8) Condemned: Criminal Origins (2005)
Inspired by: The Silence Of The Lambs, Se7en
A launch title on the Xbox 360, Condemned: Criminal Origins is a wonderful (read: horrible) amalgam of Jonathan Demme’s horror-thriller and David Fincher’s neo-noir chiller. Mechanically, it’s a first-person survival horror experience that cribs liberally from the aforementioned 90s flicks in tone, aesthetics and style.
What’s really cool about Condemned is that it eschews the traditional first-person run-and-gun action of similar games and supplants it with a focus on taut melee combat and bullet counting endurance. That’s not all, either.
Another string to Condemned’s bloodstained bow are the creepily eerie casing segments. Here, you’re tasked with analyzing the crime scenes of a variety of murder victims using an assortment of forensic tools. Footprints, fibres, fluids, particles, documents and blood must be contextually analyzed in order for you to put the various garish jigsaw pieces together and figure out what went down.
Though it’s over 15 years old, Condemned still remains one of the most interesting modern horror games that’s clearly been influenced by cinema.
