Raw, brutal and savage beatings are the order of the day in Condemned: Criminal Origins, an original first-person action game developed exclusively for the Xbox 360. You play as an investigator tailing a serial killer while struggling to keep your own sanity, as you face off against what seems like an army of depraved sociopaths. Condemned's impressive graphics and bone-crushing hand-to-hand combat sequences make for a visceral, highly atmospheric experience that's quite unlike anything you've ever played before.

You play as FBI Agent Ethan Thomas, a sullen man who's part of the Serial Crimes Unit, so it's no surprise he's not very cheerful. The game opens with Agent Thomas on a routine assignment; somebody has been brutally murdered in a seedy part of town and Thomas is there with the police to work out what happened and to clean up any lingering mess. Without ruining the storyline, let's just say that things don't quite go entirely according to plan. Thomas ends up implicated in some serious crimes of his own, but not before he has a run-in with a crazed madman who spares his life. But why? Bent on finding both the truth and his insane assailant, Thomas goes off on his own with nothing but a cell phone, a Taser stun gun and his forensic tools to aid him. The only other person he can depend on is a female colleague of his who's willing to stay in touch by phone, helping Thomas to analyse forensic evidence so he can slowly connect the dots that lead to some disturbing discoveries. The dark, engrossing story of Condemned starts out strong and has its moments along the way, but unfortunately, it doesn't take centre stage during what's mostly just a straight-up action game with an intriguing premise. As Thomas begins to question his own sanity when faced with unbelievable evidence, the narrative purposely takes some incoherent turns, causing you to wonder if there's any hope of a satisfying resolution.

It's too bad the story hadn't been more developed. As it stands, answers to some of the most important questions raised by the game (for example, what the hell is wrong with everybody?) are relegated to loading screens in between chapters rather than to contextual exposition. So instead, what Condemned boils down to is cautiously exploring dark, dilapidated buildings while confronting and ruthlessly beating down violent thugs bent on smashing your face in. Except it's not quite as great as that makes it sound, because the dark, dilapidated buildings and, somehow, even the ruthless beatings start to get old some time before the nine or ten hours it takes to finish the game. You'll find yourself sitting there waiting for the game to take a huge turn and just give you that little bit more, something different, something edgy, and it sure comes darn close, but it never quite goes beyond a threat, merely teasing you with potential while inundating you with repetitive gameplay.

Condemned is pretty much your basic first-person shooter, except instead of shooting, there's mostly lots of pure, bloody brawling. For some strange reason, there's no real bare-handed combat, but improvised weapons are everywhere. You've got everything from metal pipes and nail-covered two-by-fours, to fire axes sledgehammers and signposts. Each weapon is rated differently for speed, range, power and defence, though the differences can be pretty subtle, so it'll often come down to a subjective choice. How does that metal conduit strike you? How about that nice concrete-crusted bar over there? Take your pick and hang on to it, because you can only carry one weapon at a time.

You'll get the impression that the vast majority of effort that went into this game was invested in the interaction between you and your deranged enemies. There's some striking artificial intelligence at work, combined with some amazingly, frighteningly lifelike animations that will make you wince as if in pain or in anticipation of it. Your foes cannot be reasoned with, as they're lunatics with a thirst for blood who rush out at you from the shadows, flailing anything they can get their hands on while trying to kill you. They scream obscenities and smash things in freakish anger. They lie in ambush. And they won't just stand there and take it as you lash out at them with weapons of your own. As they recoil in pain from your attacks, they' lurch forward for their next strikes, as if guided by momentum and adrenaline. The best thing to be said about Condemned is that it captures hand-to-hand combat with intense and lifelike brutality like no other game before it. No other first-person-perspective game even comes close, with the notable exception of last year's The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay. Dotted around the levels you can also find some guns, but you never have more than a few rounds in each and once the gun is empty you have to discard it. This does make for an interesting change in the usual first person game, as you spend most of your time in hand-to-hand, with the occasional treat of a half-empty shotgun now and then.

Since it's going for chills and creepy atmosphere, Condemned doesn't just stoop to throwing enemies at you around every corner. That's the good news. But the bad news is that this means you'll often walk through long stretches of terribly dark, dreary corridors without anything happening. The level design in Condemned is pretty disappointing overall, since it's chock-full of grimy, depressing locales that definitely get the grimy and depressing theme to a tee but on the whole fail to come up with much of interest for you to do or look at. Pretty much none of the environments are interactive either, so whilst they look nice there's not a hell of a lot more you can do but stare at them.

Occasionally you get to stop and gather some forensic evidence, which helps break up the action a little, though there's really not much to this process. Your 'instincts', which come in the form of an onscreen prompt, indicate to you when you're supposed to ready one of your handy gadgets instead of that club you've been cracking skulls with. For the most part, you can't use your forensic tools unless a mission-critical objective is nearby. Once you've got your equipment on the ready (you automatically bring out the right item for the job), it's just a matter of slowly walking around until you find what you're looking for. Certainly it's a cool effect, seeing trails of violence materialise under a black light and so forth. These bits also tie into the plot, so they're more than welcomed, but there's just not much challenge involved, since the game does almost all the work. You end up feeling about as actively involved in the investigation as you would be just sitting there soaking up an episode of CSI. Luckily, some of the later evidence-gathering sequences are more interesting, since they take place in more dangerous areas, so you might have to quickly swap that digital camera for a two-by-four if you run into bad company.

Graphically the game does look awesome. If Condemned is an early taste for what the Xbox 360 can do then we're all in for a real treat. Shafts of sunlight pierce through dust-filled darkened rooms, blood drips from the anguished features of a newly felled foe, steam rises ominously from the vents of a disused underground station. It's all too easy to run through level after level, but it's worthwhile to stop every now and then and take it all in. The sound effects however deserve most of the credit in Condemned; you hear every crunch, thud and splatter in terrifying detail, whilst ambient industrial sounds play in the background. You really do feel like you're locked in some horrible dream and sometimes the sounds get so intense that you'll find yourself tearing off your headphones and gasping for air. I found playing this game on a large telly with a set of headphones and complete darkness one of the most enjoyable and intense gaming experiences ever, despite the earlier problems I mentioned. If you've ever seen the movie Seven, imagine being right there in the action as Brad Pitt hunting down a serial killer - Condemned is that atmospheric!

If you're one of the lucky, lucky few who has managed to get your hands on an Xbox 360, I would definitely recommend Condemned: Criminal Origins. Although at times the gameplay is monotonous and it doesn't feel like there's much to the game, Condemned makes up for all of this by being one of the scariest and atmospheric games ever made. Plus it's got a phenomenal story worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster and you'll be riveted until the final scene, despite the fact that it doesn't move with quite as much pace or explanation as it could have done. As with any new console, the launch game line-up isn't great unless you're an EA Sports title addict, so if you fancy something new, Condemned really is one of the best titles currently available for the Xbox 360. It beats the hell out of the current competition - with a brutal weapon of your choice!

Reviewed by Ross Alexander for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).