When you start a new game, you are given the option of playing either Butcher Bay or Dark Athena, so those that have already played the Xbox version are not forced to break out of prison one more time (although its likely going to be a lot more fun this time around). Butcher Bay begins with Riddick in chains, apprehended by the bounty hunter Johns. Johns has taken him to Butcher Bay, the most secure maximum security prison in the system, where he hopes to collect a large bounty and leave Riddick there to rot. Shockingly, things do not go according to plan for Johns and Riddick quickly breaks out of his initial custody as you, the player, attempt to guide him to freedom. Dark Athena takes place directly after Butcher Bay when Riddick's ship (SPOILER: HE ESCAPES FROM BUTCHER BAY) is captured by a band of Mercs who have something nefarious planned for our hero.
Despite both game's focus on hand to hand fighting, guns still play a prominent role, especially in Dark Athena were Riddick has access to guns for a large portion of the game. The player can access all of the classic FPS weaponry such as the shotgun, assault rifle, pistol and SMG, and all of these guns play as you would imagine they would. The back half of Dark Athena introduces a new gun: a sticky grenade launcher, which varies between somewhat interesting and downright gimmicky. At multiple points, the player will be required to stick grenades to door locks in order to open them up and a new enemy is introduced that is mostly harmless, but must be killed only by sticky grenade. There's nothing inherently wrong with the launcher, but it sometimes feels as if Starbreeze, the developer, is trying a bit too hard to justify the weapon's existence.
The multipayer in Riddick is very remicient of quake, with power ups and weapons pick ups featured all over the map. The action is fast paced and fun despite being very different from the actual game. All of the traditional modes such as team deathmatch, capture the flag, etc. are present and accounted for, along with two unique game modes: Pitch Black and Prison Riot. In Pitch Black, one player is Riddick and the rest are gaurds who are hunting him in a dark pit. Riddick has his night vision and the guards have flashlights which will alert Riddick when they are near, and a limited supply of ammo, making them sitting ducks. Whichever guard kills Riddick becomes the new Riddick and so on. Prison Riot features three teams; prisoners, Mercs, and guards, and is essentially a new twist on counter strike where each team tries to steal a power node and gets money to spend at the end of the round on weapons and armor based on their performance. The only downside to the multiplayer is that there is almost no one online. I managed to find about six people to play with during my time with the game, and each of them stated that they hadn't seen anyone online in days. Hopefully this will change once everyone figures out that the game offers more than just the single player experience.
In all, the general gameplay is excellent in Riddick, if a bit linear, but my favorite part of the game (apart from stabbing fools in the face with my shiv) was listening to Vin Diesels amazingly awesome dialog. Those who have seen the films know what I'm talking about. At no point does Riddick pass up the chance to drop a really hammy one-liner, which probably wouldn't work if Vin Diesel didn't do such a believable job saying it. I could spend pages just typing out some of the dialog highlights, but I think this one exchange from early in the game is indicative of the general trend.
*Riddick tackles some poor sap of a guard and they both go falling down a long vent shaft*
Riddick *as they are falling*: It's not the fall that kills ya...
*Riddick lands on top of the guard, using the guard's face to cushion his fall*
Riddick: It's the sudden stop at the bottom.
You almost expect CSI Miami's David Caruso to pop out of a nearby locker and put his glasses on while the prisoners in the background sing YAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
My only issue with either of these games is that neither one provides clear objectives for the player. Your mission log might say “Escape the ship”, but it won't give you any other advice on how to do so. This may leave you wandering around for a half an hour trying to find a switch, or a door that is not easy to find. These incidents add up quickly and go a long way toward souring the experience. I understand that not every game needs to baby the player along with a radar or big floating arrow (like Bioshock, for example) but there is nothing less fun than not knowing what to do. Had Starbreeze made each objective easy to find and figure out it would be one thing, but in many cases they seem to deliberately trick you into going the wrong way.
In spite of this defect, The Chronicles of Riddick Assault on Dark Athena is a deal at twice the price. You get two amazing games, some really great Vin Diesel dialog, and a perfectly competent multiplayer mode for the price of a regular game. Five years in the making, this game decapitates the competition and then hides their corpse in the dark section of the BestBuy.



