Hands on: Condemned 2 demo is short and sweet

I’ve finally downloaded and played the Condemned 2: Bloodshot demo from PSN. I also queued up the Turok demo since I’ve never tried it either. By the time I’ve blown through the Condemned 2 demo, the Turok download was still stuck at 37% and it was already growing dark.

I guess that meant people were starting to wake up on the other side of the world and PSN has just gotten a little more crowded. Well, there’s always continuing it next day.

The Condemned 2 demo is visually sick in a good way. The city is appropriately dark, the environments look decrepit, the framerate is buttery-smooth, and all the trailers that you’ve seen does not give the game any justice. I wasn’t too pleased with some of the other textures used in the trailers, but seeing it all in action is very different.

Black goo is slick
One particular imagery that’s quite prevalent in the level I’ve played is the black goo that covers a large portion of the environment. When you zoom in real close, the black goo’s texture still looks fantastic. If you walk over it, there’s that appropriately thick sound of stepping over something gooey.

For that added freaky factor, humanoid creatures covered in slick gunk crawl out of the black slime. It takes just one blow to dispatch each, but they’re pretty quick so it can be tricky to finish one off without taking damage. Fighting mano-y-mano with the “regular” thugs were more entertaining because you can pull off devastating combos. Executing these moves weren’t as simple, however. Timing had a lot to do with landing more bone-crushing blows so button mashing is definitely out of the question. One can pick up a lot of items strewn about in the environment for that extra edge. However, if you use something too often, it would break soon enough.

Short and sweet
Unfortunately, the Condemned 2 demo was over too soon. The download took longer than the actual playthrough. While the experience was short, one would realize that this first-person game isn’t the typical 10-hour action title. The pacing is very different, there’s a forensics feature that I have yet to try, and a fresh emphasis on melee.

I’m willing to believe that you (yes, you reading this right now) have better internet speeds than I do, so I recommend you give Condemned 2 a spin—it’s quite fun. Just beware of that wanting feeling because the demo is short and sweet. I just hope I can get my hands on a complete version soon.

Image of Condemned 2: Bloodshot is courtesy of Sega, Monolith Productions, and Lunch PR.