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This thread has been linked to the game 'The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay'.
*WILL CONTAIN MINOR/MAJOR AND IN-DIFFERENT SPOILERS*
Okay I lied, I said The Chronicles of Riddick was a good game, little did I realise how good. I will take it from the s**tart for those who haven't seen Pitch Black or for those who don't really unders**tand what the game is about...
Riddick is a character with a dark pas**t and a man out for revenge on practically everyone he meets. He was locked away in a dark cell for multiple decades for his ruthless murders. Whils**t inside he met a doctor who injected a liquid into his eyes so that he could see in the dark, this however can work as both an advantage and a disadvantage for Riddick. If any light source is encountered with Riddick's 'Eye Shine' enabled you will be left floundered for a couple of seconds as the effects cause you to lose your normal vision for a few seconds, as you can imagine this can prove quite tricky in the dark depths of Butcher Bay when you need it on to see where you are however the patrolling guards nearly always have their torches on making it damn near impossible at times to get out of certain situations alive. Those who have seen Pitch Black will unders**tand what I am talking about, for those who haven't that was a little insight into Riddick's world.
Onto the game...
Escape from Butcher Bay is a prequel to both Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick due out in the s**tates in a few weeks so aside from the little knowledge you will gain about his pas**t and personality you don't need to have seen Pitch Black (or apparently The Chronicles of Riddick) to unders**tand what is going on.
Riddick has very few reasons to live which is highlighted in the opening FMV and the consequent cut scene. The opening FMV shows Riddick s**talking a creature in the middle of a snow driven plain which shows off the games amazing attention to detail and also how Riddick views things through his 'Eye Shine' in both dark and light places. As Riddick sneaks up on the beas**t he forces it into a cave where he begins to rip the living sh*t out of it before leaving bait and finishing it off with a very s**tylish drop onto its body where he drives his blades s**traight into its heart. It appears that Riddick has now experienced everything... only his C.V is short of one thing, the Escape of the Universe's mos**t feared prison; Butcher Bay!
The following cut scene uses the in game engine which highlights the excellent lighting effects, slight early aliasing problems (as pointed out by many reviews) but also the refined character models which quite simply look fantas**tic. At this point the ship is heading for Butcher Bay and the Law enforcer escorting you is the only person between your freedom and two other deadly inmates.
The ship lands a far way away from Butcher Bay so you aren't thrown s**traight into the action but ins**tead you are left outside of a ship with 2 other deadly inmates, two automated guns facing you from a dis**tance and a sand s**torm sweeping across the dark environment.
To s**tart off with the game uses a Help function which basically acts as an in game training facility which is a welcome change to s**tupidly boring training sections (Full Spectrum Warrior excluded) and this can be activated by pressing B when ever the red button flashes on screen. You firs**t objective is to talk to the guard who basically tells you "You ain't fu**ing going anywhere" to which you can select a reply from the lis**t, ala Knights of the Old Republic. As far as the RPG side goes as far as I am into it this is about as deep as it gets but it definitely adds another dimension to a game bus**ting with truly magnificent features.
Once your little banter is over the officer turns his back to talk to another inmate at which point the remaining inmate whispers in your ear "Break his fu**ing neck". As you may have gathered and will gather from the opening sections, swearing is a frequent feature in Riddick which adds a personality to the game which other games avoid to get around the high end rating sys**tem; thus reducing sales... thankfully though the developers literally thought "f**k this".
This is when you are chucked into the action with your firs**t s**tealth kill. There are two neck breaks available, one is performed using the left trigger which requires frequent tapping of the 'X' button - this is the silent s**tealth kill; the other requires you to press the right trigger which is a louder method but it will dispose of the enemy with a quick two handed neck snap, it does indeed look sweet as a mules m**f.
The control s**tructure is very similar to Halo and extremely easy to pick up. The layout is basically...
Y = Rotate between weapons followed by the right trigger to select.
X = Action function, used to activate doors etc.
A = Jump function.
B = Help function.
L = Silent neck snap followed by X to carry out, block when fighting.
R = Loud neck snap, punch when fighting followed by movement of Analog s**tick.
