I'm Hell's messenger. Name's Riddick.
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is a respectable repackaging of a five year old game with significant expansion.
Published: June 16, 2009
The Riddick universe is essentially a ridiculous amalgamation of sci-fi and fantasy clichés, but being set in a prison and on a prison-like ship (a space dungeon, if you will), the player is somewhat insulated from its more far-flung excesses. Butcher Bay is a dark and gritty “slam” where life is cheap and the economy revolves around shivs and cigarettes. Riddick’s instinct is to be the gruff loner type, but in order to survive, he must involve himself in the world of inmate politics, though the player has some control over how deep this involvement becomes.
When one of the other convicts wants Riddick’s help, Riddick often has the option of telling him to fuck off before he even has his say, and instead of bartering for the desired keycard or futuristic space heroin, a more direct path is sometimes available, such as a screwdriver heartily applied to the subject’s neck. Richard B. Riddick earns his M rating with blunt gusto.
There is not a lot of motion in the overall plot, but the incidental happenings in Escape from Butcher Bay are engaging enough, and they build up to a couple of satisfying moments of revenge. In terms of the overall Riddick “mythos,” the most notable event herein is the acquisition of Riddick’s “eye shine,” a kind of built-in night vision. Dark Athena’s primary contribution to Riddick’s arsenal comes in the form of two curvy blades: the ulaks. These impractical-looking knives are very fun to use, though his procurement of them is a bit anticlimactic, as they are simply pilfered from the corpse of a nameless guard. Other than that, nothing much interesting happens in Dark Athena.
The Dark Athena itself is a mercenary space ship upon which ghastly experiments are being carried out on a few uninteresting characters. Establishing what becomes his modus operandi, Riddick only wants to save his own ass, but ends up rescuing people along the way. Though the story is lame, it is presented stunningly, and this is the area where the most improvement is evident between Escape and Assault. Using a technique dubbed VOCap, the verbal and bodily performances of the actors (a few of whom are well known Hollywood players) are captured simultaneously, lending the cinematic cutscenes a very natural look. Even the actors’ facial movements are accurately reproduced, and the effect is extremely impressive. It’s just a shame that they aren’t saying anything worthwhile.
