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Audio:		8.0
Visual:		9.0
Gameplay:		9.0
Story:		9.0
Replay:		8.0
Score:		9.0

Platform:	X360
Developer(s):	Starbreeze Studios
Publisher(s):	Atari
Genre:	Action
Players:	1
Release Date:	April 07, 2009
Rating:

Action games nowadays have become so bland or basic that it is quite sickening. It is either shoot the baddies and save the hot chick, save the world and shoot the baddies or simply, shoot the baddies. Well I was hoping that would change with this game, Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. The first CoR: Escape from Butcher Bay was a great achievement and was hailed as a great game which is intriguing considering it is a game based upon a movie character, which usually suck. Alas, we have here Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, the question is will be we yet another great game and addition to the Riddick series? Or a nasty flub that not even Ulaks can save. Continue on to find out…

Story:

First off, the game has both Dark Athena as well as the original hit Escape from Butcher Bay and this review is done solely on Dark Athena but to throw it out there Butcher Bay is a solid 8 out of 10.

You are Richard B. Riddick, one of the most dangerous men in the known galaxy and have just escaped Butcher Bay with the man who originally tried to leave you there for the bounty, Johns. On the journey from Butcher Bay your ship is docked while everyone is in cryogenic sleep, except your pod unlocks before being breached. Riddick of coarse stays with his stealth tactics to avoid detection before boarding the Dark Athena himself.

After boarding the Dark Athena you are forced to fight through the storage part of the ship which is littered with drone (Drones are humans that are fused with machine parts and used as basic watchdogs…with machine guns) sentries. The sentries are easy kills as they are controlled by a merc within the ship, so they are just husks with guns being controlled by an operator.

You finally locate Johns who is completely KO’d and also meet several other captives who help you to escape by their own means and with their own prerogatives. You find out that Gale Revas has hijacked the ship through mutiny from the original captain and XO and now she and her XO Skinner are in command and running amuck on the galaxy.

Your job is to stop them and find a way off the Dark Athena. If only you could find a pair of Ulaks…oh wait…there they are…

Gameplay:

CoR plays throughout in 2 variations, FPS styled and stealth styled. FPS is obvious, you run and gun but have to be careful early on while your health is relatively low. While in FPS you can utilize your array of guns you’ll find such as a shotgun, machine gun and the drone guns.

You utilize Riddick’s night vision just the same as in Butcher Bay which is actually also on this same game disc. Your going to have to use your stealth to get kills on mostly the drone soldiers and stay hidden, don’t forget to drag the bodies into the dark to avoid detection or all hell can and will break loose on your ass.

While the shooting in the game is fun and enjoyable it is truly all about the stealth kills and the game is perfectly in a 70-30 split within the game. Most of the game you need to creep around and use melee (fists, ulaks, knifes) to quickly and quietly take out your enemies. In other situations you have to use your ranged guns (shotty, SMG, MG) to take out the mercs. The parts that have FPS as the main battle technique are fast paced and exciting, while the stealth silent kill parts are exciting and pulse pounding in that creep around take peeps out kind of way.

The gameplay is solid and really easy to get into. It keeps you interested by changing the pace between slow melodic stealth and fast paced FPS all while keeping Vin Diesel a giant badass who will kill (literally) anything in his way.

Sound:

The effects are truly wonderful. The slashes from your weapons (primarily the Ulaks) are just beautiful and have that food commercial sound where the only thing missing is a BAM! from Emeril. The several kills you can do with each of your weapons (which are all unique) and the sounds that they create are a beautiful blood bath that is as awesome as it is exciting.

The effects of the game are exactly like Riddick’s movie series, bloody, creepy and frightening. The sound creates a pure ecstasy of violent perceptions that can only end with pretty much everyone dying in some way or another. The fear that you create with your kills is evident in the other mercs you haven’t yet downed which creates the hunter mentality that we all enjoy from time to time.

Visual:

Simply wonderful. From start to finish it is a game that makes love to your eyes. Riddick’s night vision makes the game even more stealth and gives you that night walker feeling to where no one but you can do whatever you want. The build of the Dark Athena is awesome looking and gives that futuristic look and feel that makes it unique and keeps its identity fresh. The game truly makes graphics important without sacrificing one thing for another and the visuals of the game are evident of that.

The visuals in the Butcher Bay redux are better looking and made for this next gen compared to its look on the original Xbox. The game detailed the characters and everything and just remade an already great looking game even better.

Replay:

The games online is decent but not the mainstay of the game itself. The game contains pretty good replay value simply that it contains 2 separate but equally great games. Dark Athena is a great addition to the Riddick series which I consider one of the most badass action stars today, and the redux of Butcher Bay added into all of this just makes the game that much better.

The game has good length to both campaigns and continues it with the multiplayer which is pretty good but definitely not COD or Halo 3 esque not that it was expected to be but you get the point. Either way Riddick’s newest Chronicle is one worthwhile and who knows we could see another movie if this game does relatively well.

Final Analysis:

Riddick is a hybrid and unique First Person game that is not married to guns and lasers, but makes you work for most of your kills and keeps the run and gun to a minimum. Riddick employs a great weapons system that can easily switch between 2 preferred weapons (Ulaks and Shotty we’re my picks) with the D-pad up and down commands.

The game as I said before employs a great switch between shooting and stealth options where you can use either or but one will make life easier and in your opponents case death quicker. Your enemies are not easy take downs most of the time so your hope of sitting back with an MG is a rough hope at best most of the time that and it is way more fun to stalk and assassinate your enemies and make them bleed everywhere. The fun thing is to let another soldier see the dead body and watch the panic ensue. I’m kinda perverse eh? Either way the game is solid and a great addition to any FP lover and this is a game that requires you to use strategy as well as tactics in the field and makes you prefer the low profile over the hit and run oh shit there’s someone here that most FP style games contain. Riddick is one of the more fun and open games I have played in a long time and is a worthwhile buy considering your 2 for 1 you’re actually getting. Grab your Ulaks and your dark specs and join the hunt!