Condemned: Criminal Origins

Condemned: Criminal Origins is a Survival Horror Game produced by Monolith Studios and Published by SEGA for the Xbox 360, and later PC. It was released in North America on November 15th 2005, Europe on December 2nd 2005, August 31st 2006 in Japan. The PC version was released April 11th 2006. It is rated Certificate 18 for a mature audience only, and in some European countries the game was banned completely. The sequel Condemned 2: Bloodshot was released March 11 2008 for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

Plot

Condemned: Criminal Origins follows SCU agent Ethan Thomas, and his fight against Metro City's most violent criminals, which consist of drug-addicts and violent maniacs, hell-bent on destroying everything they come across. It starts on the scene of a murder by a serial killer known only as "The Match Maker". Believing the Match Maker is still in the building, Ethan investigates, and after getting electrocuted, the suspect steals his gun. Ethan confronts him and the suspect shoots the two metropolitan police officers that Ethan was with, before knocking him out. Ethan then meets a man named Malcolm Vanhorn, who tells him that the FBI have "already decided the truth" about the killing of the police officers.

The next few levels highlight Ethan chasing the suspect through subway tunnels, and finally onto a subway train. Ethan loses him, and travels to Bart's Department Store hoping to find the Match Maker. As he proceeds through, he discovers the Match Makers corpse, posed with a female mannequin, which is the Match Maker's own modus operandi. Rosa decides that the killer must be a "Serial Killer X" a serial killer that kills other serial killers. They meet in a ruined library where Rosa gets kidnapped by an unnamed creature. After Ethan finds her they identify SKX's next possible victim, a serial killer known as "The Torturer", who is currently at St. Josephs school for the Severely Troubled. There, Ethan finds the torturer's latest victim on the verge of death, a former P.E. teacher named Samueal Tibbits who ratted The Torturer out. Tibbits tells Ethan that SKX took The Torturer away before dying. Ethan goes to Apple Seed Orchard, where he finds The Torturers dead body, after he committed suicide.

After disguising himself as The Torturer, Ethan jumps SKX and fights him. He then is knocked out by Malcolm, who is revealed as SKX's uncle, with SKX being identified as Leland Vanhorn. Leland takes Ethan into a barn, where he takes off one of his fingers. Malcolm jumps Leland, and they struggle, with Malcolm saying "find the one who caused all this evil". Ethan witnesses an Oro assassin on the roof and follows it through the fields until he confronts it in a barn and kills it. Malcolm then gives Ethan a lift in his car, and Ethan hears Leland in the trunk. The player is given the choice to shoot or spare Leland. Even if Ethan spares him, Leland grabs Ethan's weapon, and turns it on himself.

The end sees Rosa and Ethan discussing the events, before she writes on a bit of paper "I'm Wired" before leaving. Ethan then goes to the bathroom where he becomes very sick. A beast similar to the one fought in the barn is seen creeping up on him. Ethan then spins around revealing he has the same facial metal pieces that the monsters at the barn had.

Characters

• Ethan Thomas - An expert SCU agent framed for the deaths of two metropolitian police officers. Ethan has psychic connections to Serial Killers, such as The Match Maker. He is responsible for the shooting of SKX, depending if the player chooses to do so. He is friends with Angel Rosa and Malcolm Vanhorn. His boss is Ike Farrell.
• Rosa Angel - Ethan's laboratory assistant,and the only SCU personnel who believes that Ethan is innocent. She helps him through the entirety of the game, and is kidnapped at Metro City Library by an Oro assassin. She is often seen on Ethan's mobile phone, as a mobile source of help, and permits Ethan to full lab access.
• Malcolm Vanhorn - A former friend of Ethan's deceased parents, he is the uncle of the serial killer, known as Serial Killer X aka Leland Vanhorn. He puts himself down as Ethan's friend, but betrays Ethan near the end, when he helps Leland. Malcolm helps Ethan escape by fighting with SKX. During the game, he regularly appears at the end of the level, saying he was 'in the area' or suchlike.
• Ike Farrell - Ethan's SCU boss, and believes that Ethan has gone mentally insane when the two officers were found dead by his gun.
• Leland Vanhorn - aka Serial Killer X, is the game's antagonist. He thrives on killing Serial Killers using their own methods.
• Carl Anderson - aka The Torturer, kills his victims by torturing them until they break and commit suicide.