Beyond the Supernatural: The video game?

[mrloucifer]

I’ve not picked up a new video game since finishing Resident Evil 5 and Ghostbusters, and I wasn’t in the mood for Left 4 Dead at the time, so I busted out an old favorite: “Condemned: Criminal Origins”. This game is a mind job to play, its dark, it’s gritty and it’s surprisingly epic (especially when you get into it’s just as good of a sequel “Bloodshot”).

So this is my third trip through this game and it got me thinking that “Monolith Productions”, the company that made the 2 games (as well as F.E.A.R. & F.E.A.R. 2) get how to put together a modern horror game with supernatural elements. Finding that the horror vibe of this game still bothers me a third time around has got me seriously thinking that I may write a letter to Monolith and ask them to consider making a BTS video game.

For those of you not familiar with the Condemned games, I gotta tell ya that you’re missing out. It’s got all the makings of a great horror adventure game. The protagonist (named Ethan Thomas) is an FBI agent working in the special crimes unit and is considered to be the best in his field.

Its plays in first person so there is plenty of action /combat involved, however it’s also loaded with Crime scene investigation moments including using tools like UV light, camera’s, chemical samplers, 3 dimensional scanners and so on to acquire evidence and at times is involved in tracking the antagonist.

Ethan also has “instinctive” attributes that more like psychic abilities (similar to the Psychic Sensitive in BTS) and gets psychic flashes, dreams and even that funny feeling when potential evidence is nearby for him to analyze . These instincts are why he’s the best at what he does (eat your heart out Wolverine).

The atmosphere and locations are almost always dark or near dark which means you’re heavily reliant on a flashlight to get around. The games use this to great effect as a lot of things and visions happen in the corner of your eye or just at the edge of the flashlights beam. Generally you’re never going to feel safe in this game.

The locations themselves also appeal to BTS fans as they included condemned or abandoned buildings, public service buildings in the dead of night, the back alleys of skid row and so on. There is a closed down shopping mall you visit at one point that gets me every time. The placed just closed down after Christmas, so there is dirty x-mas décor scattered amongst all the garbage and abandoned mall crap which is accompanied by this run down rendition of “Deck the Halls” blended in with creepy atmosphere music. I wont spoil the other surprises here, but I will say that if you can make it through this level without getting seriously creeped out, then you’re a tougher man (or woman) than I.

For those of you blessed with surround sound, the sounds effects are just as chilling and unnerving as the visuals and I do not encourage you to play this game into the wee hours as I promise the sounds will make you wonder if they are coming from inside your abode at times.

As the game goes it really starts kicking into a supernatural overdrive that worthy of any BTS fan. If that wasn’t enough, wait till start to witness to gut checks the sequel has in store for you supernatural wise. Add that in to an interesting story and backdrop and you’ve got all the goods for an ideal horror game.

I intend my letter to go into all the similarities and theories of how a BTS would work and so on and include how to get in touch with Palladium in the hopes to get this ball rolling, or at least get interested enough to look into it.

As an added bonus, Monolith is owned by Warner Brothers and can make an easy transition to a BTS movie if they chose to go that route. They are currently working on a Condemned movie in fact, so I know the interest and ability is there.

Any other fans of the game got something to add here?

[Teltum]

It would be a mix of Ghost Busters, Bio-shock and Fallout 3. There is something about beating a ghost to death while in the fallout armor with a pipe from bioshock and then hurling mind bullets at it while cooking it with a proton pack. Sorry something about the holy trinity of video games from the past 5 years.

[gaby]

I would like that.

[mrloucifer]

It would be a mix of Ghost Busters, Bio-shock and Fallout 3. There is something about beating a ghost to death while in the fallout armor with a pipe from bioshock and then hurling mind bullets at it while cooking it with a proton pack. Sorry something about the holy trinity of video games from the past 5 years.

I could see stuff like this happening.

[mrloucifer]

Indego Prophecy was indeed an Awesome game and makes for great BTS inspiration.