The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay

I hardly write game reviews, as I prefer to get literally EVERYthing from a game (beat it, unlock everything, etc...) before I even attempt to share my feelings of said game. With that said, I can give Escape From Butcher Bay a very good score. This FPS prequel to the events in the movie "Pitch Black" may be the best X-box exclusive game since Ninja Gaiden. Reason enough to buy an X-box? That's debatable, if you liked Pitch Black then YES. If you like First person shooters? YES. If you're one of those fools who blindly hates everything Microsoft? Then you're missing out on one of the better movie-tie in/spin off games out there. Oh yea and the graphics are great too. a tad on the easy side brings it down half a point.

My Game Grade: A-

This is a game set before the Riddick films and is a unique and interesting game in its own right , it's a bit Thief and a lot Aliens Colonial Marines and a lot brilliant. This game is so good I have forgiven Starbreeze for the butchering and lack of love in their Syndicate remake. It's a bit challenging to find as it isn't commercially available anymore but does come free with Riddick Dark Athena on GOG. Buy this game is you love Riddick, hate Riddick or just don't care as it's an amazing game in its own right.

Am I dreaming? Could it be that this licensed game, based on a Vin Diesel movie, is actually good? Doth my eyes and ears speaketh sweet lies? Actually, no. They're telling the truth. This game is amazing. Taking a page from METROID PRIME, one of the best next-gen games ever made, BUTCHER BAY is a first-person adventure game, with equal emphasis on side quests, character interaction, stealth action and balls-to-the-wall shooting, all showing off the superior graphical prowess of the Xbox. It also acts as a great prelude to the whole RIDDICK series, which this game forced me to take interest in. Riddick (voiced by the man himself, Vin Diesel) is captured by the bounty hunter Johns (Cole Hauser) and brought to the triple-max penitentiary, Butcher Bay. Butcher Bay has three levels: the standard population, well guarded but allowing some freedom; the mines, a bleak and dangerous underground world reserved for the worst of the worst; and the cryo chamber, which allows only two minutes of exercise a day in a small, tightly guarded cell. Riddick eventually pisses off enough guards to be stowed in each of the three levels, but naturally, none can hold him. The biggest thrill of the game comes from the inventive escape methods you can use to get out of each level. A lot of time is spent crawling through vents and sewers, recovering shivs and guns and finding packs of cigarettes that reveal bonus material, like design stills from the movies and game. But that's hardly the limit of your abilities. You can negotiate with inmates to do tasks for money or smokes, duke it out in the arena (with amazingly intuitive first-person fight controls), or stealth-attack guards from the confines of the shadows. I'd much sooner see another RIDDICK game than movie, but either way, I have more respect for the series, and for licensed games as a whole.

The game is in my opinion somewhat confusing at points but the graphics and the fighting moves are beyond comparison. If the game can be any better I would have to say that it could be simplified in the missions for the jail yard sections. The fun part of the game is being able to take down guards with guns with a screwdriver. The game is inaccurate in the means of how Riddick gets his eyes but that does not matter much because the plot accuracy is not much of a big deal in this game. It is one of the best games that I have played in a very long time. The character involvement in the progression of Riddick through the prison is also a nice ad on to the continuous blood and guts the game provides.

Anyone with a remote interest in video games have probably noticed that, with a few exceptions, games based on movies tend to be, well... crap (and vice versa for that matter). The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is however both an exception to this rule and in some ways a milestone when it comes to collaboration between the video gaming industry and Hollywood.

Everything in this game just resonates quality. From the highly impressive graphics to the story to the voice acting and enemy AI. From the moment you slip the disc into your Xbox it's obvious that some real talent and hard work went into this product. TCoR: EfBB also blends shooting, hand-to-hand fighting and stealth elements all in a first person perspective in a very clever way, with the shooting portion being the meat and potatoes of the game. There's been a few games that has tried to pull off this variety of elements before, but Escape from Butcher Bay is the only one so far that has implemented it properly.

The only real downside to the game that I found was that it was a bit on the short side. Depending on which difficulty you choose and how much you are into exploring the surroundings and such, you should be looking at the region of 9-16 hours of game play (I recommend you play this game on hard difficulty!). This is certainly a game you would want to come back and play again though, first and foremost since it's so damn fun and secondly since there's plenty of unlockable extras scattered around the game in terms of trailers, concept art etc.

I give it a well deserved 9/10.