The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena Comments by Oli Welsh

Lance Henriksen!!! Legend!

I only found out this was actually a sequel and remake in one yesterday. It made me happy as I never actually finished the first on Xbox, and it doesn't work on 360 (please no one tell me this changed and I've been missing out!).

If you missed it first time round YOU MUST pick this up, EFBB was a truly wicked FPS.

Spring 2009 can't come quick enough!

Awesome.

EG; Any mention of Microsoft sorting Butcher Bay out as backwards compatible? Would be nice to go through that again upscaled? Precedent would be doing the GTA back catalogue ahead of GTAIV.

Drop the MP. Thats what they should have done with The Darkness too. I rather have no MP than crappy MP. Please Starbreeze skip the MP this time. The singleplayer is bound to be fantastic though.

This should be epic, I completed the original in two days but it was one of the best games I have ever played.

Loved this on XBox and PC. Though for some unknown reason the PC version ran like treacle.

FmCUK - Starbreeze explicitly said the fact that Butcher Bay wasn't backwards compatible was one of their main motivations in remaking it, so I guess not. You'll just have to wait and play the new HD one, no hardship eh?

muscleblade - They also said they'd be putting a lot of effort into improving the multiplayer.

Oh and please note - this wasn't actually a "Hands On" as it was originally trailed - just a preview.

"Starbreeze explicitly said the fact that Butcher Bay wasn't backwards compatible was one of their main motivations in remaking it"

Wow, surely if even the devs wanted it B/C shouldn't MS do it?

I'll never understand why MS and (and even more upsetting - Sony) butchered B/C. It was a fantastic highlight of the PS2 machine (except for the memory card thing), even the Wii has full B/C :(

Instant sale. Loved the Darkness, and I didn't even play the first one of this.

I don't think you'd want Xbox Riddick upscaled, it dropped the resolution in some areas to get more effects flying around the screen, I've played it using component on my LCD monitor and outside scenes in sandstorms etc. looked particularily rough. CRT TVs hid all that :)

I *will* be getting this, though. Riddick was an excellent game and I'd love more of it to play! \o/

And yes, NO BLOODY MP.

"They also said they'd be putting a lot of effort into improving the multiplayer. "

They better. Most reviews of The Darkness didnt mention that the multiplayer was totally broken wich should have had a huge impact on the scores imo.

I wish they could just let the MP go because i know they wont make it good enough anyway.

"All in all, The Darkness is a decent fifteen hour single player experience, featuring a brilliant story and even better presentation. However the enjoyment is slightly tainted by the under utilisation of its best features, sluggish movement and horrible multiplayer" 7/10

Dont make the same mistake again Starbreeze.

How can they make the same mistake again with a game we already know is going to be polished greatness in single player? It stands to reason.

Fuck multiplayer up the ass. Seriously. Furrowed brow grunting and all.

EFBB was an incredible fps in its day, and I still enjoy playing the game through now- in fact, the PC version still looks pretty slick even by todays standards. I really can't wait for this remake. Starbreeze haven't disappointed me yet.

They have to include multiplayer or the screaming American teenagers just won't be interested in it. What's the point in playing a game at all if you can't call somebody else a fag whilst you're doing so?

Preview sounds great. EfBB was fantastic and one of the few games I actually finished (granted, it wasn't too long). I agree with scraping the MP, tho. As long as CoD is strong with the junkies, it will only result in empty servers. That said I'd be curious how this MP will flash out, since there is only one hero so to say. Will there be like a dozen Vin Diesel clones running around?

"How can they make the same mistake again with a game we already know is going to be polished greatness in single player?"

Like i stated above. The singleplayer will be great no doubth. Thats why they shouldnt make the same mistake that they did with The Darkness and include horrible multiplayer that can only drag the whole experience down.

I remember the original well. Jaw dropping graphics. The opening level sees you pegging it about with a gun and is amazing, then you get locked up and it turns into a very meh adventure game.

is showered in plaudits, fan-love and game sales.

I thought the original didn't sell very well, which always annoyed me. Is that not true?

Can anyone confirm, is this going to be based on the Xbox version or the PC version (and I'm talking content-wise here, not technically)? The PC version was released as a "Director's Cut" and featured extra content - to quote from Wiki:

"[the Windows] version also featured upgraded visuals, as well as an additional level with the player piloting a Riot Guard mechanized suit, along with three extra cigarette packs for the player to collect, making a total of 62 packs in the Windows version."

I played this originally on the PC and thought it was amazing game. At Uni both myself and my housemate bought it at the same time and literally sat there for 2 days straight and played it through to completion on our own PC's! And I remember the mech stuff being particularly fun as well. Literally cannot wait for this to be released as I love the Riddick universe anyway, and the first game was fantastic, so the thought of this having more content is pretty cool.

The opening level sees you pegging it about with a gun and is amazing, then you get locked up and it turns into a very meh adventure game.

Well, it's not like there was ever any shortage of generic gun-pegging games out there. So maybe this wasn't your type of game. I enjoyed the prison bits and the character interaction very much. Not to mention there was plenty of shooting towards the end.

This should be tasty. Escape from butcher Bay was class...

GOTY for me that year, the original. Just picked it up again since I saw the pictures of the re-new-make.

Not the most orignial game, but they just do it right. Now I'm pondering on if I should wait for the remake.

looking forward to this, should be quality

I have the original on PC twice (graphics card freebie about 6 months after I bought it -_-)... never finished it though. It didn't run well on my machine, and a robot scared me off.

Sack off god damn wank multiplayer shit fullstop.

Thanks for the clearup Oli.

Can't wait!

And yeah, I don't care about the MP either, unless it's great of course :)

I really prefer games with no MP, if only because some trophies will then be available in MP only, and I really dislike it.

The first game was extremely overrated. Decent game, but not sure what the clamor was all about.

Was it the fact that it was based on a movie, and didn't suck? I presume so.

It was more than that though. At release, it was a *very* good looking game, by anyones standards. It also had stealth that actually *worked* which is still very rare, doubly so for an FPS game. The hub/prison section was also fairly unique compared to it's peers (and I think still is).

I loved every second of the original, just a brilliantly realised movie tie-in with tons of atmosphere. I'd buy this even if it was just a straight remake, so it being both a remake & a sequel in one makes this a definite day one purchase for me.

\o/

The original made dank metal walls and grey/blue/brown yards and tough guys actually atmospheric, which is what most games fail to achieve.

"..and Battlestar Galactica's Michelle Forbes join the cast."

Admiral Cain! :o

Loved EFBB, will have to see a video of this, I'm sure it will look sexy.

Awesome. The original was a truly fantastic game that I never got around to finishing (there's no way they'll make it backwards compatible on 360 when they can just make people buy the updated version - and in this case I'm not bitter, as a game this good really deserves to be bought again) so this will be perfect opportunity to revisit the greatness.

Do want.

Drop MP unless you intend to compete directly with Call of Duty/Counterstrike/TF2 feature by feature.

Its a shame The Darkness was so mediocre but I look forward to this reboot of their excellent Riddick game

Do you think it will use the Darkness engine ?

Curious how this will turn out. Played the demo of The Darkness and was rather underwhelmed. Of course it was just a demo but still, didn't sell it to me, rather kept me from getting it.

@Mr.Gordons The Darkness Engine was the same that the first Riddick used. They just improved it as they've done with this game.

This Riddick looks fantastic. The first one is the best adventure/shooter i've played for years. Pure CHARISMAi

Didn't know it was to include Butcher's Bay too, great news :) always wanted to play the original but never seemed to get around to it, this is definitely one of my highly anticipated's now XD