Condemned: Criminal Origins

Monolith. A company that's already made some of the finest PC games ever - like No One Lives Forever 2. A company that's making the most anticipated FPS of 2005 - F.E.A.R. And a company that's seemingly not content to sit on its laurels, as it's just announced that it's already a way down the road on its next mega-release. Condemned.

And unlike other developers, Monolith is seemingly hell-bent on avoiding the FPS-only tag. In Condemned, described as a first-person psychological thriller, you play as Ethan Thomas, a lead investigator in the FBI's Serial Crime Unit. In classic Hollywood style, you find yourself suspended after a series of murders point to you as prime suspect, forcing you to start a new investigation under your own steam to prove your innocence. To do this you have to use your investigative skills and forensic tools to find clues and evidence - a scenario that's about as far removed from F.E.A.R. as you could hope to envisage.

Needing to know more, we used our investigative skills (admittedly very suspect) to track Condemned's producer, Dave Hasle, to the Monolith offices in Seattle. Is Condemned going to be a slower affair than F.E.A.R.? Vie don't look at it as being slower, we see it as being a richer experience, where you're looking for clues and evidence as opposed to health and ammo."

But you do get to fire guns? Sure. You'll have an assortment of melee and firearm weapons. Once your ammo runs out of your firearm, it becomes a melee weapon. Fight with it as a melee weapon too long and you run the risk of shattering it. If it's destroyed, you have to find another weapon - a piece of pipe, part of a wooden shelf, a subway sign, a sledgehammer, or possibly another firearm, whatever is at hand.

Probing deeper, we were met with firm resistance. What about the serial killers? Is there one? A few? Many?

No comment. In fact we're going to keep the details regarding the serial killers secret until the game ships. As a parting shot though, Dave Hasle did confirm that there'll be a coherent narrative and that the events, the serial killers and the choices you make are all related. And despite resorting to underhanded tactics - do you know how much loves Monolith games?" - he wasn't prepared to go any further. For now.