Five years have past since the relative success story that was Escape from Butcher Bay on the original Xbox and now The Chronicles of Riddick return to our game machines with the latest episode in the series Assault on Dark Athena.

 

It has to be said that this is one disc that will offer you plenty of content for your money, the original and re-mastered game is included on the disc along with the latest game and a fairly extensive online mode, but is it at the expense of the quality of the new game?

 

 

Like I say, the disc is so feature packed that it’s difficult to know where to start, so let’s start from the beginning. Escape from Butcher Bay was a decent enough game when it was first released, so now that it is back and re-mastered it is a joy to play through again. The main things anyone who played the original will notice is the updated graphics and sound, there is of course no comparison when you look at some of the higher quality games of the present, however there are some moments during play that you will be very impressed with.

 

The story in Butcher Bay sees Riddick trying to find a way out of the prison he finds himself in, all while trying not to get killed by his fellow inmates who seem to be out to get him. The game takes the guise of a first person shooter, although it is more about stealth rather than going gun hoe. The combat in Butcher Bay is fairly harsh, just a few bullets can see your character eliminated and although you can regenerate health using a combination of stealth and health stations it is much better to use the shadows as often as possible in order to progress

 

Rather than being an all out action game Butcher Bay often takes on a Oblivion/Fallout guise as you wander around the prison talking to fellow inmates and trying to work out the best way to escape, here you will earn new mini missions like being asked to kill fellow prisoners in revenge for some sort of reward, which in most cases will help you progress further.

 

Graphically Butcher Bay is nowhere near the quality of some of today’s games, although it’s probably on a par with the lower budget titles that are about. Even though the game is re-mastered it was never going to lose all of its age and this is particularly noticeable in a few areas of the game such as in the backgrounds and animations.

 

Overall, despite its few flaws, Escape from Butcher Bay seems to stand the test of time pretty well and with the new updates this game will certainly keep you entertained for quite a few hours.

 

Of course the main reason for this review is not Butcher Bay but its sequel, Assault on Dark Athena which takes place after the events of the first game. At the beginning and shortly after completing the games tutorial (which takes the form of a dream sequence and is just like going through a level, but with some instructions thrown in), you wake up in the middle of space in your spaceship quarters, minutes later your ship is then dragged in by the Dark Athena, a large space vessel which roams space sweeping up anything that gets in it’s way.

 

When your ship docks the ships commander Revas boards and then later on in the game puts a price your head (que the bounty hunters). The main point of this game is again to escape by following many of the same principles of Escape from Butcher Bay, which is why it is probably better to play though that game first as not much has really changed in the way that Riddick moves and acts. Unfortunately the original game is in many ways better than its sequel, this is mainly due to it losing what was good about the original in the first place in that this game feels much more action orientated now rather than leaning towards the more stealthy approach of the original.

 

New to Assault on Dark Athena are the enemies, mindless drones now sweep the corridors and following a meeting with a little girl, you soon find out how to take advantage of them. Drones wander the corridor guarding the ship and come in two states, the first is when the lights on their face are red, this is their normal state and it makes them easy to take down as you can simply sneak up behind them and finish them off with one blow. Their other state is when the lights are on, here the drones are much more alert and dangerous, and therefore if possible it is best to stay out of their way. It is worth mentioning that when you kill a drone you can actually pick them up and use their weapon against an enemy, this comes in very handy as in general you cannot use guns thanks to all the weapons being DNA specific, therefore your DNA does not match, meaning that you have to make do with a hairpin or your fists.

 

 

Graphically Assault on Dark Athena is obviously of a much better standard than that of Escape from Butcher Bay, however I have to say that I enjoyed the more stealthy and story orientated feel of the original to that of this most recent game, though that’s not to say Assault on Dark Athena is a bad game, it’s just that it seems to have lost the a lot of what made the original good and despite its cosmetic improvements feels a little bit worse for it.

 

Outside of the games two story modes, there is also the online multiplayer section to keep you busy. Here you are met with quite a few game modes such as the standard options like Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch, to more unique offerings such as Butcher Bay Riot (a bit like capture the flag), Arena (think Oblivion and you get the ideal) and my personal favourite Pitch Black, where one player assumes the role of Riddick hiding in the dark and using his Eye Shine ability to see while the other players hunt him down with the flashlights on their weapons, the player to take him down then takes on the role of Riddick. All of the online modes are fairly fun, though it’s no Call of Duty 4.

 

Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is certainly a disc worth considering if you have never played Escape from Butcher Bay as it wasn’t a bad game in the first place and is now greatly improved by the makeover it has received. The sequel unfortunately is not as much fun, however it’s still a decent enough game which should keep you hooked long enough to get value for your money.