you can even see how repulsive these guys are by looking underneath the masks like the mannequin was their skin and underneath is rotted flesh and vacant milky eyes Oliver unfazed that guy was that I had a gun these people are meant to be insane like I said before but sometimes you could just translate to people in the mortal player game thinking they'll respond five seconds later next up is one of the most psychological horror based parts there's no enemies here to fight just mannequins slowly closing in on you keep in mind this was a few years before the weeping angels even debuted and to come down from that spectacular moment there's a flooded section of the store where bodies are lying on the ground rubbery to good moments condemned house with its horror there's always a third that's a total miss after finding another body we get some revelations of our investigation this guy's the matchmaker well he certainly didn't kill himself and set it up this way this is the matchmaker the guy that killed this woman at the start of the game most of you probably thought this guy was the matchmaker but instead it was this guy a guy that you've never seen up until now yeah the plot is pretty hard to follow in this game and it has very little build up seriously monolith has always had a problem writing story for their horror games yes III put my daughter [ __ ] true yes if I release her you shall kill me instantly she [ __ ] despises me I mean images evolution apparent reason Ariel she can instantly please we then told by Rosa some info on the guy we've been chasing when are you implying that there's someone stalking serial killers so what he goes around killing killers and then he marks off their name and his little personal diary it does but it adds up it almost makes sense damn they must have been running long budget at this point we also make the startling discovery the helicopters a Taser proof my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined well it's too dangerous for me to come to the bureau can you meet me at the city library exactly there's damage but there's got to be a terminal or two still working and no one will know can you meet me there in 15 minutes yeah I wonder what she wants to show him I'm very sorry isn't gonna somehow worsen the pacing of this big [ __ ] game it's a power in the city's becoming a war zone now thugs fighting thugs cops fighting thugs some of the cops even buying each other I'll care about a bog but I love that so much Ethan then gets to drive the only available vehicle in condemned a trash dumpster the trash man with them rewarded with one of the best cutscenes in this entire game what the hell was that library where are you Rosa be quiet [Music] hey smithy Johnson wait up why does the cup not check the door that's already ajar why is Ethan cellphone now his flashlight I'm sure it's all in the law somewhere in the library we can see some enemies akin to Silent Hill yeah right run game guys and we treated too easily the worst moment in the entire game look monolith I get that you read Coraline and saw the guy that turned into rats but just because you saw something you liked doesn't mean it has to be in your game not my condemned we then find the human potato sack that is Rosa now I'm good I don't want it I can't I gotta take it [ __ ] my fat [ __ ] life hopefully this key will get us where we need to go Rosa you do realize you're not holding anything right oh my [ __ ] god what's this a floor color differently to the rest could it be it breaks away and I fall into a pit and that hurt physically or emotionally we then fight a ghost of Rosa for some reason you'd think killing her hair would be some kind of bloodlust from Ethan and you'd wake up and find Rosa dead on the floor but nope she's fine this was totally pointless here take my flashlight I [ __ ] hate this level you'd think it'd be refreshing to have a character with you it's common in most horror games that when you have a friendly NPC you get this huge feeling of relief and safety button condemned you just want a Taser er plus there are these enemies that just show up akin to Silent Hill monsters I don't have any problem with that but you can't just have them show up in the underground it made sense when you saw these horrible decrepit enemies they were clearly people going insane that moved on the ground trying to find safety from all the conflict on the surface but went crazy themselves they're fragile and weak frames show the lack of food there is down here you can even find makeshift beds that they sleep in it makes sense this doesn't make sense if you want these guys in your game to show how screwed the city is then fine but have some context beforehand how convenient okay jump down and see if you can find your way back to the stairs I'll go back this way I could just shimmy across that I could easily just shimmy across that after finding out what the torturer could be where eavesdrop by skx listening to us how did he hear low talking behind reinforced glass look if you didn't already pick up past the midpoint the plot of this game is total [ __ ] so just try and stay conscious until the end next Ethan breaks into the school and is met by everyone's favorite Polish hitman it's going as well as it can be the school is definitely where the Sutherland Hill vibes start kicking in areas have this brownish hue to them and enemies look more contorted than ever and after all that we all my god not on the floor thankfully that overused trope can be ignored because we've got a new enemy type the scavengers are like most enemies but they can take a lot more hits but what I love about them is the way they look and how they fit in this world these are just thugs going out for their nightly purge they've come prepared you could see the supplies fly off their bodies with each strike you give them some of them even use gear and weapons never shown before it's a really intelligent way of world building to show how [ __ ] the cities become and of course for every good part we've got to have a bad part so now we're gonna have a fight with the dinner lady see the problem is her role actually fits clearly