Player’s Club: Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena review
April 28, 2009 at 12:15 pm by Garrett Martin in Games & Tech
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
Rated M for Mature
Released April 7
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Published by Atari
What It Is: Remember the Vin Diesel movie Chronicles of Riddick? You were probably too busy convincing yourself John Kerry wasn’t a horrible candidate to notice this giant bomb. Games based on movies are traditionally awful, but somehow the video game tie-in, Escape from Butcher Bay, easily outperformed its nominal source material both critically and commercially. The unique stealth-focused first-person shooter boasted excellent production values and a tight narrative focus, exactly unlike the movie’s sprawling sci-fi nonsense. Five years is a long wait for a sequel, but for those who’ve forgotten or never played the original, Dark Athena comes with a spruced-up current-generation remake of Butcher Bay. So that’s two complete games on one disc, both overflowing with Diesel’s comical cheerlessness.
What’s Good: Escape From Butcher Bay remains a genuine treat, the rare first-person shooter that deviates considerably from the standard bullet-riddled formula. Charging enemies headfirst will almost always end quickly and poorly. Stealth is vital, and the silence of melee weapons makes them preferable to gunfire for about the first time in video game history. With its claustrophobic environment, retraversal gameplay, and general disregard for FPS convention, Butcher Bay feels less like Halo or Call of Duty than Metroid Prime Lite. Assault on Dark Athena preserves Butcher Bay’s great voice acting and just enough of its atmosphere, all while advancing the story into intriguing new territory. There’s also a fun multiplayer component for those moments when only random narrative-free violence will suffice.
What’s Not So Good: Assault on Dark Athena’s gameplay disappoints. It often deviates from Butcher Bay’s impressive path, favoring straightforward shooting over its predecessor’s stealthier elements. It’s a perfectly acceptable shooter, but in streamlining the action, Dark Athena sacrifices some of the franchise’s identity.
What To Do: It’s hard to beat two complete games and multiplayer for the price of one, at least when one of those games is as good as Butcher Bay. Anyone who enjoys a good action game should try out Escape from Butcher Bay. And then, if a more active but dumbed-down reiteration sounds like fun, Assault on Dark Athena is only a menu screen away.
(Photo courtesy Amazon.com)
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