The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (PC)

This episode of the Riddick saga is set before either of the films, during Riddick's trip to Butcher Bay, a high security prison, for being a very naughty boy! On Butcher Bay, he gets to be an even naughtier boy as he kills lots of people, steals some battle-droids and also gets his fancy night vision eyes ability. Don't worry if you hated the Riddick films, I did too, but besides the central character (who is actually enjoyable in the game), Escape from Butcher Bay has nothing to do with the films.

Although everything about Riddick is immediately familiar to anyone who's ever played a FPS, the game is actually pretty unique all round. With the exception of just a few scenes, the game is all stealth, Riddick has to creep around in the shadows, making shadows with his weapons where needed (if weapons are available, you spend a lot of the game with just a knife for company), so you can sneak up and snap the neck of your enemy, or stick a shiv through his spine.

The setting is pretty unique too, I don't think I've ever actually played a game set entirely in a prison before, with over 15 years of gaming under my belt. The level design is great for the most part, it looks like a convincing prison, and although it is very firmly a 'corridor' game, it doesn't feel linear at all, even though it is. There are a few moments where you aren't sure where you are, or where to go next, but generally it all comes together very well and flows very smoothly.

Besides the stealth, combat is pretty much your usual FPS stuff, you use a gun to shoot at enemies that are shooting back, but the pacing is great and the fact that you never really take serious damage unless you do something stupid (on normal difficulty at least) means that the game is always sort of challenging without ever being frustrating, which makes it very fun all round.

Riddick manages to implement excellent melee combat, one button for punch, used with a directional button determines which arm you swing from, with another button to block. You'll only be using your fists a few times during the game, but it's still very well implemented and lots of fun.

There are also a few times where you can get into a battle-droid (they are pretty much like ED-209 from Robocop, but manned), and you get to smash around shooting everything that moves. It breaks up the stealth perfectly, you're never doing the same thing for too long, much like Half Life 2, so the game never stagnates.

The AI is average, the humans duck and roll to avoid fire, but besides that they just shoot at you until you die, pop out the lights and they just walk around in the darkness until you kill them. Not bad, but nothing special. The alien AI is old school, they run at you and hit you until you die, but combined with their speed, it makes for a very frantic time when you're fighting them, which is the point, so it works well.

If you've ever seen a Riddick film (I hope for your sake you haven't), you'll know that Riddick has a fancy see-in-the-dark thing going on, and it's in the game too. It's a snazzy feature, but nothing special, in fact it's just your bog standard night vision, works great in darkness, but you're blind in the light - if you've ever played Splinter Cell, you can expect the same type of thing here. You can turn it on and off at will.

The voice acting all throughout is truly impeccable, every single character in the game, there are quite a few as there's a sort of RPG style mission system thing going on during the cool-down periods after break-out attempts (it takes about 4 attempts to actually get out - after each one you move to a more high-security part of the prison, giving way to the tiered difficulty you generally get in games as you progress, but unlike most other games, it doesn't feel contrived in Riddick). Vin Diesel does the Riddick voice, and does it extremely well - better than in the films to be honest. All the other voice actors are great.

Visually the game is on par with Doom 3, maybe a little better even, the textures are amazing, the models are amazing, the lighting and shadows are amazing, the light reflections are amazing. Simply put, Riddick looks amazing.

There's also a whole host of extras, ranging from game artwork to, amazingly, a dvd-style audio commentary as you play the game through a second time - you can listen do the developers talk about the game production when you get to certain points, it's a pretty amazing feature which turns an otherwise highly recommended second play of the game an essential second play of the game.

If I had to find a complaint with the game, and I stress that this is if I HAD to find a complaint with the game, it's that it's too short, I think it took me about 7 or 8 hours to finish it, which is just too short, but then you're almost guaranteed to play it through a second time, which gives it a respectable lifespan.

First person shooter fans are always spoilt for choice, but this is one game no first person shooter fan should miss, no, one game no one should miss. Buy it.

As if having control of Riddick, one of the coolest anti-hero's in recent cinematic memory, wasn't enough, the people at Starbreeze have made Escape from Butcher Bay a damn good game as well, with puzzles, exploring, and action-galore. Vin Diesel must be over the moon that Tigon Studios (his company) let these people bring Riddick to life for gamers.

Apart from expanding on the story of Riddick and detailing how he achieved his notoriety across the galaxies, the way Riddick gets his night-vision (referred to as "Eyeshine") is explained and this brings about the most fun in the game. It's not just a rampage where you get huge guns and dispose of the enemy with firepower alone, there's a lot of creeping about, dodging cameras, smashing lights, and hiding in the dark - waiting for the right moment to grab your enemy from behind and snap his neck, then dragging his body and dumping it somewhere safe so it won't be stumbled upon easily. Using the dark and Riddick's eyeshine to your advantage is critical to succeeding here.

A brilliantly executed concept, the eyeshine/creeping-in-the-dark combination really keeps the suspense levels high, and it's very satisfying when you make progress this way. The enemy AI is OK, and the general pace of the game is pretty good, although I did get stuck at some points and didn't really know what to do to get on without using a walkthrough.

The reason for not giving this title 5 stars is simple: Half-Life 2 exists. Otherwise TCOR:EFBB excels as a First-Person Adventure game, and the Director's Cut has some interesting extras to unlock which bring the game even more to life. I definitely recommend you get this, a worthy addition to any gamer's collection, and arguably the best film-licensed game to date - the standard has been set.