The Riddick series has always felt like one of those very gothic, ‘underground’ like series which comes across slightly disturbing. It also happens to be very much underrated as a collection, you know the type. The Chronicles of Riddick is a sci-fi series that has been portrayed within the movies Pitch Black and the Chronicles of Riddick, and the game; Escape from Butcher Bay.
Every story has followed the dark and controversial character of Riddick played by Vin Diesel, controversial because he’s not really seen as a hero but a villain who makes the odd moral testing decision and is dark due to the broken world in which he’s portrayed in. You’ll often find him escaping prisons, bounty hunters, more villains, and just things that want him dead in all instances of the Riddick stories.
Now, with the release of Dark Athena approaching us rather steadily and the release of Butcher Bay seemingly oh so far away, it was pleasant to take a trip into Atari and get a reminding feel of what I’ve been missing, and a confirmation of what I feel we should all be looking forward to in a few months time.
For those of you unlucky enough to miss the original Xbox or PC version of The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, you won’t have to worry as Starbreeze have given you another chance by offering a bonus package of essentially what is a second title on top. You’ll also be interested to know that Butcher Bay won’t be there just as a reminder either, there is more than enough content here worthy of a second purchase, and that’s excluding Dark Athena. Forget all the information you may have read about a remake, as this is a new game in its entirety.
One of the first surprises upon witnessing Dark Athena was the way the game pans out, I - probably like many others – thought that the game would start with Butcher Bay and lead on quite seamlessly into what would typically be an add-on, maybe not even indicated. I was instead surprised to find that both games can be played entirely separately, and oddly best played through in reverse order. Although there are references between both Butcher Bay and Dark Athena, chronologically Dark Athena is after Butcher Bay, so they can be played as completely separate story-lines. On top of two games, a newly included multiplayer option which plays with some Riddick versus Mercenaries action and some Counter-strike like reminiscence. Plus there is even more to sink your teeth into, so there’s definitely no going wrong here when it comes to length and replay-ability.
Through the order of preference I was introduced firstly with the newly included sequel. The game doesn’t mess about with presenting you the plot as you start by waking up on a drifting ship in the middle of a dense asteroid field, only to be scavenged by a ship about thirty times your craft's size and the crew taken by its encounters. According to Atari you’ll be spending the majority of your time exploring the larger ship which happens to be called 'Dark Athena', this may seem daunting or disappointing to you at first, however, it doesn’t take long for you to realise that there’s definitely a lot more to be found here. As the plot slowly unravels itself you’ll be too caught up in the interesting characters, sub-plots and what’s around the next corner to worry about when the environment around you will spruce up into something more distant. It’s very rare in 1st person action to have that affect, but as you’ll soon find out this is no ordinary 1st person action title.
The more I wandered and discovered playing through Dark Athena, the harder I found it to draw comparisons of similar titles other than its predecessor. There is much of an emphasis on stealth and silent kills which could compare it to games such as Thief or Hitman, although it also shakes itself up with interactivity in the sub-plot developments. To lessen the confusion, pointing to progress through environment observation and character interactions, like a number of real-time RPGs you’ve probably experienced this recently. This element of the game had really kicked in when you’re infiltrating the ship's holding cells and you bump into a few intriguing but also quite disturbing people. You’ll regret meeting a few who feel they need to relieve themselves in more ways than one, and others who you can’t just work out whether they’re trustworthy or not, and that’s the beauty of the Riddick universe, there’s no thin line between good and evil.
You end up running in-between these characters probing for information and researching their histories, you’ll also do some errands which get you to beat a few inmates and find a few tools which will eventually progress you through the overall story. I had experienced a mission which had me going on what had been essentially a killing spree finding a gold tooth, and then a mission that had me evading enemies while hunting for a screwdriver. The Chronicles of Riddick is a series of games where you’ll get to a stage that you think you’ve figured out where the game’s heading, and then it throws something new into the equation which keeps you playing, a shift from your one trick pony shoot ‘m’ ups that’s for sure.
To start with the most obvious improvement from its still good looking predecessor is its great leap in visuals. This is not a glossy polish to Butcher Bay, but rather a definition of a ‘remake’ and so it includes a new engine also, and it really does show. There may have been a major turn in aesthetic craving for the dark, gritty and unsaturated shooters recently but this game presents itself in a new light. The character models are detailed and convincing in movement, the surroundings are well lit and eerie which happens to suit the game’s style perfectly well, it’s almost like playing the movie. I was also blown away by the character reactions when talking to them, they won’t stand there motionless as all their responses are genuine in facial expression and body language, making their feelings and stories just that tad bit more convincing. It had briefly brought me back to the blast I had playing through Mass Effect.
Although I didn’t witness that many weapons at the start of the game – other than a tranquilizer gun – I was told that there was an assortment of new weapons, one of which interested me the most was a gun that had distinguishable features of the gravity gun from Half-Life 2, I had been also told there was more of an opportunity to use these new weapons later on in the game.
There are some interesting little additions to the puzzle elements, for example at the start of the game you’ll find yourself lacking any form of long ranged weapon, you have to improvise in certain areas and situations by killing these enemies called ‘drones’ and using their weapon by holding their body as the guns are built into their arms, you have to use these for certain otherwise impassable barriers or persistent enemies. The combat has been improved also; the up close and personal combat system has been played with by adding some extra moves and maneuvers in your hand-to-hand melee arsenal. Due to the huge graphical upgrade expect to see some quite ‘mature’ fight scenes.
As I mentioned before, what set Butcher Bay apart from the other 1st/3rd person shooters of its generation, Dark Athena has so far done the same for its generation. And of course its movie like experiences, the fact it can really pull you into the screen and not let go. I could have quite literally played the game until its completion but time was a factor in the session I had. There are no real defining missions in this game but an objective screen, it's nothing that breaks it up but its scattered loading scenes. Every area and moment leads seamlessly onto the next as it would following from a single main character in a film.
With a good two plus hours on Dark Athena, Atari had to make my exit harder by finishing it off with a short walk-through of the beginning of Butcher Bay. I was told while watching a visually breathtaking intro - to what was a great Xbox game - that all of the new content that I had witnessed in Dark Athena is present in Butcher Bay, I was also assured that this was a complete remake of Butcher Bay and that was proven alone by the purely spectacular engine present, it seemed strangely better after playing Dark Athena seeing as I was able to draw comparisons from the original. For those of you interested, the game will split the Achievements across all both stories and the multiplayer.
My speculation previous to my appearance at Atari had been completely stripped after seeing the game with my own eyes. Beforehand I had expected a game that offered a remake of the original with an extra chapter as an incentive for the already experienced players, but instead I have come away knowing that this would be a game a previous Butcher Bay player would enjoy as well as a newcomer to the series, now... just roll-on March 20th because I cannot wait and shooter hungry gamers should be equally excited.
Preview By: Lee Burton
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