By clicking the left analogue s**tick down you will enter s**tealth mode, unlike other games this jus**t sees Riddick duck down but you can s**till move around freely which makes s**tealth kills fun rather than a game of chance. Whils**t in s**tealth mode you zoom out of the action (remaining in the Firs**t Person) and the screen tints blue, any voice are m**fled slightly and all the sounds are toned down. Innovation? Perhaps wouldn't go that far but it's a superbly original idea that moves away from the idea of slowly moving the analogue s**tick to sneak up on someone. The white button activates any of the light sources that may be attached to a weapon, however as witnessed early on by myself, if you let guards see it the AI is clever enough to hunt the source down and they will gut you, a couple of shots from the Shotgun and you are toas**t, very tough game which punishes s**tupidity.
Early on you can not handle any other weapon aside from the Shotgun as all of the others are DNA encoded which means trying to pick them up will cause you problems, only minor problems but it will take your health away and it means that sneaking up on your enemies can be followed by a grapple and a counter blow but you will have to leave everything minus the Shotgun until you can hack the control room later on in the game. Not a problem though as you will need to use s**tealth to survive early on, if not you won't survive, simple as.
The hand to hand combat as innovative, no ques**tion about it, in fact it looks pre-scripted as every punch connects as you would expect it to and the characters actually bruise and even have nose bleeds from being hit. The level of detail achieved within the game is memorable, top marks to the developers on all accounts. Another impressive feature which I mentioned above was the ability to blow a guards head off with careful timing on the right trigger, it doesn't actually perform a decapitation but you certainly know they are dead with the blood and face dismemberment.
As you go further into the game this is when you are taken off to butcher Bay, captured by a Bounty Hunter who grants you your wish, only he isn't aware that your plan was to 'Escape Butcher Bay' all along, no pun intended.
The environments are very close quarters, claus**trophobic and incredibly detailed to the point that you want to turn your flash light jus**t to see all the detail. On the topic of detail, by shouting a barrel near a guard you will witness Havoc Physics on a par with Max Payne 2 (PC) only with the richer character models and a higher polygon count. Sounds 'jargony' but all you need to know is, this game looks incredible, truly incredible.
Them game seamlessly mixes Stealth, RPG and FPS, no doubt about it, at the point I am currently at there is certainly more of the FPS genre than any other and I believe that I have gotten over the majority of RPG and Stealth elements although I am s**till capable of capping a few guards without being seen although it usually leads to a massive fire fight shortly after. The difficulty can be set when s**tarting a new game; I jumped s**traight in on Hard to counter the supposedly short length of the game. The Human's AI is extremely clever, they will take cover, fire upon barrels to take you out and they will kill you if you are seriously out numbered. The fiend/beas**t AI is as you would expect, they hide in shadows and s**trike, they will run at you very quickly and they hunt in packs, some sections reminded me of Blade 2 with the 'Vampire Hunters' in the Russian Night Club, eerie...
The audio is superb as well, not over shadowed by any of the other elements in the game, the music is very moody and up-beat on the whole; it does however drop to suit the surroundings and the s**tealth situations without you barely even noticing. The directional audio as mentioned earlier is possibly the bes**t on the Xbox, more so than Splinter Cell, it seems every top Xbox game released manages to better the previous one in this department, all that is missing is 7.1 support which isn't a tragic exclusion and thankfully it will keep my wallet a couple of thousand lighter over the coming months.
I don't want to s**tart throwing ratings around as it is without ques**tion a top end game on a par with Ninja Gaiden, Far Cry, Thief 3, Halo, Metal Gear and all the other games at the height of their consoles quality tree. Make up your own mind regarding the scoring issue, mos**t definitely in the 9 region but it would be s**tupid to cas**t a vote without fully finishing the game.
Make no mis**take though, this is going to be one of the Games of the Year and it is quite frankly one of the fines**t games of recent years.
You will s**truggle to find a better game on home consoles!
Okay I lied, I said The Chronicles of Riddick was a good game, little did I realise how good. I will take it from the s**tart for those who haven't seen Pitch Black or for those who don't really unders**tand what the game is about...
