On April 7th, Vin Diesel's Riddick character returns in an all-new adventure for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault On Dark Athena. This is the best of both worlds for fans of the original game, as it also includes a revamped version of Escape From Butcher Bay. We recently went hands-on with the new chapter to see if it cuts deep.
Assault On Dark Athena picks up right where Butcher Bay concludes. You begin by hopping aboard a spaceship (with bounty hunter Johns) that's later taken into custody by an even larger vessel, the Dark Athena. Riddick, using his survival instincts, avoids capture while its captain and her soldiers incapacitate Johns. From there, it's up to Riddick to see what Dark Athena is all about, and what these mercenaries have in store for its prisoners.
Like Butcher Bay, Assault On Dark Athena requires you to use a combination of skills from a mostly first-person perspective. There's lots of gun-toting action, as you'll shoot soldiers with shotguns, assault rifles and drone guns (with the drones still attached). However, you'll also have to use stealth. Running into every situation will get you killed, even if you're a powerhouse like Riddick. By pressing the X button, you're able to crouch and walk at a more leisurely pace, stalking your prey. The left trigger blocks, while the right trigger handles your attack moves. Use them together at just the right moment and you can efficiently dispatch enemies and take their weapons; we had a blast chopping drones with the razor-sharp Ulak blades. (You'll find them midway through the first part of Athena.)
Dark Athena also challenges you to solve puzzles. In one section of the game, we found ourselves in a room with potentially no exit; the doors were locked and wouldn't budge. In order to get through, we had to activate a keypad to turn on a scanner. After the scanner failed to recognize us, it sent a drone to check us out. With stealth power activated, we quickly hid behind some crates, waited for it to appear and then stole its weapon to shoot some otherwise impenetrable glass in order to reach the next area.
Thus far, we dig the game's presentation. The lighting looks outstanding, especially when you flick on Riddick's night vision and crawl through dungy sewer pipes. The animation is smooth and the level design appears challenging. As for sound, Vin Diesel and the rest of the voice acting crew are at the top of their game, and the dialogue is similar in tone with the David Twohy Riddick films.
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault On Dark Athena looks like a hell of a follow-up to Escape From Butcher Bay. Check back next month for our review, where we'll let you know if you should embrace the darkness. In the meantime, make sure you play the Xbox Live demo.
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