|
> The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay: Written by: Josh Wagner
 Publisher: VU Games Price: 49.99 Genre: Action M for Mature
I was a fan of Riddick almost immediately as he made his first
appearance
in Pitch Black. Maybe I'm just a softy for the anti-heroes
but I continue to believe that he is one of the greatest characters
ever
created. Would he be as appealing if not played by Vin Diesel?
Probably not. That's why Vivendi picked him up, and like
a stiff left
jab, out of no where came The Chronicles Or Riddick: Escape From
Butcher Bay.
The opening cut-scene for this game
kind of had me confused as to what
exactly was about to unfold. There's a bearded man in a snowy drift,
and it just
so happens that it's Riddick. Well, the first thing that
crossed my mind is that this is a prequel to both Pitch Black
and The
Chronicles of Riddick, so why is my man all bearded and hairy? It
turns out this is Riddick in the present and
as he enters a cave, a
mysterious voice asks him about Butcher Bay and the story begins with
him recalling the events
of the inescapable prison.
The plot comes together nicely, and believe me when I say there is
absolutely never a dull moment.
Whether you're getting to know the
unique prisoners in one of the triple max sections, searching for a
list of snitches,
or getting patted down by guards for contraband;
it's always just as intense. Back to the story though, Johns is
transporting
Riddick to Butcher Bay in hope of receiving a big reward
from Hoxie. Hoxie knows that Riddick is the Universe's most wanted
man,
but because of Johns' prior problems with him, he gives Johns
didly squat. Now Riddick's madness is let loose upon a triple-max
security
prison that is home to much more than just killers and
guards. This would have made a much better movie than what got
released
in theaters...
Chronicles is another one of those games that can't really be summed
up
with a single genre label. It has elements of first-person action,
stealth, and adventure. The opening tutorial is neat.
The way it is
implemented in to the game while still getting across the basic
control layout of the game across to the
gamer is sheer genius. Most
of the time you are given a goal, and it's your place to figure out
how to go about obtaining
what's necessary to advance to that goal.
There's no real direct line connecting point A to point B. This makes
for
a very open ended experience. At first it may be something as
simple as deciding whether to silently crack a guards neck,
and then
take on the hoards...but later it gets more along the lines of
deciding whether to shoot out the lights and
advance in the darkness
with your shine vision, kill a mechanic and use his vent tool to make
your way through the air-ducts,
or just destroy everything in site.
There are so many ways to get from A to B that I've played through the
game three
times and I'm still finding new possibilities. NPC's all
have a distinct personality. This goes for guards and prisoners.
Guards
get antsy and smack you with the butt of their gun. Some
prisoners will yell profanity at you, while others will offer
you
information and tools or money for completing tasks for them. You
can accept or reject their offers. Most of the time they
just give you
a pack of smokes which is how you unlock all the bonus material. Other
times they'll hook you up with
money, a weapon, or a password. All of
these quests are logged in your journal for you to access at any time.
Moving on to the actual core of the game, the robust combat and
stealth is where it's at. Not only can you link up hooks
and
uppercuts, but you can blast away with a gun, stab away with a
screwdriver, execute stealth kills, and there are
reversals for just
about every situation. There are so many ways to kill, it requires a
few plays to have an opportunity
to see them all. The aggressive A.I.
will do their best to keep you from doing anything. They work as a
group, noticing
sounds or out of place prisoners and go about duties
accordingly. Prisoners do the same. Each one reacts to situations
differently.
Most will put up their dukes or pull out a blade and come
at you while some may run for cover. Every NPC (with guards being
exceptions)
has a distinct way of taking action. There's even a
retard! I love it. The number of guard models is kind of low, as
you'll
only come across a handful of types. There are a few basic
guards, a couple riot guards in battle armor, a few creatures,
and of
course there's always turrets to keep you in line. Riddick isn't
without a small rebel-reducing arsenal though.
You'll come across
custom shivs, knuckles, clubs, pistols, shotguns, assault rifles,
mini-guns, tranq guns, and grenades.
You don't get to kill anyone with
a frying pan, but sequels do make room for improvements like that.
With this game's aggressive enemies, you'll definitely be needing
health refills. Chronicle's unique take on health
is a machine called
NanoMed. The party at hand presses their hands against a panel and
large needles are thrust in to
their neck to replenish and revive.
These machines are scattered throughout the game and each one offers 4
tanks of
health. As you advance you get more health tanks, so NanoMed
cartridges can also be found and used to refill the NanoMed
machines.
One of the few problems I had with the gameplay was saving and
loading. Load times occur, sometimes ridiculously often.
Each load
takes about 10 seconds. Saving is automatic, but the problem here is
that it's triggered by checkpoints. Sometimes
it doesn't save for the
longest times and when you end up dying and restarting way back in a
different area... well
it can get frustrating. The map is pretty
useless, but don't fret. You won't need it too often. It comes down to
this
just being a wonderfully laid out game; a living, breathing hell
prison.
