Bloodshed & Fears

Incl: Assault On Dark Athena & Escape From Butcher Bay

by Shadow Wave:

©2009 Ben Cadwallader

You simply do "not" want to mess with these puppies - ever!

Five years ago Starbreeze Studios gave us a gift; that gift was Escape from Butcher Bay.  The game pushed the boundaries of the original Xbox in terms of graphics, presentation and innovation and gave hope that games based on movies could work after all.  It was truly one of the star games the Xbox had to give.

Butcher Bay Prison, which Riddick was forced to escape, was captured so well as a believable environment that it made players (those that handn’t been…) imagine what prison could truly be like. From the graffiti on the wall to the impressive lighting effects, it all looked great (for a prison, that is).

Riddick also became well known for being one of the first games to bring the minimalistic HUD to reduce clutter and increase immersion while playing.

Well Starbreeze has returned to the Riddick Universe and have introduced another brand new game for Riddick to conquer: Assault on Dark Athena.  Not only that, they give you a remade version of Escape From Butcher Bay on the same disc for you to enjoy.

• The Chronicles Of Riddick: Assault On Dark Athena Video #1

Escape From Butcher Bay (EFBB):

I’m going to be blunt here; If you haven’t played Escape from Butcher Bay back in the day, the essential word here is buy this game  right now so you can experience such an amazing game. But if you have played through it before (especially multiple times) you might not think this is worth it.

The story is pretty simple;  Riddick, voiced by Vin Diesel,  is a wanted criminal who is taken to the most secure prison of them all and you spend most of your time there trying to escape to freedom by using force, stealth and threatening dry witty remarks.

The gameplay doesn’t get old, because it has such variety of gameplay styles.

First, the game has its great stealth sequences where you must hide in the shadows and take out people from behind like Sam Fisher, but with more brutal style. Then sometimes if you are seen you might merge  into a Fist Fight, which are just as brutal but fun to do because the fight system works so well.

The shooter aspect of gameplay works pretty well, although I think the shooter side of the game is my least favourite part. Shooting becomes boring when you know that if you can get close to your enemies you can perform some lethal attacks that are much more fun to do.

The Butcher Bay part of the game also has been extended slightly making it a bit longer than the original Xbox version, implementing the extended sequence from the PC version. It’s the part where you get to control a Mech – a giant robot like walking unit with big guns on it. But it’s only about 10 minutes extra and it feels kind of tacked on.

• Ridick: Assualt On Dark Athena Cinematic Trailer.

For previous players of the series, you might think that this game looks identical to the original game, but actually its graphics have been updated and improved A LOT! It’s just quite hard to tell since the game looked so good 5 years ago.  That’s why playing through the game again just feels the same as when you did it last time.

It’s graphics have been updated and improved A LOT!

The lighting has been improved and looks very impressive, textures have been made much nicer, as well as the character models.  There is an annoying bug where occasionally characters, especially Riddick, will get little glitchy black lines, shapes or dots that appear on them during dialogue scenes. It looks like a dodgy shadow.

So if you have played EFBB countless times before, you will not find much different than the original game.

Assault on Dark Athena (AODD):

The brand new adventure for Riddick takes place straight after EFBB where his ship gets captured by a very large Merc ship called the Athena.  Riddick this time not only is trying to escape the enemy ship but also is trying to get revenge on the ship’s leader and save a little girl from being killed.

Riddick’s motives in this game vary a bit more than EFBB’s standard ‘must escape’ style, and as the title does say “Assault”, expect a bit more full blown solo offence from Riddick.

The gameplay in AODD is essentially the same as EFBB, but includes a few new weapons which do change things up a little, most notably the Ulaks. These are blades of awesomeness. These are the uniquely shaped knives Riddick will use to just unleash hell on whoever he attacks. His attacks are very quick, and very brutal.

If you thought fist fighting was fun in EFBB, the Ulaks make it 10 times more fun.

Unfortunately,  this game follow a common trend in design lately and as the game progresses into the second half you will be choosing your guns over your stealth tactics.  Sure the same thing happened in EFBB but I found this one worse.  So treasure your time with Ulaks well once you get them, as you won’t be able to use them as often later.

The graphics look slightly better than EFBB’s. Most notably they have some very good looking water effects, but you cannot interact with it.

A Warning for Parents:

I must mention there are a few scenes with dialogue in this game that I think parents should know about before they purchase the game for their children. Sure the game is violent and likes to drop a lot of F-Bombs, but this has a scene much worse than that.

There is this one character named Jaylor that you interact with who has been made to look crazy, but the things he says are offensive, disgusting and disturbing. I’m 19 and I found these words disturbing as he talks about rape, murder, etc all in the same sentence. It’s also the first time I have heard the c*** word used in a video game.

• Ridick: Assualt On Dark Athena game play : “Hunting”. (23rd Feb 09)

The character has been designed so you hate him, but they could have really toned this down a lot, as you truly DO NOT want your children to hear some of this dialogue and what it promotes is just wrong. The story also has a few inconsistencies with the Riddick movies, but they are pretty minor.

So just enjoy Riddick’s time in the spotlight again, until hopefully the third movie is finally released.

Overall AODD is pretty damn fun, the Ulaks are a great addition as a weapon and make the whole game feel fresh compared to EFBB.  I would not rate this as high as EFBB, because essentially it’s more of the same thing again, with a weaker story. But it’s still a solid entry as a game, and should get people talking about Riddick again while it leads up to another movie.

There is also a multiplayer side to the game, but it’s pretty average and will not hold your attention for very long, especially for us Australians. I played 2 or 3 games and they were all pretty laggy. It has your standard multiplayer modes and its own special mode called Pitch Black, which makes one player Riddick himself, while the others must hunt him down.

This was quite entertaining, but when you get stuck playing as a standard Mercenary most of the time it does get boring until you get your chance to be Riddick, then you get to have some fun!

Overall The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault On Dark Athena is a fantastic package of value.  Unfortunately the idea of having 2 games for the price of 1, doesn’t mean that much since both games are on the short side, but combine both together and you have a game that lasts you quite a good amount of time, and even more if you give multiplayer a chance.

PARENTAL WARNING: Again, be aware of some very explicit language and cut scenes that you probably do not want your children seeing and hearing.

“OXCGN Ozzie Buyers Guide:

Chronicles of Riddick: AODA Price List in Australia (as of writing):
• EB Games: $119.95 (trade 2 selected titles and get it for $39.95) (will also price-match)
• Game: $119.95 (will also price-match with catalogue proof)
• GameTraders: $119.95
• JB HiFi: $99 (trade 3 x 360 games not on the exclusion list and get it for free)
• Wow Sight & Sound: $98
• Big W: $98
• Harvey Norman: $119.95
• Myer: $119.95

If you want to swap when finished, check out GameShare

“8.5/10

©2009 Ben Cadwallader

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