Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PC Release Date: April 7, 2009
You are Richard B. Riddick. A brazen criminal eternally on the run, and eternally being chased. No mercenary has ever captured you without a fight, and no prison -maximum, double maximum, or triple maximum security- has ever managed to keep you from escaping. The huge payout for your arrest has been the sole motivation for countless bounty hunters to continuously give chase like blood hounds; the ones who finally get to meet you, also get to meet the sharp end of your blade.
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena continues the saga of the infamous criminal, Riddick. After his escape from Butcher Bay, Riddick is captured by the Merc-ship Dark Athena and must fight his way, yet again, from the hands of vicious mercenaries. The battle to make it off this ship will definitely put his martial art skills and military training to the test, but thankfully this isn’t his first rodeo.
Assault on Dark Athena is bringing back the intuitive stealth system from Escape from Butcher Bay that lets you sneak up on enemies and perform dozens of brutal executions. Instant death never looked so good! When you’re not being stealthy, and you want to break out your Kali skills, the advanced hand-to-hand combat system lets you combine throwing blows with blocking, parrying, and beastly counter-attacks!
There are some brand new multi-player modes, created by Starbreeze Studios, that were crafted specifically to work with this game. “Pitch Black” is a 6 player mode that pits 5 Mercenaries against 1 Riddick in the dark. The only light the Mercenaries have are the flashlights mounted on their guns, but the bigger your gun, the dimmer your light will be. Riddick is equipped only with his Ulaks and his special “eyeshine” ability that lets him see in the dark. The first Mercenary to kill Riddick will become him in the next round. “Butcher Bay Riot” pits 3 teams of 4 (Guards, Prisoners, or Mercenaries) against each other to fight over a power cell. The team that plants the power cell in one of the opposing teams’ base wins the round, earning that team cash (getting kills also earns you cash). The game will be played in 3 or 5 rounds, and all weapons must be bought before a round starts. “Butcher Bay Riot” is one of the most tactical modes since it should require lots of team communication and great strategy.
The other multi-player modes are your classic “Deathmatch”, “Team Deathmatch”, and “Capture the Flag” which supports up to 12 players. There’s also an “Arena” mode which pits 1v1 or 2v2 against each other in an arena style match up. The players who win stays in. This mode only supports up to 8 players.
One of this game’s coolest (and most benevolent) features include the highly regarded The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay campaign. Once called “the best single-player action in a first-person game on the Xbox” and “one of the best PC action games of the year”, this game has been totally re-mastered with next-gen graphics, and will be included FREE with the Assault on Dark Athena campaign. Many will also be happy to know that Vin Diesel will still be the voice of Riddick.
I’m sure the question on many fans’ minds is- “WILL THIS GAME LIVE UP TO THE STANDARDS OF BUTCHER BAY?”. Well, it will if they don’t change the formula of stealth+shooter+hand-to-hand combat that they’ve perfected, and from the look of it, they haven’t.
For all of you waiting for April 7 to finally be here, Xbox Live has already released a downloadable demo to pacify you until then (XBL Silver Members will have to wait until 3/11). The PSN demo release date hasn’t been announced.
March 8th, 2009 at 3:20 am
I never purchased the original after finding out it had no online play. I was such an idiot back then, letting games slip through my fingers because I couldn’t pwn some n00bs online…
The demo is solid but I didn’t really like the controls and combat system. It just felt… clunky. Good to hear the full title has multiplayer though- definitely a rental.