A Game Worth Its Bounty

Author's Rating:

Pros: Superb graphics, stealth and action pulled off perfectly, smooth controls

Cons: No multiplayer, maybe a bit short but not too bad

The Bottom Line: 
This is a must have Xbox game. The story will suck you in, the graphics will amaze, the gameplay will stay smooth all the way to the end.

Author's Review
It's been a while since a movie title has been turned into such a high quality videogame. There have been a few gems here and there, but for the most part a movie made into a videogame normally means an average or below average game. Fortunately this is not the case with The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. This game is a masterpiece. From start to finish this game will keep you locked. The graphics are top notch, the story (though not the most original) is well developed and sucks you in, and the gameplay is smooth.

When it come to graphics Riddick is not even a bit outdated. These graphics are the best I've seen on any Xbox game to date. In order to make full use of the Xbox's awesome power the developers used normal mapping and high resolution textures, which makes for a game that is visually a masterpiece, but completely polished. Every nick and cranny of this game is beautiful. The very details on Riddick's various outfits like the wrinkles in his hood, or the hair on his head, look defined and completely realistic. Everything that should be shiny has real shine, not just a brighter texture. The level of detail in this game is amazing. These are the best graphics I've seen on any console game. Boxes look metal, rocks have the look of roughness and cement looks cracked and rough, yet sort of smooth. It's hard to describe with any word besides "real." The environments look real.

Graphics will only take a game so far though, so what Riddick does is take a simple premise, escape from prison, and turns it into an involving story. The world of Riddick is driven forward by the story of the extremely dangerous man, Riddick, and his unstoppable drive to escape from this prison he has been sentenced to. Through the journey you will get sucked into Riddick's past, learn where he got his shiny eyes, and dig a little deeper into the mysterious character that is Riddick. The story is told through voice acting from Vin Diesel himself, Xzibit, and tons more actors. Every line is spoken. Conversations can be initiated with other inmates and every single time you are greeted with at least above average voice acting, which is a real treat. Often the action is broken up with wonderful cutscenes the drive the story into its next part with a cinema kind of directing. Through a simple story, driven by voice acting, and pushed on with cinema like cutscenes, this quest to escape will suck you in quickly to the Riddick universe.

Riddick's gameplay is a pleasure of all kinds. It's violent and graphic so it's not meant for kids. At times the game is extremely fast paced and action packed and at other points in the game it's all about stealth and silent kills. What makes Riddick so special is that the game doesn't try to make you play it a certain way. If you want to go in "guns-a-blazing" you can, or if you prefer you can go like a ninja and sneak up on people and go all "Tenchu" on them. The game does not dictate the choice, nor does it push you toward either way.

To top off the superb gameplay and a huge help in keeping it smooth is the simple but solid controls. Nothing too complicated here. Right trigger shoots, Y switches weapons, X does actions, and so on. So every time there is something to pick up, something to climb, some grate to go through, a body to drag, a person to talk to, all you have to do is press "X." Every button is used, but none are over-used. If you ever played Half-Life you'll understand how sometimes controls can be a bit overwhelming. Riddick jumps, climbs, shoots, ducks, sneaks, breaks necks, stomps heads, stabs, and much more all with ease. No complex button combinations just simple: duck, walk slowly, press the right trigger to break their neck.

A subject that needs to be touched is the development teams sense of keeping the focus on the game. When you can be seen the screen goes blue. This makes you keep focused on the game and not looking a little icon on the screen. If you're losing life your life bar comes up and you can see it getting blown away, otherwise your life bar is invisible. The HUD (heads up display) in Riddick is virtually none existent. The number of bullets left in your gun is shown on your gun and not anywhere else on the screen. With all this emphasis on the game telling you what is going on, rather than some icons on the screen, the game becomes easier to focus on. Less time is spent worrying about how much ammo you have or how much life is left. The development team did a fantastic job there and it really pays off in keeping the focus of the gamer on the game.

Overall Riddick is a great game and a must have for an Xbox owner. If you're not a first person shooter fan this game might convert you. There is so much good stuff going for it that anybody can find enjoyment here. The biggest thing that will keep Riddick from being a huge success like Halo is that it has no multiplayer capabilities whatsoever. No splitscreen, no Xbox Live, nothing of any kind. This however should not keep a person from enjoying such a wonderful game. There is tons of fun to be had in this game, lots of extras to unlock, and enough uniqueness to make you want a sequel.

Riddick is a great surprise.