Game: Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay

Platform: PC

Time to Complete: 6-8 hours

To every movie studio that wants to create a video game of their respective movie: please take note of this game. There are specific reasons why this game is so good and could very well be the best movie-themed game ever. EFBB is smart, action packed but at the same time stealthy and fun, which is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg for this smartly developed game.

The game begins in the same area as Chronicles of Riddick begins as Riddick hears a voice. The voice starts a flash back to when Riddick was brought to Butcher Bay, which is where you take control. You assume the role of Riddick, who could very well be the toughest, coolest anti-hero ever created. One thing that makes EFBB so good is a side story that does not follow the movie plot or timeline, but is still meaningful to the story of Riddick. Most video game adaptations from films follow the same story, which may ruin the movie for people who buy the game before the movie is released. EFBB is a prequel to Pitch Black and tells the story of how Riddick was a prisoner inside Butcher Bay, a prison notorious for its zero escape record. In both Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick, we hear so much about Riddick’s eye surgery or “surgical shine job” for “twenty menthol Kools”. After playing Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, it appears he may have exaggerated the story and we find out just how Riddick acquired his useful night vision.

Gameplay:

The game plays as a standard first person shooter and you are indeed locked in a futuristic prison with dozens of inmates who have either heard of you or know you. The overall object of the game is to escape the prison but that may be a lot harder than it sounds. You must talk to inmates, acquire information, weapons and key cards to migrate your way through the hundreds of different levels of the prison. The game does an outstanding job of creating a non-linear feel by giving you dozens of different methods and routes to achieve your overall goal. Aside from the guard models, each character has its own look, feel, attitude, voice and purpose. Riddick can speak to any of the inmates and choose what kind of response he wants by the menu below, in Riddick’s dark, ominous and intimidating voice.

The enemies of the game are all dependant on actions Riddick takes. The armed guards are the number one thing to avoid in the game, but piss off the wrong inmates and you’ll find yourself in a brawl, on top of the fact that the surveillance cameras are equipped with a machine gun that will gun you down if you are “in violation”. As Riddick progresses through the prison’s lower levels, he encounters a race of beings known as “Dwellers” that live like animals and will attack you if you enter their territory. It is unfortunate for them that they have heard of Riddick. Players may be surprised at how hard the game plays, switching from strategic puzzle solving to stealthy killer to shoot-em-up action in a blink of an eye.

If players are thinking this is going to be another run-and-gun shooter they are sadly mistaken. Players need a lot of patience throughout the game as some areas require Riddick’s ability to be stealthy or to travel back and forth over the same area to carry out missions to acquire items. The repetitiveness of EFBB is one of the game’s faults, especially when you are expected to remember the names and locations of dozens of different inmates. There are also quite a few quests Riddick can perform which include: helping other inmates acquire items, fighting in a small tournament to win the respect of inmates or just bringing back information to inmates. When Riddick completes these quests, it will unlock bonus material in the game’s main menu. Unfortunately, most of the unlocks are just concept art or images from the film, hardly worth completing every quest. There is an audio commentary unlock which is about as interesting as it gets. Make the reward much more valuable and Riddick would be even more addicting than it already is.

Riddick does have his moments of gun-blazing glory as he yields an assault rifle and shotgun through different parts of the game. There is also a chain gun Riddick gets to use once or twice but sadly, that is about it for Riddick’s arsenal. In the game’s defense, how many weapons do you expect to find in a prison that holds the most violent criminals in the universe? Riddick at times needs to hide in the shadows and wait for a passing guard, or to crawl through the ventilation ducts undetected, or to climb over boxes, crates and ledges to reach pipes to shimmy across. Much like most of his movie presence, Riddick’s strength and fighting ability is an advantage in the game. His ability to kill guards with his bare hands is a valuable feature by entering stealth mode, which can be done by hitting crouch. As Riddick approaches an enemy, his hands will get ready to break the neck of the person he is sneaking up behind.

Graphics and Sound:

Riddick is based off the Starbreeze Engine (also used in The Darkness), which looks similar to the Doom 3 engine. Smooth character models look very realistic in comparison to the real life look of Vin Diesel. Most of the environment and textures are relatively basic, but the shadows and sharp colors keep everything looking good even if polygons are visible through some of the cut scenes. Although distracting, the audio and voice acting really are outstanding which is not surprising coming from a well known actor. The voices of Vin Diesel and Cole Hauser (Johns) will evoke fond memories for Pitch Black fans as well as new voice addition of guard Abbott played by Xzibit.

Multiplayer:

Pros: Visual impresses in spite of the tiny flaws; incredible voice acting, Vin Diesel is perfect! New exclusive PC gameplay content and audio commentary, challenging puzzles and switches very fluidly between different gameplay styles,

Cons: Short (about 6 hours) if you play straight through without doing any side quests; 10 hours if you double back and complete all the missions; a few graphical blemishes; dark shadows cutting into character models; no multiplayer where there very well could be; few guns

Bottom Line: The stories that involve Riddick are fascinating and Escape from Butcher Bay adds to the excitement of this character. Fans of Riddick will marvel at the blunt attitude Vin Diesel continues to bring to his character and even players who are not fans of the franchise will appreciate this game for what it is. Escape from Butcher Bay has the perfect combination of shoot-em’-up action, problem solving, and stealth while expanding on Riddick’s past. Look for a Xbox 360 and a PS3 remake of Escape From Butcher Bay: Assault on Dark Athena coming soon with a new graphical upgrade for next gen platforms, new gameplay content and an online multiplayer mode.

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E-mail: Dukefrukem[at]straferight.com

Screenshots taken with 7900 GTX dx9.0c :