The Chronicles of Riddick PS3 review

Finally finished the two games that form The Chronicles of Riddick. I don't mean finally as in "I'm glad those are over" I mean "Damn those are two long games" without giving away anything just when you think you're finished another section presents itself.
As mentioned the game comprises two games - a re-make of the XBox exclusive Escape from Butcher Bay and the new Assault on Dark Athena. Perhaps the best way to describe them in terms of active gameplay is Metal Gear Solid (without the overly long cutscenes or cod philosophy) that is stealth and shoot, oh and both are first-person rather than MGS's third person.


The first half puts you in the titular Butcher's Bay prison. Playing Riddick (obviously) you are without the famous 'eyeshine' that appeared in the film Pitch Black and the first part of the game comprises of a bunch of fetch quests with some hand-to-hand fighting. There are melee weapons available, but you are in a prison and thus being spotted with one by a guard is not a good idea. Saying that though don't ask where you hide a club ;-)

So yes the first part is a little dull - talk to X perform action, move onto Y etc. It perks up a bit when you decide to get to The Pit and sneak through vents, across pipes and take down guards. From there you do yet more fetch quests to get into the mines and finally unleash your eyeshine ability. From there it's creating chaos and getting to the landing pad.

Dark Athena follows on from that (although you need to start a new game to run it) having escaped Butcher Bay you get pulled into a merc ship (a la the animation Dark Fury) and spend most of your time crawling through vents and taking down re-animated human drones. A few fetch quests here, but they are logically required and require yet more stealth and bloodshed.

Gameplay-wise it runs a mixed bag, ignoring the fetch quests it's a lot of staying in the shadows until you get your hands on a gun in which case it's still hiding in shadows and taking potshots at the enemies. Some minor annoyances with stealth kills - sneak up behind someone and you're hands will come up ready to crack their necks; but only if you've switched to unarmed (or certain melee weapons). You can't perform a stealth kill with a gun, that means if you botch the stealthy part (or they psychically know you're there) you're left smacking an armoured guy with your fists.

Despite that the combat is good, it does feel like you're hitting people and you certainly know when you're getting hit. On normal difficulty the guards can quickly whittle down your health and although the AI runs in set patterns it will respond to disturbances or the odd body they find. Even knocking out the lights becomes fun although some guards have torches which will dazzle you and make it hard to hit them if they catch you in their sight line.

That brings me to the engine. Both games use the same engine which is superb, I noted only two geometry errors and a few ragdoll disturbances throughout. The lighting, which plays a big part, works well particularly noteworthy are the torches used by guards which shows off the dynamic shadowing effects. Textures are good and writing is clear. There are loads between levels which will have you tapping your fingers in impatience particularly in Butcher Bay when you're forced between multiple areas on fetch quest duty, but they're more logically arranged in Dark Athena.

Controls are simple and standard FPS fare, switching weapons brings up a full-screen selection wheel overlay; with no game pause it's not wise to try it in the heat of battle though you can assign two weapons to the left and right d-pad buttons for quick selection.

So problems. Well objectives aren't always clear "go to the nearby supply depot" says the old man. Okay where's that? I spent a while heading over the nearby bridge and 'attacking' the building there before giving up and scouting around some more. Another example is creeping through a cargo bay patrolled by drones. At one point you need to clamber up a crate and be ducked behind a smaller one before a drone patrolling a platform sees you; trouble is you can't see the drone so don't know which way it's facing. Oh and you're not even sure you're going the right way. In some cases you're left with no idea what to do - I died multiple times facing an armour suited boss chasing me around a small run until I accidentally discovered the weak spot of his armour.

Okay some of those problems can make it more fun, at least the guards don't respawn when you get lost; but for a major stealth-based game it can get annoying to find yourself trapped in a dead-end with a flashlight drone approaching.


All-in-all it's fun, keeps going, and mixes up stealth and shooty bits and you get to drive around in mechs and steer drones about. The cutscenes are short and relevant and don't dump you without notice into new positions. Best of all are the set boss fights that (bar two) rely more on cunning than emptying ammo into the bad guy.

With the multiple ways of taking out enemies, hidden collectables, and the odd trophy I'll be returning to it soon.