Written by: Ian

 

 

 

The first Riddick game is one of the classic games on the original xbox that far too people played.

 

With a graphical upgrade, new content and a multiplayer mode, does this semi-sequel called "The Chronicles Of Riddick: Assault On Dark Athena" make it a must buy 5 years on? Is the original game still as fresh and innovative as all those years ago, and is Vin Diesel even as relevant and popular?

 

 

The game is split into two distinct parts, rather than seamlessly adding the new content onto the end of Butcher Bay. This in itself is fine. The Butcher Bay story holds up surprisingly well after all these years, probably in part to the fact that it was so different and fresh back then, and secondly due to the quality of the voice acting, featuring the talents of John DiMaggio and Xzibit as well as VD himself.

 

I also love the way the story is integrated into the game through a mix of cutscenes and Vin’s own thoughts and memories. It’s a shame, therefore, that the Dark Athena story itself isn’t as strong.

 

 

This is probably because it reaches a definite conclusion where you fight a last boss battle, then you watch a movie, and have to play some more. Then fight that boss, again. This will be due to the extra money from Atari, but it still should have been implemented in a stronger way.

 

 

This is an odd one to describe. Imagine a first person game, that becomes third person when ever you climb or interact with something like a zip wire, can be in 2nd or 3rd person for cut-scenes, starts off as a brutal hand-to-hand fighter but becomes more and more of a straight shooter with melee aspects as you progress, but always retains an element of stealth about it.

 

That’s what you get with Riddick. You start off in Butcher Bay prison with nothing, but doing various favours for people will get you some rubbish knives you can use to make a scene. Eventually you can kill some guards, but you often need to keep to the dark and make use of Richard B. Riddick’s special vision. Then you use your DNA and get some guns. Then you face off against some bigger crap. You get the picture.

 

You’re always at a disadvantage, but you do get more powerful toys. It’s just a shame that the game works best as a tense melee fighter, and that especially in Dark Athena, there is an overwhelming reliance on shooting.

 

 

There are some other issues too. Difficulty spikes are prevalent throughout, making some checkpoints beyond frustrating. The maps you get given are also terrible, and in a game that is quite open-minded about where you go can lead to frustrations as you get lost again and again. The fetch quests are also ridiculous and exploit this just to increase play time. You got that item Richard? Cool. Go get another one. It’s right next to the last one…