The Chronicles Of Riddick: Assault On Dark Athena (Mac)

Butcher Bay - Mission: To escape a maximun security prison using various abilities and weapons including stealth, hand2hand combat and Riddicks trademark 'Eyeshine' nightvision. Although packaged as a first person shooter, this title is 85% stealth and hand2hand/knife/club combat and 15% shooter. DON'T let this put you off. Butcher Bay is the BEST movie tie in game EVER. Don't believe me - try it.

Dark Athena - Mission: To escape the starship 'Dark Athena'. Following on from Butcher Bay, Riddick is captured by Revas - captain of the Dark Athena. Using 35% stealth and 65% shooter this is more of a traditional first person game. Not as good as Butcher Bay but still a very good game in its own right.

Two games for the price of one. Butcher Bay 9.5/10 Dark Athena 8.5/10

It's ironic really that - five years after its original release - the star of The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is its predecessor, Escape from Butcher Bay. Although Riddick's second game outing is a solid FPS with excellent atmosphere and visuals, you can never quite shake the feeling that it's not as well-paced, immersive or compelling as its prequel. AoDA picks up an unspecified amount of time after the events portrayed in Butcher Bay, with Riddick and Johns' escape ship captured by the Dark Athena; a vast mercenary-come-pirate ship that scavenges off anyone unfortunate to cross their path.

Level design in AoDA is mixed; incorporating typical dark corners and corridors, blasting through open outdoor areas and even a couple of interesting twists on the zero-gravity nature of spaceships. The whole game is quite heavily skewed toward gunplay, with Riddick able to take cover (of sorts) and shoot over or around obstacles, as well as many sections where waves of enemies must be mowed down. Further, there are a number of melee fights, with regular enemies (which is still always entertaining) and against boss enemies (which can border on frustrating). Health adopts a segment perspective, and after a few seconds of hiding the current segment regenerates - health stations are dotted fairly generously around the game, and usually a little backtracking isn't out of the question to find previous stations.

Perhaps AoDA's greatest misjudgment is in its pacing. With his 'eyeshine' and penchant for melee weapons and stealth, Richard B. Riddick is a character who excels in the shadows. Despite this, much if not most of the game is reduced to a repetitive and often frustrating shoot 'em up, which - while competent enough - isn't really able to compete with the better sci-fi shooters out there. It's especially telling that around two-thirds of the way through Riddick crash-lands on a nearby planet, and any notion of stealth is more or less abandoned as he acquires an infinite ammo gun and has to duel with both a host of boss encounters and supremely irritating insta-death spider-bot turrets. While Butcher Bay is never afraid to present the player with shooting sections, perhaps its greatest achievement is with its balance and pacing; a juggling act so clearly lacking from its successor.

Enemy AI is a little disappointing, with foes at times more than happy to wander slowly around a corner despite the abundance of their dead shipmates scattered around. Visuals are very good in AoDA - sharp, crisp and clear, with nary a frame issue or graphical glitch to complain about. Things aren't quite so nice in Butcher Bay since the original game has just been given a HD makeover, but it still looks good with great character models, and in particular both games do light and shadow tremendously well, as well as having a really tangible and pervasive atmosphere. Presentation all around is very good, although perhaps loading is a little more frequent than would be ideal.

The narrative in AoDA is noticeably thin and stretched out across the game's eight or so hours. Johns is cast aside early on as Riddick seeks an means off the merc-ridden ship, but other than escaping and communication with a couple of prisoners, there's very little in terms of plot or objective, which is a shame as it's one of the more distinctive and compelling inclusions in Butcher Bay. Slightly galling is that a young girl pops up on occasion whom Riddick both takes orders from and helps for no discernible reason, presumably since he was shown to have a bit of a soft spot for girls in trouble across his two movie roles.

Ultimately, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is a decent overall package that succeeds more due to the remastering of quiet classic Butcher Bay than the somewhat disappointing more recent Dark Athena episode. For those who have yet to experience the game outings of Richard B. Riddick this is an enjoyable package which is definitely worth trying out, but for those who played through Escape from Butcher Bay last generation, it's hard to recommend the same game yet again, along with its largely forgettable sequel.

I was quite impressed to see that this game has come with the older game "Escape From Butcher Bay". I had only played a demo of the previous game and was quite a fan of Pitch Black so I thought that the concept would work really well as Riddick is a character that you like even though you should not.
To start, the graphics in the game are very good. Even Butcher Bay has had the graphics upgraded to fit in with the next gen machines. There is a suitably grimy feeling to the visuals in Butcher Bay and the Dark Athena ship has that sort of metallic oily look about it.
Characters are well animated and look good during the cutscenes. The main characters have very good facial expressions that do give them their own personality but some of the minor characters do seem slightly wooden but you dont really have much to do with them so its only a slight grumble.
The light is the most impressive in the game as it is also the most important aspect due to Riddick using the shadows a lot. Light sources and shadows are very good. When you are in total darkness you cannot see anything and then the effects of the torch or eyeshine are convincing and are well presented.
Sound in the game is great with Vin Diesel providing the voice for Riddick as well as other names such as Ron Perlman. Weapons sound great when fired and the sound of footsteps will become your greatest ally as you judge where the other guards are.
Music in the game is also used very well and sounds just as if it came out of the Riddick films. It also seems to change with your situation depending on if you are sneaking or if you are engaged in combat or very close to those who are trying to find you.
Combat in the game is quite brutal. Most of the time you will be hand to hand or using improvised weapons like Shivs or clubs. There are various kinds of each weapon to give some variety, for example, I have managed to find several types of shivs and knuckle duster.
The hand to hand or weapon fighting feels a bit like oblivion but faster and with some really nice, bloody finishing moves. The stealth kills are also quite vicious and you have the choice of silent or noisy kills.
When encountering armed opponents Riddick can use various disarming techniques, often turning the gun or knife against its user.
Both games are quite challenging with decent stories and their are the obligatory trophies that all games seem to have today. Both give more to the Riddick universe and explain more of his background and seem to have captured the character very well.
This is definitely worth picking up, especially if you have not played the Butcher Bay game before. Multiplayer is there but I have tried it myself yet.