The visuals are what drew the most attention to Chronicles, and
rightfully so. This is a gorgeous game, but I don't
think it should be
the focal point. For every beautiful piece of scenery or amazing
character model, there's a glitch
or fudge up in the appearance of
something. Don't get me wrong. This easily the best looking game on a
console. There
are wrinkles on faces, rippling abs, floppy breasts,
stretched skin, scars, and as soon as Riddick is done - there are
lots
of bullet holes, cuts and bruises. Bullet holes actually leave enter
and exits spots. Seeing blood spray out of
a guy's cranium and
painting a wall is very different. It's gruesome. The shadow and
lighting effects are equally impressive.
Watch approaching enemies and
know there where-a-bouts just by looking at there shrinking or growing
shadow. The variety
of settings is astounding considering the locale.
Who would think a prison could encompass so many variables? Very
refreshing
level design. When you obtain shine vision, it's like a
whole new game. Going to work in the dark is unexplainably cool.
The
coolest thing is that lights off of a guard's gun or in general can
blind you. Vivendi worked out the sensitivity
well. First person is
where most of the game is viewed from, but third person is involved.
When climbing a ladder, using
a security card, or shuffling across a
ledge - it will shift flawlessly in and out of third person. It was a
great idea,
allowing the gamer to see the environment and setting
outside of Riddick's eyes. The most reoccurring problem graphically
lies
in the cut-scenes. There are numerous glitches and silly mistakes.
Sometimes the character models get really grainy like
they're behind a
gasoline filter or standing on a desert highway. There are lots of
little jaggy black shapes that appear
in the form of shadows too.
Those problems aside, the graphical nature of this game is one to
cherish.
Obviously Vin Diesel is the draw here. He does such a good job voicing
this character, it's almost weird. Vin just really
let loose on this
one and it's easy to tell he feels like this character is part of him.
Like I said earlier, Riddick
is one of the best anti-heroes there is,
and Vin gives him the attitude to back it up. Anybody else that was
starred
for the movie is also voicing the appropriate character in the
game. Xzibit makes an intimidating appearance, er...sound.
His role as
Abbot is a well acted one. All the other talents in Chronicles do an
excellent job setting the mood for
their character, giving them each
distinguishable personalities. I love the fact that NPC's go about
conversing even
when you're not involved in the conversation. There is
a ton of foul language with I rather enjoyed because it's just so
cheesy
and action film cliched, it makes me laugh. Those aside, guns
a' blazing, necks a' cracking, and creatures a'stirring...it
all
sounds perfectly fitting. The musical scores weren't anything special
but they aren't ever noticeably bad which
is a good thing.
A must for a solid first person shooter of any type is a good control
scheme, and Chronicles executes to perfection.
The tutorial at the
beginning not only gets you prepared with the basics, but manages to
do it in a creative manner.
Both hand to hand combat and shooting feel
equally slick. Toggling weapons, environment interaction, reloading,
and
jumping are all mapped to face buttons for quick use. The triggers
is used for hand to hand combat. The right trigger,
in cahoots with
the left thumb-stick, will let you throw a variety of punches while the
left trigger acts as your way
of blocking and reversing. The triggers
are also used for stealth kills and gunplay. The thumb-sticks are used
for crouching
and toggling shine vision off and on. Oddly enough, the
D-pad is used for peaking around corners or over crates. It's a
different
control layout that will be picked up almost as quickly as
learning to tie your shoes. The only problem I had with the
control
scheme was accessing hangrails. Occasionally Riddick would decide he
didn't want to jump on to a hangrail, leaving
me vulnerable to
attacks. It's also kind of awkward learning which directions make you
go which way on the hangrails.
Thankfully, it's not something you'll
be partaking in very often.
So one would think that after one play through a game like this and
that's that, right? Wrong pal. In a short period
of weeks I've played
through Butcher Bay 3 times completely, not to mention having
immediate access to every checkpoint
in the game. This means you can
start just about anywhere in the game and replay your favorite parts
with out the hassle
of playing the whole game again (which I opt to
do). It's a short game at 5-8 hours, but it has enough entertainment
value
to keep gamers sneaking in the shadows for a long time. For
once, it's not the extras that draw the gamer in, it's the
gameplay.
Riddick was rated "M" for Mature due to blood, gore and profanity. An M for mature was a very fare rating due to the harsh
context of this game.
While you're waiting for me to sum this game up in a nice little
paragraph, I'm drooling at the possibilities of another
play through.
Please do yourself a favor and get a hold of this one. Escape From
Butcher Bay is quite easily one of
the greatest console games of this
generation.
Graphics: 9.5 | Sound: 9.0 | Control: 10
| Replay: 9.0 | Overall Game Score: 9.5/10
       
|
