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The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay Review
Let’s be honest, most of you have never seen the 2000 sleeper hit Pitch Black. Critically appreciated, but highly ignored, the movie set the horror movie genre on the right start for the new millennium, which of course would be trounced by crappy movies such as Darkness Falls and They. The movie was about a stranded crew that had to find a way off a planet that spent most of its years in darkness. The crew was of course hunted down and killed methodically one by one in standard horror movie fashion but the movie had one saving grace that pulled the whole boat along. An escaped convict named Richard B. Riddick who was renowned for his sharp attitude and many suspected murders. Riddick guided the crew (what was left of them) off of the planet and to hopeful safety. Let’s just say though, that saving a bunch of people wasn’t his first priority. Riddick is known for doing what will serve him in the best and most efficient way and mercy and thoughtfulness doesn’t come cheap or easy from him. It’s been a couple years since the release of Pitch Black and the only word of the sequel has been through dedicated magazines and sites that thoroughly track things like this. The first time the announcement of the movie ever really hit anyone was when the public found out that The Chronicles of Riddick was the movie Vin Diesel traded in XXX2 for, which I can tell you was a very wise choice. Vin Diesel is the only person who could ever play a character like Riddick with such believability; anyone else would most likely come off as being cheesy or amateurish. Another fact many people didn’t know at the time was that Vin had started his own game production company called Tigon Studios. They had begun work on a Pitch Black game that would be released most likely sometime after the movie. When Diesel decided to go forward with The Chronicles of Riddick the game changed its course slightly to take on a much bigger crowd. The game and the movie do not require you to have any prior knowledge of Pitch Black and that will allow the more casual group of gamers catch on to the game. Titled The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, this game has come practically out of nowhere to turn the console gaming industry on its backside. How can a game with so little hype be so good? Well, in the case of this game, very easily.
Escape From Butcher bay as said before, requires no knowledge of the movie Pitch Black in order for you to enjoy it. The only reason to watch the movie would be to get to know the character Riddick a bit better, but to tell the truth, this game does it even better than the movie, so if you haven’t seen the movie, start here. You play as Richard B. Riddick a convict suspected of multiple murders who has been transported to a maximum security facility known for its dangerous and brutal methods for treating its inmates. Riddick of course is not intent on staying at the prison, so the whole game has you playing Riddick and trying to escape by any means necessary. The story is integrated into the gameplay very tightly so it is important that no plot points are spoiled for you in this review. Your main goal in the game is to find any possible way of getting out of the prison and exploiting it. You will talk to many inmates who will either want to punch your lights out, or help you in your quest to escape, but never for free. You will find yourself running many different errands that will expand upon the plot and bring you closer to escaping. You will run across at least one character from the movie Pitch Black and many new ones that add to the intense atmosphere of the prison. One thing that must be said is that some distance into the game you will acquire the power to see in the darkness which is the explanation for his glowing eyes in the movie Pitch Black. This becomes an integral and vital part of the game right off the bat after you gain it, so navigation must be mastered.
To simply call the game a first person shooter would be a disgrace to its name. Riddick is a multi genre game played out in the first person perspective. That description is a far better one than most early previews of the game used. You will often find yourself without a weapon for extended periods of time, so it’s not all about shooting. When you start the game, you are in the main prison, and it is your mission to find a way out. You do this by asking the other inmates for jobs in return for weapons, tips or passageways that will help you to escape. Early on the only weapons you will come across are hand to hand like screwdrivers and shivs. As you progress you will find more advanced weaponry like pulse rifles and shotguns, but to be honest, there aren’t many different weapons in the game. Thankfully this is a positive aspect because it forces you to use stealth and other means of disposing of enemies. Aside from the weapons you have an effective hand to hand combat system which allows for combos, blocks and finishing moves. You will often use this feature for fighting with inmates and sneaking up on guards. Butcher Bay features a few areas that rely on platform jumping precision and they are pulled off very well. You will never find yourself frustrated when jumping from platform to platform because the jump button is very precise and Riddick jumps at a height and distance that feels very tight. The platform areas are mostly utilized during the stealth portions of the game, which there are many. As with most recent games, you can choose to be stealthy or simply beat the crap out of everything you see. Unlike a game like Splinter Cell, you aren’t punished for setting off alarms by being forced to restart a level. You will of course be forced to confront a ton of guards, but it never becomes overwhelming. A lot of the missions are what we like to call fed-ex runs, where you go and find one item from an inmate to bring to another inmate. This becomes boring in some games like Grand Theft Auto, but very rarely in Riddick. Most of these missions have varied parameters, but you can expect to do some backtracking. The game autosaves to keep things rolling at an excellent pace and the actions done in the third person like climbing ladders and scaling crates only add to the games immense feeling of confinement.
