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The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
After playing this game, you might want to bring a flashlight with you at all times.
April 21, 2009 | 5:11 PM PSTKombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.
What the Game's About
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is actually two games in one. The first is a remake of the 2004 game, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, and the new entry to the Riddick saga, Assault on Dark Athena. You play as John Riddick, who is played by Vin Diesel as he did for the Pitch Black movies. Using the shadows and darkness as your friend, you stealthily ignore or eliminate any threat that walks in your path. Each mission gives Riddick different motivations for his murderous actions.
What's Hot
Riddick is an eerily cool, calm and collected character. He won't even bat an eye to any situation that he is thrown into, as horrible as it might be. His monotone voice is chilling as he calculates his next move and callously talks life or death situations without so much as a hesitation. He is in stark contrast to the other characters he meets who exude fear, anger, surprise, regret, remorse and the rest of the emotion rainbow. Riddick is the type who will work with anyone, as long as they are useful to him. It doesn't matter how unsavory, twisted or deranged the others are, Riddick will find a way to work with them as long as they play a small part in his grand scheme. Riddick is the anti-hero done right.
When you see screen shots, you might think this is your standard run-and-gun FPS shooter. That's technically only half correct. Dark Athena tries to split from the pack by using a stealth system that allows you to master your surroundings. At the beginning, you don't have a wide selection of weapons to use, mostly just melee clubs, knives and knife variations. Using more close quarters combat gives a sense of urgency and franticness that isn't achieved in more gun centric parts that happen later in the game. Using the shadows to conceal your location and creep the hell out of enemies is one of the most rewarding parts of the game.
One of the remarkable parts of the game is knowing that Butcher Bay is a five year old game that can still be a hit as the rest of the world kept turning and evolving. Add that experience to the new stuff and atmosphere and you can see what makes this package so attractive. If you missed out the first time, there isn't a better time to catch up and follow Riddick in his gaming adventures.
What's Not
One of the things you'll notice is that you backtrack early and frequently. One example is when you open a cell block on the Dark Athena and you'll have to do fetch quests in order to get the tools needed to do your next plan. When that stuff pops up so early, it leaves a sour taste in your mouth because it feels like the game is running out of ideas. The saving grace is the excellent moments of unforgettable gameplay during those missions.
Stealth is a little too planned. Where games like Splinter Cell allow you to create your own darkness, you are more or less guided by the level design as to where safe and unsafe positions are. This part comes from the game design not being absolutely cutting edge. At times, it feels like a puzzle element and other times, it can feel like the next logical leap for the series was missed. There is more of the tendency to feel that the game missed a step to make the hiding parts more natural.
The blur effects can be distracting some times. When combat is done and the field of depth blur effect attempts to come back in focus, it doesn't come back to normal as quickly as it should. It might seem nitpicky to criticize a small part of the game, but when a game is as fluid as Dark Athena, those issues really break the connection between you and the game world.
Final Word
This is a great title to proudly display on your gaming shelf. Not that it would sit there for long because it will be in your 360 for a goodly amount of time. With the single player modes and the multiplayer modes kicking as much ass as Riddick, this is one of those "no-brainers" if you are addicted to visceral action. Even if you played the original title back on the original Xbox, you might want to take another stroll through the game and assault the Dark Athena. All around, this is a game 360 owners can be proud of.
What the Game's About
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is actually two games in one. The first is a remake of the 2004 game, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, and the new entry to the Riddick saga, Assault on Dark Athena. You play as John Riddick, who is played by Vin Diesel as he did for the Pitch Black movies. Using the shadows and darkness as your friend, you stealthily ignore or eliminate any threat that walks in your path. Each mission gives Riddick different motivations for his murderous actions.
What's Hot
Riddick is an eerily cool, calm and collected character. He won't even bat an eye to any situation that he is thrown into, as horrible as it might be. His monotone voice is chilling as he calculates his next move and callously talks life or death situations without so much as a hesitation. He is in stark contrast to the other characters he meets who exude fear, anger, surprise, regret, remorse and the rest of the emotion rainbow. Riddick is the type who will work with anyone, as long as they are useful to him. It doesn't matter how unsavory, twisted or deranged the others are, Riddick will find a way to work with them as long as they play a small part in his grand scheme. Riddick is the anti-hero done right.
When you see screen shots, you might think this is your standard run-and-gun FPS shooter. That's technically only half correct. Dark Athena tries to split from the pack by using a stealth system that allows you to master your surroundings. At the beginning, you don't have a wide selection of weapons to use, mostly just melee clubs, knives and knife variations. Using more close quarters combat gives a sense of urgency and franticness that isn't achieved in more gun centric parts that happen later in the game. Using the shadows to conceal your location and creep the hell out of enemies is one of the most rewarding parts of the game.
One of the remarkable parts of the game is knowing that Butcher Bay is a five year old game that can still be a hit as the rest of the world kept turning and evolving. Add that experience to the new stuff and atmosphere and you can see what makes this package so attractive. If you missed out the first time, there isn't a better time to catch up and follow Riddick in his gaming adventures.
What's Not
One of the things you'll notice is that you backtrack early and frequently. One example is when you open a cell block on the Dark Athena and you'll have to do fetch quests in order to get the tools needed to do your next plan. When that stuff pops up so early, it leaves a sour taste in your mouth because it feels like the game is running out of ideas. The saving grace is the excellent moments of unforgettable gameplay during those missions.
Stealth is a little too planned. Where games like Splinter Cell allow you to create your own darkness, you are more or less guided by the level design as to where safe and unsafe positions are. This part comes from the game design not being absolutely cutting edge. At times, it feels like a puzzle element and other times, it can feel like the next logical leap for the series was missed. There is more of the tendency to feel that the game missed a step to make the hiding parts more natural.
The blur effects can be distracting some times. When combat is done and the field of depth blur effect attempts to come back in focus, it doesn't come back to normal as quickly as it should. It might seem nitpicky to criticize a small part of the game, but when a game is as fluid as Dark Athena, those issues really break the connection between you and the game world.
Final Word
This is a great title to proudly display on your gaming shelf. Not that it would sit there for long because it will be in your 360 for a goodly amount of time. With the single player modes and the multiplayer modes kicking as much ass as Riddick, this is one of those "no-brainers" if you are addicted to visceral action. Even if you played the original title back on the original Xbox, you might want to take another stroll through the game and assault the Dark Athena. All around, this is a game 360 owners can be proud of.
November 20, 2009
