The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena review

I've always been skeptical about games based on movies or movie characters,  mainly because none of them are any good.  That somehow didn't stop me from buying The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay back in 2004, and the game turned out to be a surprisingly unique first person shooter.  When I saw Assault on Dark Athena was released, I was again skeptical.  Rarely can you get two surprises out of a series when no one was expecting anything special in the first place.

The first game was, as the title says, about Riddick's escape from Butcher Bay, the most secure prison in the universe.  Clearly he was successful in his escape or it wouldn't have warranted a sequel.  This new game takes place shortly after his escape, where a massive mercenary ship called the Dark Athena picks him up as his ship is drifting through space, but Riddick hides away before they can pick him out of the sleep chamber.  Now, trapped inside the Dark Athena, Riddick is able to go about his usual business of skulking through the darkness and murdering people in his way.

Going face to face with these guys is generally a bad idea

 The gameplay is essentially the same as the first game, which is good news.  This is first person stealth action done right.  When you're crouched and hiding, your screen turns a bluish color so you know you're hidden.  If you're spotted, it turns back to normal.  While subtle it's a very helpful effect since you don't have a lot of health to work with.  Riddick also has the advantage of not needing a flashlight because of the "eye shine" he got while in Butcher Bay.  This is the reason he always wears those goggles, but it also provides help when killing people where it's normally too dark to see anything.  The most fun you'll have is with the melee combat and the many different killing animations you'll see. For example, I had a screwdriver to use as a weapon at one point.  I snuck up behind a guard, grabbed him by the chin, jabbed the screw driver in his throat and pushed out.  It was a gory sight to behold, but was it ever satisfying.  Each different melee weapon has several unique animations as rewards for sneaking up on people.  Otherwise, it's the usual swing and jab to kill someone.

The system designed for the melee combat is done very well. Instead of just clicking to swing you can do combos with your movement keys to get the job done quicker or to help get past an enemy when they're blocking your swings.  This game does have a lot more gun play than the first one, and while that's a little disappointing for a mainly stealth FPS, it fits and at some points is necessary.  You simply can't take on an alpha drone without the help of weaponry.