Fear Gauntlet: Condemned - Part 5

Steve and Matt continue their quest to play marginally more scary games!

Breaking new ground with part 5 of Fear Gauntlet!!!

Steve and Matt continue their quest to play marginally more scary games!

Part 5! Yup, we're breaking new ground with the Fear Gauntlet!!!

To see the previous trial, click here!

If you like the video, please subscribe to us on the Giant Bomb youtube channel!

Follow MattBodega and Steve "LemonPuddingPop" on Twitter!

Stay tuned for the next episode.

Steve and Matt continue their quest to play marginally more scary games!

Breaking new ground with part 5 of Fear Gauntlet!!!

Steve and Matt continue their quest to play marginally more scary games!

Part 5! Yup, we're breaking new ground with the Fear Gauntlet!!!

To see the previous trial, click here!

If you like the video, please subscribe to us on the Giant Bomb youtube channel!

Follow MattBodega and Steve "LemonPuddingPop" on Twitter!

Stay tuned for the next episode.

Yay, Part 5 for the first time, ever!

Deleted older blog that I named Part 4 by mistake. Anyway, here's the updated blog. Enjoy!!!

WOOO

I would do drugs that made me into Nightcrawler

@rjayb89: Yes, the first time ;)

Finally! jebus guys!

"i've been working on the railroad all the live long die!" made me laugh like crazy

Really enjoying these.  Keep it up guys!

I totally jumped at the end there, great stuff and keep going because this game makes for great viewing.

Awesome ending.

As for the Monster Closets, I don't hold them begrudgingly or anything, though I do agree they're far too easily exploited and kinda lazy. They can still work well enough if they're used sparingly enough, though games like Dead Space and their over-reliance on Monster 'Vents' can sour what is otherwise an immensely tense atmosphere. I say only Dead Space because Dead Space 2 is just an all out action-sci fi game, so the Monster Vents and jump scares weirdly enough kinda fit in with its more fast paced struggle a wee bit more.

As I was scared by that closet yes.

Awesome, been waiting all day for this. Now I can take a break from working out! :D

I think generally, monster closets are pretty shitty, but Condemned has a lot of good scares like that, where it manages to lull you jsut the right way to think "oh, I'm going to open this cabinet, and there is a chance that I will actually get a health item. It is beaten into your head throughout the game that those closets are good. Most games would also have a new animation for opening that closet, making it "slower" or more "involved" to increase tension, but in reality just making it obvious what's about to happen. With condemned, you don't get that wind up, you get the cabinet bursting open and a scary face up in your grill. Condemned is all about being shocked, about your expectations being turned on their head at some point, and used against you. What once was a beacon of safety will now make you paranoid and twitchy. I think it works well in the couple of instances it is used in Condemned, because it's often cleverly done, and not OVER done.

oh yeeeeeah baby!!!!

Yes, it's my bi-day/week/sometimes-ly Endurance Run lite!

I totally saw that closet thing coming, but then I jumped because you guys jumped!

Man I hate those crawlers. There was a moment with one later in the game that wasn't even a "scary" moment per se, but it happened so unexpectedly that it shook me up in a huge way, more than any other game, movie, or even real life event ever has before. I hope you guys get to that part so I can relive that wondrous moment, and watch you guys either shake it off like it's nothing, or (hopefully) have the same reaction that I did.
 
Also that ending was perfect, the reaction alongside the seemingly instinctual shovel butt to the face was great.
 
 
On the topic of monster closets, I do find them cheap in most cases, but that moment right there is proof that it can be done right.

A game like this that uses monster closets sparingly makes that particular horror trope rather enjoyable. Here, the time between each is just right for creating genuine spooks.

man im loving these. 
seriously, turn this into an unofficial endurance run imo!

"Drugs don't make you into Nightcrawler!"

Keep it up guys!

I jumped out of my seat at the end there!

That was a good use of a monster closet. The fact that those cabinets are everywhere and you are used to just finding items in them made the use of one as a hiding place for a monster brilliant.

The main problem with monster closets is when a game overly relies on them, such as in Doom 3. If you repeatedly see a feature in the environment that monsters always spawn from it turns from a good scare tactic into a repetitive gameplay mechanic. As was so wisely mentioned in an earlier episode, nothing ruins an atmosphere of horror faster than repetition.