There are a few problems that need to be mentioned about Escape From Butcher Bay. One of the biggest problems is the sometimes inconsistent AI. It seems to vary enemy by enemy but their aiming is either too good, or too poor. They often times don’t know what they are shooting at, while at others they seem to see you everywhere you go. It’s never a glaring problem and it’s only really noticed in the beginning, but it did cause some early frustration. The second problem which isn’t so much of a problem for me as it may be for others is that the game is a little on the short side. Butcher Bay can be completed in less than ten hours for almost anyone who plays it. The overall incentive for playing the game over comes in the form of cigarette packs that you can collect to unlock special features. Frankly, the game is so good the first time; you may find yourself playing it over right after the ending credits roll.
What can be said about the visuals that hasn’t been already? Nothing can really, so I will say what almost every other critic out there has, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay is currently one of the best looking games on the Xbox if not the best. There really is no contest to this. While the indoor confined environments leave little room for variation, the developers somehow managed to keep every area fresh. With innovative used of both dynamic lighting and normal mapping the world of Riddick is breathtakingly real and immersive. You may never find a game that involves you as much as this does for a very long time. The character models require special mentions, as they are hands down the most detailed ones you can find on any console right now. Vin Diesel looks very much like himself as Riddick. You can see hundreds of details on each one; you could honestly sit and look at each one and still be entranced hours later. Normal mapping is put to the test in every aspect of the game, as every single wall and box oozes detail. This feature alone can be attributed to its beauty. Riddick’s flashlight and night vision have an excellent effect on each environment; the gloss is evident in every frame. Speaking of frames, the framerate is very consistent, only slowing down in very intense situations. With graphics this good, this surprised me the most, more than anything else in the game. Not even current footage of Doom 3 running on the Xbox was this fast, and that is saying a whole lot.
When speaking of the audio, all that can really be said is, polished and top notched. The voice acting is superb overall with Vin Diesel (Pitch Black, XXX), Cole Hauser (Pitch Black) and Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Alien Ressurection) delivering excellent performances. The music is moody, atmospheric and has the quality of a major motion picture. It can be repetitive at times, but the music is good enough to be listened to numerous times over. Sound effects wise, Butcher Bay delivers yet again with water drops, working machinery and weapon sounds all converging to soothe the ears. This game clearly set out to immerse its players and Butcher Bay has done just that.
One thing that needs to be said about the product on a whole is that it is very worthy of its Mature rating. The game features a large amount of blood and intense language, some words which many games before it have stayed away from, so it would be wise to make sure you know what you are getting into before buying the game. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay has placed the last signature on the petition stating that not all movie licensed games suck and this game should be a poster boy for this from now on. Butcher Bay is one of the best games ever on the Xbox and it stacks up high on the current console crop. It may be too early to name the game of the year, but this one is already getting a heavy consideration from me. Regardless of how good or bad you felt about the latest movie, one thing rings true, this game was definitely a work of art.
Written by Joseph Bennett. Posted year 2004.
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Released on
December 8, 2004
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