I just got Condemned the other day, and so far I am not liking it very much. The melee combat is too hard for me.

What are some strategies you guys use? I try to block the bad guy's swing, and as they stagger back, I hit them. Right after I do that though, the bad guy does this really quick counter spin hit that is impossible to block (at least for me).

I lose about half my life bar after every single encounter with a bad guy. If two of them team up, then I am in a serious world of hurt. The part at the beginning of Chapter 2 where the 2 bad guys jump over the fence behind you took me 5 tries before I got past it (and this is still the beginning of the game, so I am definitely going to have a hard time as the game progresses and enemies get stronger).

Is it better to use slow weapons that do more damage, or fast weapons that do less damage?

I do sometimes use the taser to stun them and then run up and disarm them. This seems useless though as they either grapple you or run for a new weapon. They are much faster than my guy so I can't keep up to kill them before they get a new weapon, and the grapple attack they do seems to do more damage than a weapon-based attack.

Also, what is the trick to get them to fall to their knees where you can use the digital directional pad to do a finishing move on them? I have had that happen a couple times.

It's been almost a year since I played this game but I do remember not blocking all that much. The taser is a must. I believe I used that a ton. Tase them and run up and knock the shit out of them with a powerful weapon. I think it mostly has to do with timing.

Hang in there. It is a tough game, but well worth the frustration.

I played it for the PC, but I think they play pretty similar. I didn't block a lot, blocking seemed pretty unreliable for me. I usually got the guy to swing first then ran forward swung and backed up, then repeat. If you go in swinging wildly you will just keep getting hit, you have to take it slower and more methodical. I definitely found it difficult, I quicksaved and reloaded a lot, but it is a great game and you should definitely keep playing.

Any word on a sequel to this? It's a great unnerving atmospheric game, although some of the gameplay could be tweaked a bit.

If they did do a sequel I'd like to see some more variety in the missions. Maybe add some stealth to some of the chapters... perhaps you have to sneak into a house full of psychos to get a piece of evidence, but if they discover you're there you are more or less toast. It would add to the tension when you accidentally kick a bottle. And the stages should be less linear... I think it's silly to build a stage that's a makeshift maze because the hero can't jump over a desk or clear a pile of chairs.

I'd also like some more variety in the enemies and the combat in general. Instead of just random psychos jumping out at set intervals, maybe you could be pursued throughout a stage by one really tough s.o.b. who random attacks you and flees.

I also would like to see more done with the forensic aspect. At least don't hold our hand throughout the process... let us try to figure out what tool to use and when. You could still give some subtle hints... 'What is that smell?" "Is that blood?" etc.

And if you're going to make the firearms so scarce, at least make them powerful. In fact, the whole weapon/lack of inventory thing needs some work. You should get one forearm and one melee, just make the ammunition scarce. I hated picking up a pistol only to find out that it only had one bullet in it and now I'm stuck pistol whipping a bad guy who's swinging around a fire axe.

All in all it's a great, scary game. It just could be even better if they improved things here and there.

Yeah, I just bought and completed it last month. What Michael and msdmoney said were pretty much on the money. Basically swing once and run back. Let them swing and miss and get another hit and repeat the process. This is a little trickier when there's more than one guy, but just keep an eye on your surroundings and you should find space to pull back. I actually did use the blocking after a while, which is surprisingly effective once you can time it correctly, since it knocks the guy off balance giving you a free shot. If a guy with a gun appears rush him when he's reloading or tase him because those shots hurt big. Keep the Fire Axe as long as you can (that was by far my favorite weapon). The BigBoys at the end could be a bitch when they attack you in numbers along with a ninja dude (this was outside the orchard).

From what I've read in interviews with developers (EGM maybe?), they initially let the user pick the forensics tools and figure things out on their own, but it became too complex. Users became easily confused, and would be attacked while having a tool out and what not. It pulled you out of the story and instilled frustration instead of advancing it forward, which I can see happening.

With 6-8 different tools, it would become tiring figuring out which one to use by trial and error for every room needing investigating. I didn't mind the game choosing for me.

I also didn't mind the weapons. Once you get the hang of it, melee is the only way to play. It also made it more realistic that there were only a few bullets in a gun that you pull off an enemy. Not to mention, like you said, it made things interesting when you are in the middle of a battle and realize the gun isn't going to do it.

I was not able to get into the game much. I did jump at a couple of spots, but the controls for this were terrible. It reminded me of Resident Evil controls, before RE4 came around.

I never had a problem with (eventhough I didnt like) Resident Evil controls before RE4. I just put up with them. After RE4, I realized that I didn't need to.

How so? It's a first person game where RE was 3rd person with static camera angles.

The controls, not the camera angles.

I don't see how the controls compare to RE at all. RE had digital tank like controls. You push right, and instead of going right, your character rotates right.

Condemned has the typical FPS control. Left analog controls movement and right analog controls looking/aiming. If you hate this control method, you must hate FPS controls in general because it is the same.

The only thing I hated about the control was how fricking slow your guy walks, and his stamina meter for running runs out in literally 5 seconds and takes 15 seconds to recharge. He needs to workout more if his stamina is that bad.

Yeah, I know that's what you meant but I don't understand the comparison. One is a full first person game and one is third person. Which part of the controls do you feel are similar?

I just replayed this the last 2 days to get the remaining 18 achievements [birds, medals, finding all melee weapons, using only Melee] that I was missing. Now I've completed them all but WTF with only being 970G. Anyway this game is still great even 2 years after the first time I played it. I never looked at the extras that each achievement gave, so it was cool to see the [pretty long] early version video [named "Dark"] of the game.... with a forensic dude helping u out and with super fist powers!

now time to replay 2!

At launch MS had a bunch of rules about Achievement points. Nothing over 1000 which included DLC. They also had a rule that you couldn't have more than 50 achievements that are worth points (Kameo had more but they were all worth 0).

The Condemned team planned on doing DLC so they reserved 30 points for that eventual pack (making the game worth 970). Unfortunately someone goofed and they used all 50 of their alloted achievements in the game proper instead of the intended 49 (or less, depending on how they were going to break up that 30). 1+1+1= 970 points.

Oops, damn them... Thanks for the info.

This was a great game. Sat on my Pile of Shame for a while but glad I finally got around to it.

[#3]

[So as u can read above] This was my 3rd time playing this game. Still enjoyed it and still scary as fuck. ... the cool thing about it this time is that I played it with only using melee and finished with 48/50 Achievements. Then I just replayed chapter 7 & 8 [where all 6 weapons are available] and shot weapons and got the last 2 remaining ones.



(#4 NBA 2K6, skipped it) (#5 NHL2K6) (#6 Need For Speed MW, skipped it) (#7 Project Gotham Racing 3, skipped it)

on to the next game, (#8) Call of Duty 2 [on Veteran!]

I played twice to get all the achievements. However, I'm looking at upgrading to a projector this year, so a replay of Condemned might be in order once that happens.

YES! play it again, still loved it. I knew what was coming but still had a couple of jump moments.
This is still one of the best use of 5.1 in a game.

COD 2 is a great game but very difficult on Veteran. Good luck.

Most Wanted is one of the best racing games on the 360. If you have any love for arcade style racers, you should as least check it out.

I suck at Racers, that's why.

yeah no shit fucking 3 hours to finish one fucking level!!!!

Make sure you have a couple of extra controllers on hand because you may throw a couple at the screen on the last level. Especially those fucking mortar crews.

yeah but It's a beautiful GEARS 3 system so I can't throw them

I'm 4 levels away from completion.

My copy arrived today from gohastings for just under $5 shipped. Can't wait to play through this again after 5+ years since last time.