"Drugs don't make you into Nightcrawler" is the best thing I've heard all day.

Dammit Kessler, LEARN TO BLOCK.

Seriously though, these are pretty good. For interns.

Basically...

They aren't in league with the killer.

You guys are great! Keep it going FOREVER!

This was great, the monster closet is totally justified in this case as it is the only one used so far. If you aren't expecting it they are fantastic.

that monster closet seemed effective to me!  I guess if you only use it once or twice it can work pretty well.  Doom 3 leaned on it hard the entire game.
 
Deadly Premonition hid zombies in roll-out file cabinets which was Hilarious.  Not so scary tho.

Oh no why did I click that spoiler tag? And I managed to read the first couple of words too before closing it!
 
Hope you guys play much more Condemned because I myself can't play it. Not only do I have the convenient excuse that the main character's constant head-bobbing makes me nauseous to the point where I have to stop playing, also that game scares the living bejesus out of me. And watching it on the old youtube is way less terrifying.

@phrosen said:

Oh no why did I click that spoiler tag? And I managed to read the first couple of words too before closing it! Hope you guys play much more Condemned because I myself can't play it. Not only do I have the convenient excuse that the main character's constant head-bobbing makes me nauseous to the point where I have to stop playing, also that game scares the living bejesus out of me. And watching it on the old youtube is way less terrifying.

Sorry. I did put it in a spoiler tag for a reason. But if you want to know... (MORE SPOILERS)

I had this as one of my first Xbox games and was blown away by the graphics and atmosphere. It scared the crap out of me. The second one plays a lot better but the story is more crazy.

Great series. More is always better

I'm so very glad that we moved up from doing ps1 games

Monster closest managed to make me jump aswell, well played.

The weekend is too long to go without a Fear Gauntlet installment. Also, new T-Shirt idea, "I've been working on the railroad all the livelong DIE" you guys just keep cranking them out.

And as for your question, I think the monster closet and jump scare in general is fine, as long as you can misdirect the audience enough, just like this game did there at the end.

About time, Mr. Ramirez!

Steve's dead bird spotting skills are very impressive.

@Lemon:

Guys, you are getting so close to where this game starts getting really good. Seriously, these first few levels are the mediocre introduction. Just hang with it, and the whole internet will thank you.

Monster closets that don't make any sense are annoying. When a character (like that crazy lady) hides in a small space to surprise attack anyone who comes by, it's not 'only there for a monster to be in' it's a part of her plan to murder you. Go out in to the natural world, apex predators use tactics that you might consider 'monster closety'.

The vents in Dead Space still make sense to me, because it's something that humans can't use or control very effectively, but horrible monsters can use easily.

I never played Doom 3, but from your video it seemed like a lot of the zombie guys would hide in secluded alcoves and wait for someone to come by and surprise attack them. I'm sorry, but that's a valid tactic for an enemy. If you've ever hidden behind a door as someone entered a room in order to scare them, then you know.

You guys should do a live version of these with chat et all!

Fuck these are great!

Please don't stop. And start releasing these on the weekends.

Just wait till the last area...holy crap the best level and the most creepy of all scary games. Really hope you guys keep them up for as long as you are able. :P Great job!

where are they in the whiskey media office at the end?

and duuuuude an actual "monster closet"! that was pretty freaking hilarious

Awesome, made fun of the Nintendo press conference and now I can let my erection for Luigi's Mansion 2 settle.

That was a brilliant monster closet. This game keeps getting better and better, totally made me look past its most wretched UI and other bizarre design quirks (I mean, what's up with that death screen?).

@KillyDarko said:

@Lemon: Do you think you'll maybe play Condemned all the way to the end? I'd love for that to happen, it's been a lot of fun to watch you guys play this game! And I can guarantee you the game is awesome all the way through and it will actually only get even better ;)

I can also attest to this - Condemned's second-to-last level is some seriously frightening stuff.

man... that was the scariest episode yet. Man my heart was pumping at moments through that. Great stuff guys!

Nightcrawler drugs are the worst kind of drugs.

I guess I don't understand why this game maintains a higher standard of appraisal than Doom 3, but this is making for great content regardless.

Man fuck monster closets!

They are the cheapest trick in the book and they need to die. It's just lazy, that's what it is.

God damn, that ending was awesome.