she was someone that worked at the school and went insane what her presentation is so poor there's no introductory dialogue she also has no different attack patterns she acts like everyone else but her hitbox is larger it's just pointless there's so much wasted potential here why not have Ethan's insight trigger and show her doing stuff odd no feasting on a carcass or butchering up a guy to show how powerful and dominating she is she could have stalked Ethan throughout the level giving some kind of build up and making you feel you've entered her territory and you're the prey you know much like what the department store mannequins did but no she's a bigger enemy with a larger health pull that's it Ethan stumbles across a lockout where one of the torture victims was placed his gym teacher and this is one of the best moments of pure horror in this game and I'll show you why really though can you take a close-up [Music] he'll sneak throughout this game you've been duped multiple times with the data collection and it's a false sense of security whenever you're taking a picture or scanning evidence you're never interrupted by enemies there's even two instances in the game where you take a picture Rosa says it's not good enough and makes you take another one the train cars and the matchmakers body both of these times nothing happens so why would it happen now I think manipulating this false sense of security is genius sadly this scene is kind of undermined with how nonchalant Ethan is when talking to a half-dead man hopefully help is on the way who did this to you after getting a call from Rosa we find that skx had traces of pesticide on him found only in a particular apple orchard and because the plot demands it Van Horne knows exactly where Ethan is and comes to pick him up little ferret van Horn drops us off at the orchard house and we presented with the best detective scene in the entire game remember what I said the game was best when it was building tension well here it's used with max in the house there are these trails of words only visible with your UV lights each set of words feeds into a different part of the house now the thing is you can't use a weapon while holding your UV light so if an enemy does come running towards you you'll have to watch the animation of you pulling the light away just to ready your weapon and this creates some of the most terrific and naturally terrifying parts of the game there are visual clues scattered around that you might not be alone as well without actually seeing an enemy and that again is just genius it creates this great effect where you start losing trust in yourself for what you think you heard so now I gotta ask the question why are we only getting something so amazing in the second last level of the game the rest of the detective work is completely inferior to this it's just take a snapchat call Rosa collect the sample call Rosa this entire level is made for the game's detective mode I just wish it had more moments like this upstairs we find that the torturer has already killed himself dying by his own methods the exact way skx kills his killers why did you only suspend his lab access now oh this this game look I just want to finish the story and get it out of the way okay we wear the torturous clothes conveniently the exact same fit for Ethan skx comes home and we get the drop on him this is meant to be an intense chase scene but it drops his fully loaded shotgun on the floor so for convenience we'll just use that we're about to kill him but Van Horn knocks us out with the shovel Van Horn tries to talk sense into skx but he's choked out skx wakes us up in the barn and explains to us what literally every single bastard has been saying this entire game I must admit I was a bit dramatic kill them the same way they'd killed their own victims so this serial killer X kills serial killers he takes them down using their own methods he then chops our finger off and at this point I conclude that Ethan is not human no one reacts like this and why is there no blood all this madness kill it now in the final level of the game we fight the most contorted enemies of the game control with us and boy do they take a lot of hits to go down they carry these hella late to by force and as you don't have your flashlight anymore you'll need these to light the way either that or just bump up the game's brightness but you're not a [ __ ] are you we fight these ninja guys Ethan has been seeing throughout all the game's cutscenes again much like the library enemies the students build up just hey you fight these guys now they do wheel poles you have no chance in hell of blocking these guys unless you're a smash Pro so it's best to just run right past them or get a few sneaky hits in now entering the final area of the game got and we can see the final boss you see him there remember all the great times ride together for this amazing build up there was that time in the barn 15 minutes ago and there was at time 15 minutes ago you can't even damage him if you want to is that because he's a higher being and pain is merely a concept to him no it's because like every [ __ ] boss fight ever you've got to take on his underlings before you can fight him afterwards he'll jump down and the end game boss fight begins you know I can see you beyond there right this guy's moveset is actually pretty interesting you think he's stumbled in from Kill Bill or something after fatiguing him we can pull off a metal bracket and he jumps into the ceiling without making a single dent we climb up the ladder and the final showdown begins I do actually like this fight his attacks are mostly well telegraphed so if he manages to hit me I was greedy with my hits or sloppy with my blocking not like these guys I had no idea how they held to count on them Ethan then manages to pull out another piece of metal and we enter what looks like the woods from Silent Hill 4 with a black and white filler exhausting him again you're able to use your dentists degree I just made up 5 seconds ago and carefully remove his braces [Music] yeah that would have looked a lot cooler if you didn't just ragdoll at the end there after