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• The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (360)

• By Tae K. Kim
• April 07, 2009 09:45 AM PST
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What you're about to read is my second attempt to review Dark Athena. My first review was too critical of Dark Athena because, when compared to Escape from Butcher Bay-a remake is included on the disc and I highly recommend you play it first-it looks a little weak. But I started over again when I realized that Dark Athena isn't a stand-alone title so much as it is a complement to Butcher Bay; that's when it dawned on me that I should be treating the two titles as a total package. In that light, Dark Athena starts to shine a hell of a lot brighter.

THE VERDICT by Will Herring It's no secret that Tae's a fan of the Diesel, so when given the opportunity to tackle Dark Athena and Butcher Bay in one fell swoop, the man leapt at the chance. What he found was an enjoyable, if imperfect FPS that captures the badass essence that Riddick is all about.

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Diesel Powered

By itself, Dark Athena is a passable effort, more expansion pack than actual sequel. It recycles most of Escape from Butcher Bay's content, including the controls and gameplay mechanics; all it really does is give you a new storyline and some more environments to play through. It's really Escape from Butcher Bay 1.5 but it's not as compelling as the original; it's missing that certain it that made Riddick's escape from the desolate 'slam so memorable. But start playing it right after the ending credits to Butcher Bay start to roll and it starts to make sense: it's like ending a delicious dinner with a nice bowl of ice cream - it's the perfect bite of dessert to cap off a great meal.

This is why the inclusion of Butcher Bay is the game's saving grace. By itself, Dark Athena wouldn't have fared nearly as well. Not only does the original Riddick game add a sense of value, it puts the sequel in its proper context. As such, it became easier for me to forgive the game's many faults. The enemy A.I., for example, is weak - if you snipe an enemy from afar, his partner won't even flinch, despite the fact that he's standing a foot away. The development team also forgot what made Riddick so memorable and leans too heavily on guns and action.

Who's Afraid of the Dark?

One of the things that made Butcher Bay so awesome was the sense that you were this predator lurking in the shadows; Riddick was vastly outgunned and outmanned, so his only shot at escape was to prowl the darkness and take out his enemies one by one. The first third of Dark Athena follows this formula to great success - you skulk about the darkened hallways of the titular merc ship, taking out enemies with a combination of stealth and lethal neck snaps. Then you get your hands on the tranquilizer gun, a one-shot pistol with unlimited ammo that not only immobilize enemies but proves effective at destroying the florescent lights that illuminate large portions of the ship - what are lightbulbs doing on a futuristic space vessel anyway? - and suddenly the rules go out the window.

So rather than take advantage of naturally occurring shadows and cover, you spend most of your time shooting out lights and creating artificial darkness. This makes you feel less like a badass hunter stalking his prey and more like Sam Fisher...in SPAAAAACE! The later levels also rely too heavily on gunplay, again taking Riddick out of his destined role as the silent and deadly lone wolf. It was a really bad decision on the developer's part and it deeply cuts into the sense of immersion, something Starbreeze does a great job of creating. The great voice acting, the "dirty" visuals and the oppressive atmosphere makes the world believable and compelling; it's just too bad that the gameplay doesn't quite mesh up with the overall vision.

With the lights out...

But when you step back and consider the entire package, you start to appreciate Dark Athena for what it truly is. Don't think of it as a full-blown sequel because, as Bill the Butcher Cutting said in Gangs of New York, 'that way lies damnation.' Instead, look at Dark Athena as a flawed yet enjoyable way to extend the thrill ride that is Escape from Butcher Bay. And that's not a bad thing at all.

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