Written by Jeff Buckland, 6/29/2004
Played on:
Xbox
In the last few years, games based on movies have become more and more prevalent. Many big summer blockbusters get a whole line of titles for various consoles, and most of the time these games are shallow and boring. They're also commonly unfinished and buggy, despite having millions of dollars thrown at them - Enter the Matrix is the best example of an overblown, overhyped title that turned out to be entirely mediocre.
It's with great surprise, then, that we see Starbreeze's Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, a first person shooter for the Xbox that is actually better than its summer movie counterpart. Go ahead and read that last sentence again. Yes, this game is actually better than the movie it's based on, and it even was released over a week before the movie itself. I should point out that the game's plot actually is actually totally different from the one in the movie: this is a prequel to both the current movie as well as the first one, Pitch Black. It explores how Riddick got sent to a very nasty prison called Butcher Bay, and how he goes from having nothing but his clothes and a tiny cell, to getting his unique eyesight, and eventually escaping from the place.
CoR plays like many first person shooters; Halo fans will feel pretty much right at home with the default button layout. As is with most console FPS games, I feel that a few more configuration options would be helpful for some players. The view stays in first person mode for most of the, and the camera switches to third person view for the stealth parts and a few other bits.
Riddick maneuvers well enough, and there are plenty of options for slicing and dicing your foes. We get some decent melee combat options, as well as a full-on gun interface for blasting enemies with. The game also includes a rudimentary stealth mode that you'll have to use in a few areas, and you'll have no choice. It's still mostly action, though, and the stealth isn't quite as complex as what we've seen in Thief: Deadly Shadows or the Splinter Cell series.
Riddick is a masterpiece in the graphics department. Just about all of the crazy DOOM 3-style lighting techniques we've seen id Software pimp over the years are in this game. It combines real-time lighting with pretty high detail textures as well as normal & bump maps to give Butcher Bay a more gritty, realistic look. The frame rates aren't blazing, nor are the graphics really that epic in scale, but the overall effect is quite impressive. This game has great graphics even though the setting is dismal and dark.
The game's atmosphere is the first thing that really hit me. The prison itself is on a remote planet, and the developers have really tapped their imaginations in making this game. Just about every major area in the game is detailed well, and the characters fit the atmosphere nicely. Riddick himself is voiced by the movie's actor, Vin Diesel, and his character looks like a spitting image of him too. You won't see a huge amount of Riddick, as the game is a FPS, but you'll catch some views of him in stealth mode or during the cutscenes.
The weapons and special effects in CoR all look superb, and it really surprises me what developers are squeezing into the meager 64MB of memory in the Xbox. The game is immersive in a way that reminds me of the way the best FPS titles from ten years ago or more would pull you in. That is, CoR creates a very unique atmosphere and loads up on the ambience. Combine this with the brilliant pacing of the gameplay, and you'll find that a half an hour with the game turns into four hours very quickly.
CoR is a very brutal game, as it probably should be. It's an understatement to say that Riddick himself is a pretty serious guy, and the game's mood matches his. Within the first few minutes, you'll know why this game is rated M. There's plenty of cussing and violence right from the start, and the game rarely lets up.
You'll start off in a bit of a dream state, and you'll get to take out some enemy soldiers with some decent firepower. Right off the bat, the weapons feel great - it's becoming harder and harder to make some weapons that are satisfying to use. While there aren't really any new ideas going into these weapons, I'm really not too concerned about that. I don't want developers to invent a whole new arsenal; I just want them to make the standard arsenal (shotgun, assault rifle, pistol, etc.) fun to use. Give them some unique sound and animations, maybe throw in a couple of brand new, unique weapons, and I'm happy.
You'll progress throughout the most evil, dank areas of the prison in just trying to get out, and you'll do plenty of slinking and sneaking around. If you simply hate stealth in a first person shooter, then you might want to stay away from Riddick - while the stealth is generally not as frustrating as I've seen in some games, you'll be forced to use it in a few areas. That's not to say this is a true stealth game; there are plenty of areas with some great full-on shooter action.
While Riddick is a bit short, it is a fun game to go through a couple of times. There are unlockable items in the game, but I didn't really find any of them too exciting. There are many side "quests" and other things to complete, and many areas of the game allow multiple paths through. None of this really added up to a huge amount of replay value, though, so I would recommend to those who don't care to explore every nook and cranny to rent the game. Considering that there are no multiplayer options at all, ten to twenty hours is just about enough to satisfy.
Chronicles of Riddick has an excellent array of sound effects, from the guns to the ambience to Riddick (voiced by Vin Diesel) himself. The characters you interact with - as you won't be killing quite literally everyone - all sound great for the game's dark atmosphere. I'll mention again that this game does include a full range of profanity, and plenty of it. It doesn't sound out of place, though, and it shows that games are getting closer and closer to what today's rated R movies show us. I never understood why games have had so much trouble over the years in getting a "Mature" rating without resorting to being, well, immature, but a few recent titles (Riddick included) tell me that it's getting better.
The music in CoR is also sufficiently low-key yet noticeable at all the right times; this is a difficult thing to accomplish. Many action games today either use too little music, or overbear you with constant techno-metal. Riddick gives us a nice balance in between the two; I wish more developers could get this kind of thing right.
Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is a great prequel to the blockbuster summer movie. The graphics are superb and the action is satisfying and intense. Riddick does lack in replay value, but the gameplay we do get is worth checking out. A rental will suffice for many players, but dedicated FPS players will certainly not regret buying this one.