returning to the barn Ethan tries to save Malcolm sees a pair of headlights and puts his hands up Susi why is he doing this there's no sirens or anything so this guy could beat up half a city but his weaknesses headlights but of course malcolm was the one in the car were you expecting that you don't care do you I don't know why was Malcolm in the car how did he escape I don't care you don't care let's just let's just finish this right he explains to Ethan that he has hate inside him from all the acts he's done throughout the game and we then realized skx was in the trunk of the car the whole time he's not in his right mind he's stopped the goddamn car now Thomas don't he was a good boy I don't care whether the sick [ __ ] is in his right mind or not think of what you are doing both of you have a chance for redemption redemption listen old man you used me just like he did you you used me to save your precious nephew were a serial killer yeah you're no better than he is [Music] we're then presented with a surprisingly cool scene too bad it doesn't mean [ __ ] seriously this scene is entirely pointless you're given the choice to shoot skx or let him live if you don't shoot him he'll kill himself and if you do shoot him well that's just another body added to the list and I'm saying it's bad not because of the moment but just because of how pointless it is seriously after this Ethan and Rosa link up in a bar and Ethan explains what happened in a purposely vague way because Rosa lets him know that she's wearing a wire Ethan then goes into the bathroom throws up and we get this endgame jump-scare you'd think that I'd be the bad ending right shooing skx means you've succumb to the hatred but know this exact scene plays out both endings if you wanted that jump scare at the end either way that's fine but shouldn't the end cutscene be changed in some way in the ending where you do pop skx Ethan should be talking to Rosa in a more aggressive and impersonal manner you really know how to impress a lady Thomas however I do give points fowl openly vague the reasoning is behind everyone going crazy a cult seems to be behind all this we can tie them to the deaths of the serial killers investigated by your department I know people are gonna roll their eyes in a survival horror game a Colts being behind everything for obvious reasons we use a magical boy in condemned it's kept ambiguous as possible and only referenced which is a great thing like I said before the sequel explains everything and it is completely [ __ ] are you ready for this the madness in Metro City was created by the aura a secret cult with Ethan's family being prominent members they made people insane by placing sonic devices throughout the same the frequency of the sonic device has made people insane and killed off the birds that's why you see the bird corpses led throughout the game this is you by the way well not you more like your inner demon your alcohol demon to be exact because in condemned to Ethan's a alcoholic Rosa I am tired and my head is screaming for a drink so get to the point that's me Ethan Thomas drunk drunk know that look there is way too much to explain I'll just keep it simple the Oro wanted to make the public go crazy to make them their protectors what are the autos motives to create hostility it to unknowingly belong protect us from what tell me and that's it the entire story of condemned is explained and condemned to a sequel bait for a third game that never came out I mean to be fair and condemned to they massively refined the combat and most things mechanically about it are better there are more weapons and Ethan could even use his fists there was also a pretty neat combo system as well including environmental executions you could pull off on enemies plus the detective system was greatly overhauled you even get to deduce clues yourself and you get a ranking on how well or poorly you dealt with each clue blood spatter fans outwards down but the story they also totally ripped off that Detective part from the order of the state yeah nice one guys condemned begins masterfully and it has the self for something beyond a typical horror tile the horror when done right can Unseld even the most be deist of men dragging you into this dark world like you've been here all this time the story does show its cracks in the midpoint however and the comeback can get repetitive over an eight-hour campaign but this is a great game and I implore there all of you play it it's an amazing experience it's almost like the mirror world of Silent Hill no ohno by Konica mirrored in the sense where the combat is refined and impactful but the storytelling just falls flat but both have this dark sinister atmosphere that can just reel you in I would never call condemn the poor man Silent Hill and it is definitely a game you should experience for yourself it's a superb Western horror even though some of the cliches drag it down it's definitely worth your time Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Pyrocynical

Views: 6,096,017

Rating: 4.9420104 out of 5

Keywords: a good video, condemned, condemned: Criminal Origins, petscop, silent hill, gaming, review, analysis, critique, pyrocynical

Id: rGQeMDdS9W8

Length: 64min 46sec (3886 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 06 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/SnapDragon432]

Huh. I was totally expecting DDLC. Looking forward to watching it still!!

[u/[deleted]]

„FUCK YOUR SUGGESTIONS“

[u/[deleted]]

These reviews for me are Pyrocynical's best content yet. It's informative, goes in-depth, with some memes to let the viewers relax for a moment. Good work, keep it up.

[u/[deleted]]

You should make another petscop video, the series is pretty good and I liked your first analysis on it, this one was pretty damn good too

[u/Chaski1212]

This was great! The way you described the environment reminded me of Swat 4.

[u/Eilrachi]

Lmao I don't play horror games and I doubt I ever will but I still watched the whole thing and enjoyed it! Now thats a quality content!

[u/Cyberkhat]

Where did suggestions go?

[u/LittleMissRileyx]

legend

[u/Stultus_]

Thanks dad