Riddick is a character with a dark pas**t and a man out for revenge on practically everyone he meets. He was locked away in a dark cell for multiple decades for his ruthless murders. Whils**t inside he met a doctor who injected a liquid into his eyes so that he could see in the dark, this however can work as both an advantage and a disadvantage for Riddick. If any light source is encountered with Riddick's 'Eye Shine' enabled you will be left floundered for a couple of seconds as the effects cause you to lose your normal vision for a few seconds, as you can imagine this can prove quite tricky in the dark depths of Butcher Bay when you need it on to see where you are however the patrolling guards nearly always have their torches on making it damn near impossible at times to get out of certain situations alive. Those who have seen Pitch Black will unders**tand what I am talking about, for those who haven't that was a little insight into Riddick's world.
Onto the game...
Escape from Butcher Bay is a prequel to both Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick due out in the s**tates in a few weeks so aside from the little knowledge you will gain about his pas**t and personality you don't need to have seen Pitch Black (or apparently The Chronicles of Riddick) to unders**tand what is going on.
Riddick has very few reasons to live which is highlighted in the opening FMV and the consequent cut scene. The opening FMV shows Riddick s**talking a creature in the middle of a snow driven plain which shows off the games amazing attention to detail and also how Riddick views things through his 'Eye Shine' in both dark and light places. As Riddick sneaks up on the beas**t he forces it into a cave where he begins to rip the living sh*t out of it before leaving bait and finishing it off with a very s**tylish drop onto its body where he drives his blades s**traight into its heart. It appears that Riddick has now experienced everything... only his C.V is short of one thing, the Escape of the Universe's mos**t feared prison; Butcher Bay!
The following cut scene uses the in game engine which highlights the excellent lighting effects, slight early aliasing problems (as pointed out by many reviews) but also the refined character models which quite simply look fantas**tic. At this point the ship is heading for Butcher Bay and the Law enforcer escorting you is the only person between your freedom and two other deadly inmates.
The ship lands a far way away from Butcher Bay so you aren't thrown s**traight into the action but ins**tead you are left outside of a ship with 2 other deadly inmates, two automated guns facing you from a dis**tance and a sand s**torm sweeping across the dark environment.
To s**tart off with the game uses a Help function which basically acts as an in game training facility which is a welcome change to s**tupidly boring training sections (Full Spectrum Warrior excluded) and this can be activated by pressing B when ever the red button flashes on screen. You firs**t objective is to talk to the guard who basically tells you "You ain't fu**ing going anywhere" to which you can select a reply from the lis**t, ala Knights of the Old Republic. As far as the RPG side goes as far as I am into it this is about as deep as it gets but it definitely adds another dimension to a game bus**ting with truly magnificent features.
Once your little banter is over the officer turns his back to talk to another inmate at which point the remaining inmate whispers in your ear "Break his fu**ing neck". As you may have gathered and will gather from the opening sections, swearing is a frequent feature in Riddick which adds a personality to the game which other games avoid to get around the high end rating sys**tem; thus reducing sales... thankfully though the developers literally thought "f**k this".
This is when you are chucked into the action with your firs**t s**tealth kill. There are two neck breaks available, one is performed using the left trigger which requires frequent tapping of the 'X' button - this is the silent s**tealth kill; the other requires you to press the right trigger which is a louder method but it will dispose of the enemy with a quick two handed neck snap, it does indeed look sweet as a mules m**f.
The control s**tructure is very similar to Halo and extremely easy to pick up. The layout is basically...
Y = Rotate between weapons followed by the right trigger to select.
X = Action function, used to activate doors etc.
A = Jump function.
B = Help function.
L = Silent neck snap followed by X to carry out, block when fighting.
R = Loud neck snap, punch when fighting followed by movement of Analog s**tick.
By clicking the left analogue s**tick down you will enter s**tealth mode, unlike other games this jus**t sees Riddick duck down but you can s**till move around freely which makes s**tealth kills fun rather than a game of chance. Whils**t in s**tealth mode you zoom out of the action (remaining in the Firs**t Person) and the screen tints blue, any voice are m**fled slightly and all the sounds are toned down. Innovation? Perhaps wouldn't go that far but it's a superbly original idea that moves away from the idea of slowly moving the analogue s**tick to sneak up on someone. The white button activates any of the light sources that may be attached to a weapon, however as witnessed early on by myself, if you let guards see it the AI is clever enough to hunt the source down and they will gut you, a couple of shots from the Shotgun and you are toas**t, very tough game which punishes s**tupidity.
