You may have read my post about the release of The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena a few weeks ago (before the previous site went down). I just got my review copy a few days ago and sat down and played it for a few hours over the weekend. Since this type of game isn’t my strong suit, it took a little bit time to get oriented with the style of play.
Truthfully, I had no idea what I was getting into. I had never played the original Escape from Butcher Bay on the Xbox back in the day (because I had a PS2 and it was an Xbox only game) but everything that I have read about it says that it was one of the better games on the Xbox. Atari went back and completely remastered the Escape from Butcher Bay for next generation consoles. The remake has gotten great reviews from people that played the original.
Due to this, I decided that I should start out playing Assault on Dark Athena. Classic mistake… I felt completely lost for about 30 minutes until I went back and played Escape from Butcher Bay where I gained a much better understanding of the plot. I would recommend starting from the beginning.
The game is slick. You high crawl/low crawl throughout the game as Vin Diesel’s character, Riddick, while sneaking up behind enemies and silently killing them to avoid detection. There are various weapons that you use to kill enemies including hairpins, screwdrivers, and these crazy looking blades that you would see on a knife show on the Home Shopping Network.
I found that the controls were a little hard to get acquainted with but about 10 minutes into the game everything was fine. The most appealing thing about the game to me was the cut scenes which look almost life-like. If the cut scenes last more than a minute, you might forget you were playing the game.
The voice acting was great with performances by Vin Diesel, Cole Hauser (O’Donnell from Dazed and Confused) and that Michelle Forbes chick who seems to be in about everything that I see these days. I don’t know how many of you like Vin Diesel. In my close circle of friends, I am mocked for even jokingly mentioning that I am a fan. I feel that he is along the lines of Chuck Norris…and so do the Interwebs. I found this site called 4Q.cc that has some unbelievable Chuck Norris’ style Vin Diesel facts. Here is the best:
If you rearrange the letters in Vin Diesel it reveals his credo: “I End Lives.”
That is what you need to know about The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. Plus, Vin also said “Eh, this guy didn’t like cold soup. Who does he think he is?’” which might be the best thing I have ever heard.
Editor’s Note: I haven’t gotten a chance to run the multiplayer modes from the game but you can check out a review and see some of the gameplay on this YouTube video from the guys over at Machinima.
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