Review: Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena

It’s not often you hear the word cunt in a video game. It’s also not very often you get to hear the dulcet delivery of Lance Henriksen either. However, if these two things pique your interest, then you’ll most probably like Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. It’s loaded with Lance, lots of swearing, and some lascivious mano-e-mano action. In fact, that’s also the game’s major problem in our opinion: it’s just too over the top, it takes itself too seriously. If we're being honest we found it just a tad on the samey boring side.

Fans of the first game will ultimately be disappointed as AoDA is more of a change of direction rather than just more of the same but better, which it should’ve been. Of course, if Butcher Bay passed you by on Xbox then you really shouldn’t hesitate; as that is worth the entry fee alone. Its open-ended stealthyness, its considered plot and sense of atmosphere really made it one of the stand-out titles on our old green brick. It’s these gameplay elements we wanted to see more of, it’s this eye for environment that fans of the BB wanted to re-immerse themselves in. Unfortunately, Assault on Dark Athena feels more like sloppy seconds, rather than a fresh, creative revisit.

Sloppy Seconds

This time, it feels more like a corridor shooter than an open-ended stealth-action title, although you can use the dark to your advantage. In fact, most of the Achievements seem to centre around you creeping your way past the red-faced Drones or rather brutally slicing their necks from behind. As you do so, more often than not, you find yourself drawn into battle. The game seems to want you to hurry through it, rather than feel at home in the comfort gloomy, intimidating narrows of the ship by which you must learn every inch of in order to escape from.

Now, as a linear shooter it also has its flaws as the gunplay is rather unrewarding and the weapons never really project the weight or grip of some serious firepower. Also, the aim is ever-so-slightly off, which is of course no problem fight Drones and the like but the multiplayers amongst you might feel a little irked by the lack of awesome between your fingers. Talking of online, it all feels very tacked-on and a little rushed. The modes are the bog standard CTF, Slayer etc. and nothing really new is brought to an already dilapidated, creaky, old table - that’s not to say that there’s no fun to be had, however.

Praise Where Praise is Due

Assault on Dark Athena reminds me of F.E.A.R. but without the cool slowdown and the clever AI. Now we got a little bored half-way through Monolith’s psycho-shooter, but it was the aforementioned slow motion and the challenge offered by the artificial intelligence is where it made its mark. We were dying for a change of scenery and we never really felt we got it, same with AoDA, it’s just too repetitive. You know there’s something wrong when Lance Henriksen asks you to go to yet another location on the ship and you find yourself sighing. Not good. But again, that’s not to say that it’s all doom and gloom as far as the Tigon/Starbreeze affair is concerned.

One of the positives is the mêlée combat. Getting the timing just right takes a bit of practice, especially when fending off the quick reflexes of the knife wielders and reversing the move, breaking your assailants face with your fist just never really gets boring. Another positive is the aforementioned voice acting, it’s some of the best we’ve seen, if we’re being honest and Michelle (Half Life, Star Trek, Homicide: Life on the Street) Forbes is as solid and convincing as ever. The attention to detail in presentation is another plus point, and despite its somewhat direct point and shooter nature, the graphics have been finely polished and the lighting and mapping look splendid.

Mixed Bag

Giving a game like this a score is difficult. If you haven’t played Butcher Bay before then that will surely be the highlight and the graphical overhaul really disguises the fact that the game is nearly five years old. However, if you’re a fan of the franchise and looking for a true sequel, then it’s ultimately a let down. The AI simply isn’t intelligent enough in order to provide you with challenging stealth sections, and the gunplay just feels extremely generic with no real personality to the weapons. Hopefully if we are treated to a third game in the series then we’ll see these issues ironed out as all the cast, the graphics, the ideas are there its just the fundamental mechanics seem to be a little off in this, our bald assassin's second outing. Shame really, we like being Vin, and we especially like talking to Lance Henriksen.