The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena Comments by Dan Whitehead

crofto has a funny profile indeed! thank you for making me click it;)

"In Hollywood it's all about the domestic box office. If you don't break even there, the movie's a flop regardless of whether it ends up scraping into the black five years later. Universal got burned on Serenity as well as Riddick, so I doubt they'd rush down that road again."

Yeah, but then again you have films like The Island that flopped domestically but did boffo box office outside the USA. I daresay Michael Bay didn't get his bum smacked too hard when that film took five times its domestic take worldwide.

Riddick did okay-to-goodish overseas, and was in the black by the time of the DVD release (which shifted a lot of units), let alone HD-DVD/blu etc.

7/10 isn't average.

If you want to call it an average game, give it a 5.

I was playing the demo again last night. Regardless of the second chapter not being as good as the first, Butcher Bay was a bloody excellent game. And the multiplayer, to me, looks like it'll be fun in short bursts.

7? sounds like a 6 at most.

I fail to see how a game that received 9/10's back in the day can score a 7/10 now, despite enhanced visuals, a second chapter and a multiplayer mode. I'd understand if we'd seen Riddick pretenders since the original game, but Escape from Butcher Bay remains a unique action game. So how has the shine gone?

EVERY MORNING I WAKE UP AND OPEN PALM SLAM A DISC INTO THE PS3. ITS CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK AND RIGHT THEN AND THERE I START DOING THE MOVES ALONGSIDE WITH THE MAIN CHARACTER, RIDDICK. I DO EVERY MOVE AND I DO EVERY MOVE HARD. MAKIN WHOOSHING SOUNDS WHEN I SLAM DOWN SOME NECRO BASTARDS OR EVEN WHEN I MESS UP TECHNIQUE. NOT MANY CAN SAY THEY ESCAPED THE GALAXYS MOST DANGEROUS PRISON. I CAN. I SAY IT AND I SAY IT OUTLOUD EVERYDAY TO PEOPLE IN MY COLLEGE CLASS AND ALL THEY DO IS PROVE PEOPLE IN COLLEGE CLASS CAN STILL BE IMMATURE JEKRS. AND IVE LEARNED ALL THE LINES AND IVE LEARNED HOW TO MAKE MYSELF AND MY APARTMENT LESS LONELY BY SHOUTING EM ALL. 2 HOURS INCLUDING WIND DOWN EVERY MORNIng

I fail to see how a game that received 9/10's back in the day can score a 7/10 now, despite enhanced visuals, a second chapter and a multiplayer mode. I'd understand if we'd seen Riddick pretenders since the original game, but Escape from Butcher Bay remains a unique action game. So how has the shine gone?

Well, speaking as someone who never played the original, the shine has most definitely gone, because I struggle to see what all the fuss was about. You've got that weird fish-eye view (probably because the original was made for 4:3 screens), sloppy shooting controls, and an irritating checkpoint system in which your health (or lack of it) is saved as well, both in the rolling checkpoint and also in the main level checkpoints. I have frequently found myself restarting with next-to-no health, and then trying to find a previous checkpoint where I had full health... sometimes this is a couple of levels back. Games don't have to be this frustrating in 2009.

The visuals may have been enhanced, but it still has that look of an old game engine underneath.

The extra content, "Dark Athena", is nothing like Butcher Bay and, after the intro levels, consists almost entirely of outdoor shooting sections - no sneaking around at all.

The multiplayer isn't up to much either - plenty of better multiplayer action in other games.

To be honest, I think 7 out of 10 was generous.

I must be playing a different game to some of you guys, because i think it is quality. Luckily i didn’t read the review before i bought it, as i probably wouldn’t have bothered, which would have been a massive shame. I think the reviewer has been overly critical and in some cases completely fictional with his perceived "problems" that the game has. After playing the demo, i was sold. I really can’t understand a lot of the comments on here. The game play is superb, the graphics are amazing in places, the atmosphere is brilliant, the sound is 10/10 etc etc. It’s a great remake of a great game, with an extra chapter thrown in for good measure! There is adventure, action and stealth, a dark overture and some of the best voice acting i have heard in a game. Yes there are a few minor faults, but they really don’t detract for the game itself and the level of immersion it creates.

I'd give this a 9/10, and other review sites give it a lot higher that 7/10, which is puzzling. Mr reviewer if i had seen this review, as i said, i would of thought twice about buying it, so shame on you.

I'm loving this but then I seem to have totally different taste from Dan Whitehead. If he doesn't like it then it seems i'm likely to enjoy it. If he raves about it i normally find it crap. Funny old thing taste really. Mustbe said it's a surpise that something as lifeless and lacking in story as KZ2 manages to rate higher than something in which either game included provides a far more interesting experiece. Taste again I suppose.

Reads like a 5.

Just completed Dark Athena, and decided to let the credits roll... what's with that super-chirpy 8bit music that comes on after the thrash-metal and score? Very odd... but cool.

This game is way better than this review suggests - Butcher Bay is still ace and the first half of Dark Athena is pretty awesome, though the second half is definitely weaker. Don't be put off people!

escape from butcher bay crashed my computer first time round.
hope it works this time...
i'm kind of enjoying this