Early on you can not handle any other weapon aside from the Shotgun as all of the others are DNA encoded which means trying to pick them up will cause you problems, only minor problems but it will take your health away and it means that sneaking up on your enemies can be followed by a grapple and a counter blow but you will have to leave everything minus the Shotgun until you can hack the control room later on in the game. Not a problem though as you will need to use s**tealth to survive early on, if not you won't survive, simple as.
The hand to hand combat as innovative, no ques**tion about it, in fact it looks pre-scripted as every punch connects as you would expect it to and the characters actually bruise and even have nose bleeds from being hit. The level of detail achieved within the game is memorable, top marks to the developers on all accounts. Another impressive feature which I mentioned above was the ability to blow a guards head off with careful timing on the right trigger, it doesn't actually perform a decapitation but you certainly know they are dead with the blood and face dismemberment.
As you go further into the game this is when you are taken off to butcher Bay, captured by a Bounty Hunter who grants you your wish, only he isn't aware that your plan was to 'Escape Butcher Bay' all along, no pun intended.
The environments are very close quarters, claus**trophobic and incredibly detailed to the point that you want to turn your flash light jus**t to see all the detail. On the topic of detail, by shouting a barrel near a guard you will witness Havoc Physics on a par with Max Payne 2 (PC) only with the richer character models and a higher polygon count. Sounds 'jargony' but all you need to know is, this game looks incredible, truly incredible.
Them game seamlessly mixes Stealth, RPG and FPS, no doubt about it, at the point I am currently at there is certainly more of the FPS genre than any other and I believe that I have gotten over the majority of RPG and Stealth elements although I am s**till capable of capping a few guards without being seen although it usually leads to a massive fire fight shortly after. The difficulty can be set when s**tarting a new game; I jumped s**traight in on Hard to counter the supposedly short length of the game. The Human's AI is extremely clever, they will take cover, fire upon barrels to take you out and they will kill you if you are seriously out numbered. The fiend/beas**t AI is as you would expect, they hide in shadows and s**trike, they will run at you very quickly and they hunt in packs, some sections reminded me of Blade 2 with the 'Vampire Hunters' in the Russian Night Club, eerie...
The audio is superb as well, not over shadowed by any of the other elements in the game, the music is very moody and up-beat on the whole; it does however drop to suit the surroundings and the s**tealth situations without you barely even noticing. The directional audio as mentioned earlier is possibly the bes**t on the Xbox, more so than Splinter Cell, it seems every top Xbox game released manages to better the previous one in this department, all that is missing is 7.1 support which isn't a tragic exclusion and thankfully it will keep my wallet a couple of thousand lighter over the coming months.
I don't want to s**tart throwing ratings around as it is without ques**tion a top end game on a par with Ninja Gaiden, Far Cry, Thief 3, Halo, Metal Gear and all the other games at the height of their consoles quality tree. Make up your own mind regarding the scoring issue, mos**t definitely in the 9 region but it would be s**tupid to cas**t a vote without fully finishing the game.
Make no mis**take though, this is going to be one of the Games of the Year and it is quite frankly one of the fines**t games of recent years.
You will s**truggle to find a better game on home consoles!
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*WILL CONTAIN MINOR/MAJOR AND IN-DIFFERENT SPOILERS*
Okay I lied, I said The Chronicles of Riddick was a good game, little did I realise how good. I will take it from the s**tart for those who haven't seen Pitch Black or for those who don't really unders**tand what the game is about...
Riddick is a character with a dark pas**t and a man out for revenge on practically everyone he meets. He was locked away in a dark cell for multiple decades for his ruthless murders. Whils**t inside he met a doctor who injected a liquid into his eyes so that he could see in the dark, this however can work as both an advantage and a disadvantage for Riddick. If any light source is encountered with Riddick's 'Eye Shine' enabled you will be left floundered for a couple of seconds as the effects cause you to lose your normal vision for a few seconds, as you can imagine this can prove quite tricky in the dark depths of Butcher Bay when you need it on to see where you are however the patrolling guards nearly always have their torches on making it damn near impossible at times to get out of certain situations alive. Those who have seen Pitch Black will unders**tand what I am talking about, for those who haven't that was a little insight into Riddick's world.
