Condemned 2 manages to deliver that same sense of fear and dread, and there are a couple sequences and areas in the game that prey off of some of my bigger nightmares, but a little past the halfway point things seem to fall apart. In part I chalk this up to the need to make this the middle part in an ongoing story; a story that feels bogged down by the forced supernatural aspect that I don't feel the title really needs to succeed.

If you're unfamiliar with the events of the first Condemned, don't worry, you won't feel too lost in the events of the sequel. All the important parts of the previous title are covered thru dialogue, and outside of a few key carry over characters; you should be able to get a grasp on the events at hand.

Condemned 2 has also improved on some of the aspects that made the first title so unique. While the entire game is done in a first person view, it definitely isn't a shooter, at least for a while. Instead the game focuses on melee combat, in particular the ability to pick up objects scattered about the environments and using them to bash in the heads of crazed junkies, monsters, and the occasional rogue officer. While the first title didn't feature much other than the ability to wield weapons and fists, Condemned 2 uses a pretty robust combo system that allows you a bit more freedom in how you choose to enter a fight.

You can combine the run button with a simple punch to deliver a blow that momentarily stuns an opponent, and then follow that up with a right-left combo that adds a damage multiplier to the attack. Or you can focus on a combination of kicks and punches, or simply parry away your enemy's attacks, and then land a flurry of punches while they recover. Once you've sufficiently pummeled a foe into submission, you can then choose to simply lay them flat with a final attack, or drag them to a number of environmental kill spots that result in flashy executions. The entire system does take a bit to get used to, particularly the timing of blocks due to the unpredictable nature of certain enemies, but once you get the hang of things you'll find yourself enjoying the way it all works.

There are guns in the game that can be found scattered about the environment, but they don't feature heavily in Condemned 2 except for a few of the later levels. Even when you do manage to find a gun, the ammo is pretty limited, so you'll typically only be able to fire off 5 or 6 shots at best before you're back to beating on your opponents. However, in a slight misstep for the franchise, a couple levels will have you using guns thru the entire stage, and since the game isn't necessarily built with gunplay in mind, everything becomes a bit easier. When this happens the ability to scare feels a bit diminished since you know you'll be able to take on pretty much anything you encounter in the game with ease. However, the investigative section of the game has been retooled to be far more involving than the previous title. This time about you're equipped with a variety of tools that you'll need to uncover clues regarding different crimes and sections in the game. You'll break out the UV light to track a blood trail to the original location of a murdered body, and you'll upload various clues and evidence via a PDA and digital camera to your partner to help unlock a bit more story in the main game. You'll also need to pay attention to events in the game, and you'll be graded every so often in the form of questions asked by other characters that result in a multiple choice selection that rewards you with power ups at the end of the level, depending on how well you performed the optional investigations. Most of these power-ups end up becoming incredibly useful, which makes the whole deal feel a bit more important this time out.

The story is also a bit of a mess, mostly because of the supernatural elements scattered about. The main character, Ethan, becomes subject to strange hallucinations that introduce him to a nightmare world filled with a black ooze that resembles tar, and in these areas you'll come under attack from creatures that look like the Tar Man zombie in Return of the Living Dead. These areas are all filled with strange visual effects that get more and more annoying as you progress, and they represent the weakest stages in the game in both gameplay and atmosphere. It doesn't help that one of these stages makes up the first playable areas in the game, which will most likely be a hurdle for new players to get over. However, those areas are few and far between, and "real world" sections are incredibly satisfying.

At the end though, the storyline really dictates the gameplay, and when things start to get weird, they also get worse. It's a shame to say that the game does end on a bit of a sour note when it comes to gameplay, especially with the sudden introduction of a new attack that becomes vital to finishing the game. While the overall pace of the game is spot on, the last few levels feel like the designers were running out of steam with their own product, and wanted to come up with a quick way to finish it all.

I'd also like to see the series adopt more of a personal look that echoes the environment around it, instead of having the characters resemble the Gears of War B-Team. I understand that they're working within the parameters of a certain engine but there's still some room for a bit more personality when it comes to both the heroes and villains in the Condemned universe.

Condemned 2 does succeed at what it what it intends to do, which is providing a truly horrifying experience for a player unlike the majority of "survival-horror" titles on the market. However, a bit of that "new" sheen has worn off the second time around, and while improvements have definitely been made, there's still more areas that need a bit of work. The game is definitely worth playing thru if you're a fan of the genre, and horror in general. The game doesn't rely simply on cheap scares for a quick jump, and instead oozes atmosphere in almost every level and that's what really drives home a true sense of horror for the fans.

Note: The PS3 copy that I played had a certain bug that caused the audio to drop out constantly when played thru an HDMI connection. This bug is still prevalent in quite a few copies of the game, but Sega has assured me that they are currently aware of the issue and working on a fix for it. I have not factored this bug into my score, but I would advise potential players to be aware of the issue before purchasing the game.