Seven is a film that's stuck with me ever since I saw it some eight years ago and the same holds true for many of you. This psychological thriller kept me on the edge of my seat, and the dramatic conclusion forever imprinted itself onto my brain. I was reminded of the classic movie upon seeing Sega's latest Xbox 360 title Condemned. They've managed to capture Seven's essence and transfer it to Microsoft's next generation console, so if you're interested in being introduced to the next level of survival horror, Condemned is standing at your front door, waiting to bash your brains in with a sledge hammer.

Developed by Monolith Productions (makers of the upcoming PC shooter F.E.A.R.), Condemned plops you into the shoes of FBI agent Ethan Thomas, a man who has a fascination with serial killers and enjoys bringing them to justice, and that's exactly what the goal of this game is. Throughout your travels you'll be hunting for these scumbags. The game is played from a first person perspective, but it's no more a shooter than Tecmo's Fatal Frame. Yes, you have guns (there are over 20 different types of weapons, not all of them firearms), but ammo is scarce. You may pick up a shotgun and experience that rush of adrenaline. You know, that self assurance and the belief that you've managed to turn the tables on your enemies, only to discover that it has two rounds in it, and the only way you'll know this is by physically checking the weapon. You see, there's no HUD in Condemned. You won't pick up a hand gun and see a little ammo counter appear at the bottom left corner of the screen. Unless you inspect the chamber or clip you won't have a damn clue how many bullets are in the gun, but rest assured (umm...or not) that you'll mostly likely NEVER happen upon a full magazine.

Since you're an agent, clues are just as important as weapons. The game allows you to use a various assortment of forensic tools such as a digital camera, black light, laser (for finger prints), and a chemical sampler to make sense of the various things that you'll come across, and based on what I've seen it appears that these objects will trigger in-game cut scenes that sort of explain their significance. For example, one such piece of evidence caused a black and white clip to play where an obscenely large and scary man was pushing a cabinet in front of a door, so when it's finished you just so happen to see the cabinet and suddenly a sense of dread washes across you. Is the killer still in this room?

As I previously mentioned, guns aren't your only means of attack. There are numerous items you can pick up including a sledge hammer, locker doors, mannequin arms, and pipes that you can actually rip from the wall. However, the interesting twist is all of the game's enemies can use the same weapons, and they just so happen to be powered by some of the most sophisticated AI that I have ever seen. Not only will they go for weapons, but they'll actually evaluate their odds of kicking your @$$. If you've got a pipe chances are they'll run and get their own, but if you've got a gun they'll probably run for their lives. DO NOT THINK that they've fled. They merely found some hiding spot, and if you decide to leave them be they'll stalk you, and I'm not talking about suddenly they're behind you and you heard them coming. If you turn around they'll duck out of view, and when you continue on your way they'll continue in the pursuit, so it's best to just go looking for them to avoid such a nasty situation.

While the AI wants you dead, it's also not fond of itself, so you may be initially attacked by three guys, but because they're all deranged they may turn on one another and the winner of that fight will then come after you. It's up to you whether you want to watch and ready yourself or get the heck out of dodge.

Xbox 360 games are going to be full of eye candy and Condemned will be among the prettier games in the lineup. It still needs a lot of work, mind you, but early code is very impressive. The game's environments are these run down and dank warehouses and abandoned residential buildings that only the worst kinds of people could call home. The lighting effects are amazing as well, but the real star is the game's physics system and its melee combat. Since you're able to rip things off walls and other structures, doing so causes all of this neat stuff to happen. For example, if you happen upon a bookshelf you can rip a piece of wood from it and it'll collapse, resulting in all of the books and items tumbling and sliding to the floor. Condemned is full of nice little touches like that and I'm looking forward to discovering them all.

Surprisingly, Condemned features what appears to be some of the best melee combat that's ever been implemented into a game. It's so brutal that I felt bad every time the dude from Monolith hit someone. This was due in large part to how solid the fighting looks (each character has his or her own style) but also because this game features some awesome sound. Each strike with a pipe or piece of wood produces this loud thwack, but not the kind you'd hear if you beat up an old couch. This is metal on flesh, and it's quite spine tingling. Conversely, getting your own @$$ kicked is even more frightening.

While the game looks #$#&#^$ incredible there is one thing that bothers me, that being the character design. While I saw an early version all of the enemies look alike. They look incredibly detailed and feature realistic animation, but they're all the same: guys in gray clothing with messed up hair and bloody bandages on their face. They're scary, but I was getting tired of seeing the same nutcase leap out again and again. However, since what I saw was but a small fraction of Condemned, I'm sure that Monolith has plenty of surprises in store for us.

Sega lists Condemned's release date as Fall 2005, which means that drops the game sometime between September and mid December, a tantalizing thought since September is a mere four months away! All I know is this game looks fantastic and it's scary as hell. It may not be as good as Seven, but based on the small snippets of gameplay that I've seen, it's close.