The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay

"An Example Of How To Make A Movie-Based Game Good!"

INTRO:

Seemingly coming out of nowhere and shocking many a person is the game known as "The Chronicles Of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay". The magazine "Game Informer" first caught their eyes on this game some months back, and people were extremely impressed. Mainly by the stunning graphics, which resemble that of other high-profile and highly anticipated titles such as "Doom III", "Halo 2" and "Half-Life 2". The game is set as a prequel to the film's prequel, "The Chronicles Of Riddick", that film is the prequel to the film, "Pitch Black". Which launched actor Vin Diesel's career into superstar territory. The game's development team, Starbreeze Studios, whose prior work on the XBox included the video game "Enclave" have really pushed the power of the XBox with this bad boy, and undoubtedly put their name on the map. Now, let's get more in-depth with this sweet title!

STORY: 10\10

Like I mentioned prior, this game is set as a prequel to the upcoming film, "The Chronicles Of Riddick". And revolves around you stepping into his shoes as he attempts to break out of the brutal and massive prison called "Butcher Bay". It is very well written, and the actors from the film, Vin Diesel and Cole Hauser provide excellent voice-work. Others include Ron Perlman, who recently starred in "Hellboy" and who was also seen in "Blade II", as well as rapper Xzibit. The story grips a hold of you and actually forces you to continue playing to see what happens next.

GAME-PLAY: 10\10

Riddick is a mixture of Fighting, Stealth-Action and First Person Shooting. And believe me, it utilizes them all well...the fighting reminds me a lot of Namco's "Breakdown", except less deep. You can perform uppercuts, right and left hooks, and jabs but you are unable to kick. You are also able to perform some pretty awesome stealth kills, which involve you breaking necks, slitting throats and stabbing guards in their back. The game includes disarms as well, one of which is done by snatching the gun from the guards hands and pressing it underneath his chin then firing a bullet into his brain. Later on, you are given the gift of "Eyeshine", Riddick's trademark glowing eyes that allow him to see in the dark. Some other elements include some running around and talking to other inmates who provide information or for the right price, offer cigarettes, weapons and tools. This feature reminded me somewhat of "Deus Ex" Invisible War". After collecting the smokes, they happen to unlock concept art from the game and other things. The game also sports a unique feature which when done, switches from it's FPS perspective to a Third-Person perspective. This is activated when you climb ladders and crates, or when you are shimmying along rails. The game-play is very fun and executed nicely.

GRAPHICS: 10\10

This one here is a no-brainer, these graphics look like something I envisioned on an XBox 2. Truly amazing in every aspect, from character models, blood, lighting, levels, explosions and so on. Best part? You get all this eye-candy with no slow-down...I can't say anything more about it.

CONTROLS: 9\10

The control for this game for the most part is great, but my main beef with it is when you engage in hand to hand combat. You hold down on the Left Trigger to block and use your Right Trigger to punch, you use the Left Analog to move it in different directions in order to execute different punches. I think it would have been easier, if when you select your bare hands the X, Y, B and A buttons automatically are used to fight. So if you press the X button for example, it provides a right hook. But for shooting, running and other stuff, the controls are cream cheese. You shouldn't encounter any problems in that field of the game.

REPLAY VALUE: 9\10

This is an all-around superb title, with excellent graphics and some pretty tight controls. There are many things to be seen in done with this title, but the one thing that keeps it from getting a perfect ten is that there is no multi-player feature. I would have enjoyed running around the blood-caked halls of "Butcher Bay" having a death-match with some buddies. Hell, I could only imagine the chaos if they had on-line multi-player options, it would have kicked a lot of ass. Well, at least the game is good enough to go through a second time, so I can't really complain.

OVERALL: 9\10

One of the best games released on the XBox, with graphics to die for and a well-written story. This ranks up there with "Half-Life" and "Halo: Combat Evolved" as one of the finest shooters I have ever played. It just needed that multi-player feature to receive a perfect ten, but other than that this game should belong in every XBox owner's library, go out and buy this right now!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/05/04