When movies get licensed for game titles the majority of the gaming community lets out a collective groan. This is for good reason; just look at movie-to-game transitions in the past. There are a few exceptions to this rule: a great number of people still play Goldeneye on their N64, and there are many who enjoyed the EA Lord of the Rings action titles. These are rare exceptions, despite years of publisher's attempts to cash in on big titles at the box office.

This time someone did things right. I imagine videogame fan and star actor Vin Diesel was as tired of poor quality games made from movies as the rest of us, and he has the money to do something about it. Diesel opened his own game studio, titling it Tigon Studios, and worked with it on a prequel to his Riddick movie series. Enter stage left: Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay.

The game released for Xbox to great surprise and acclaim, shocking the pants off of everyone by being a good game based on a movie. Now, the game has been shaped-up even more, tweaked, and then given extra content. Starbreeze has ported the Xbox wonder to PC, and in the process added a level mid-game and converted it so flawlessly that unless told, one couldn't tell it was made for Xbox.

For those who haven't seen the movies, which we also recommend - especially the cult-classic Pitch Black- the story is simple but surprisingly well-written. One man (who has become the quintessential anti-hero) was abandoned at birth and raised by strangers until he struck out on his own. Pitch Black displays him in transport to a prison for having killed multiple people when the craft carrying him is knocked out of space by an unexpected meteor shower, leaving many passengers, the bounty hunter, his bounty - Riddick- and the ship's technician stranded on a desert planet which has a terrible secret. Escape of Butcher Bay takes place before this, when Riddick escapes from the highest security prison in the star system.

The gameplay found here is spectacular. Riddick's gameplay is nothing revolutionary, but the sum of many great little things. Take the serious lack of on-screen display: there's only a small white chain of boxes for a health meter, and it's only on screen if you are currently taking damage. Another great effect is the seamless transition from third to first person and back. When exploring and fighting, the camera is usually a first-person view, but when performing acrobatic feats, such as hanging from ledges or climbing boxes and ladders, it switches into third-person.

The stealth and action blend is something that often doesn't work. Many times in other games, just as a player is getting good at the action and really getting into the action, the game will turn on a pin and require a sneaking mission in which a single attack will cause failure. This breaks up far too much of the fun, and Tigon Studios knew this. The transitions are very natural, allowing for plenty of action and stealth, but requiring none of the "turn on a dime" problems except where it is completely logical. Players can slip up behind one enemy and snap his neck or simply unload a shotgun into his chest cavity; either way he's dead and you have one less guard or inmate to worry about.

One of the major draws towards this game is the shining example set by its graphics. There's not one moment in play where you're left wondering if the artists or level designers were fired mid-stride. Everything makes sense here, and the polish that went into the look of this prison and its inhabitants is evident. Richard B. Riddick looks as though he stepped from the TV to the computer monitor. Many shots in the game are truly hard to distinguish from the movies.

As great as many aspects of this versatile game are, it has a couple quirks that hurt its playability. The biggest, by far, is a graphical glitch which causes the game to restart the entire computer - effectively making the game impossible to play. This is only happening in a small number of computers, however so chances are this will never affect you. Problems that are more widespread include some isolated clipping issues and a few bugs with surround sound in certain areas. Most of these issues are easily overlooked in the grandeur of the experience, though.

With its superb graphics, surprisingly innovative gameplay, and very slick style, Chronicles of Riddick is just the underground hit the PC market has been waiting for. Though it has a few compatibility problems, most players will never experience any errors with this. With a relatively low retail price, this is one title Stealth-Action fans can not afford to miss!

System Requirements:
OS: Windows XP Professional, SP2
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2Ghz
RAM: 512 MB, DDR400
Video: Nvidia GeForce Ti 4200, 64 MB
Sound: SoundMAX Digital Audio
40x CD-ROM drive
Motherboard: Intel Desktop Board D845EBG2
Hard Drive: Western Digital 40GB, 7200RPM

Reviewed on:
OS: Windows XP Professional, SP2
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2Ghz
RAM: 512 MB, DDR400
Video: Nvidia GeForce Ti 4200, 64 MB
Sound: SoundMAX Digital Audio
40x CD-ROM drive
Motherboard: Intel Desktop Board D845EBG2
Hard Drive: Western Digital 40GB, 7200RPM

Our Final ScoreExcellent

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