Condemned: Criminal Origins -- High Tension.

There are different types of scary. There is the classic Resident Evil something is going to pop out and say boo scare. There is also the Silent Hill I don't want to go down that hallway because of the concept behind what's awaiting there might damage my perceptions. It might mess with me on a core and primal level. Condemned: Criminal Origins uses just the right amount of both styles. Condemned isn't going to shake your foundations, thus far anyway, but it might just make you afraid of the dark for a while. It skillfully employs tension better than any game before it as far as combat is concerned. A couple of factors come into play to make this work. First off, the weapons. You can only carry one at a time, and most of them are melee based. There isn't any carrying around a bunch of fancy firepower like in Resident Evil. You won't be armed with a pistol, a shotgun, a grenade launcher, and rocket launcher with plenty of ammo to spare. You might be lucky to find a pistol, or maybe a shotgun, but when you do, it'll have a few shots in it, and that's all you get. You won't be finding shotgun shells or bullets strewn around the game. It's realistic in that fashion. How many office buildings do you know that are stocked up on ammo to the point of leaving it around for someone to find? That's right none. The world of Condemned reflects that. Finding that shotgun is great, but having two shots left when you find it sort of kills the party, and ups that tension. Being first person, and primarily focusing on melee weapons also greatly adds to the tension. The fact that the enemies are all drug-crazed and in a frenzy doesn't help in calming your nerves. Nor does the fact that they're smarter than the survival horror genre's standard. A lot smarter. The game's sound design also really adds on the tension. You'll often hear them before you'll see them.  It's freaky as hell the first time you hear them and you creep around the corner with only a lead pipe for your defense and you see one of them on the far side of the room. Problem is he sees you too. And he runs over to the wall and grabs the fireman's ax and then proceeds to run over to the lamp and smashes it sending the room into near total darkness before running off somewhere unseen. You can hear them breathing. Mumbling to themselves. You can hear their footsteps. You can hear them banging on the walls. You hear them in the ducts all around you. So far there has been a lot of getting a quickglimpse at them before they scurry off down into the darkness leaving you knowing you have to head into the darkness with them. The game greatly uses misdirection. They'll have an enemy smash or knock something over on your left and you quickly turn that way and catch a rolling trash can as it comes to a stop. Now a cackle and footsteps running off on your right and you quickly spin that way. They've got you spinning and nervous and well on your way to becoming disorientated. You're becoming paranoid. You come to a hallway intersection. You'll try to see as far as you can to the right and left before picking one. You'll quickly establish nothing is there and spin around to check the other way. You'll go down the hallway and keep checking behind you, because it's getting to you. It's one of the most palpable senses of pure tension I've ever felt in gaming. And when they do stand and fight, they're brutal. Smashing them in the head with a pipe can and will often literally send blood and teeth flying. All with the appropriately sickening thuds you'd expect. The fights can be chaotic. Knocking their weapons from their hands will send them scurrying for another weapon, or into a further rage where they'll rush you in a last ditch crazed effort. And what fun it is to fight more than one at a time. Or to find one of them that happens to have a pistol or shotgun. I will also say that the game provided me with to what amounts to easily the biggest jump-scare in gaming. I love the level of tension produced by the game engine and combat. We'll have to see how the story affects things once it starts revealing its truths. As it stands now, the game's combat alone has me not wanting to go down that dark hallway. And that's in the best way possible.