Onto the game...
Escape from Butcher Bay is a prequel to both Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick due out in the s**tates in a few weeks so aside from the little knowledge you will gain about his pas**t and personality you don't need to have seen Pitch Black (or apparently The Chronicles of Riddick) to unders**tand what is going on.
Riddick has very few reasons to live which is highlighted in the opening FMV and the consequent cut scene. The opening FMV shows Riddick s**talking a creature in the middle of a snow driven plain which shows off the games amazing attention to detail and also how Riddick views things through his 'Eye Shine' in both dark and light places. As Riddick sneaks up on the beas**t he forces it into a cave where he begins to rip the living sh*t out of it before leaving bait and finishing it off with a very s**tylish drop onto its body where he drives his blades s**traight into its heart. It appears that Riddick has now experienced everything... only his C.V is short of one thing, the Escape of the Universe's mos**t feared prison; Butcher Bay!
The following cut scene uses the in game engine which highlights the excellent lighting effects, slight early aliasing problems (as pointed out by many reviews) but also the refined character models which quite simply look fantas**tic. At this point the ship is heading for Butcher Bay and the Law enforcer escorting you is the only person between your freedom and two other deadly inmates.
The ship lands a far way away from Butcher Bay so you aren't thrown s**traight into the action but ins**tead you are left outside of a ship with 2 other deadly inmates, two automated guns facing you from a dis**tance and a sand s**torm sweeping across the dark environment.
To s**tart off with the game uses a Help function which basically acts as an in game training facility which is a welcome change to s**tupidly boring training sections (Full Spectrum Warrior excluded) and this can be activated by pressing B when ever the red button flashes on screen. You firs**t objective is to talk to the guard who basically tells you "You ain't fu**ing going anywhere" to which you can select a reply from the lis**t, ala Knights of the Old Republic. As far as the RPG side goes as far as I am into it this is about as deep as it gets but it definitely adds another dimension to a game bus**ting with truly magnificent features.
Once your little banter is over the officer turns his back to talk to another inmate at which point the remaining inmate whispers in your ear "Break his fu**ing neck". As you may have gathered and will gather from the opening sections, swearing is a frequent feature in Riddick which adds a personality to the game which other games avoid to get around the high end rating sys**tem; thus reducing sales... thankfully though the developers literally thought "f**k this".
This is when you are chucked into the action with your firs**t s**tealth kill. There are two neck breaks available, one is performed using the left trigger which requires frequent tapping of the 'X' button - this is the silent s**tealth kill; the other requires you to press the right trigger which is a louder method but it will dispose of the enemy with a quick two handed neck snap, it does indeed look sweet as a mules m**f.
The control s**tructure is very similar to Halo and extremely easy to pick up. The layout is basically...
Y = Rotate between weapons followed by the right trigger to select.
X = Action function, used to activate doors etc.
A = Jump function.
B = Help function.
L = Silent neck snap followed by X to carry out, block when fighting.
R = Loud neck snap, punch when fighting followed by movement of Analog s**tick.
By clicking the left analogue s**tick down you will enter s**tealth mode, unlike other games this jus**t sees Riddick duck down but you can s**till move around freely which makes s**tealth kills fun rather than a game of chance. Whils**t in s**tealth mode you zoom out of the action (remaining in the Firs**t Person) and the screen tints blue, any voice are m**fled slightly and all the sounds are toned down. Innovation? Perhaps wouldn't go that far but it's a superbly original idea that moves away from the idea of slowly moving the analogue s**tick to sneak up on someone. The white button activates any of the light sources that may be attached to a weapon, however as witnessed early on by myself, if you let guards see it the AI is clever enough to hunt the source down and they will gut you, a couple of shots from the Shotgun and you are toas**t, very tough game which punishes s**tupidity.
Early on you can not handle any other weapon aside from the Shotgun as all of the others are DNA encoded which means trying to pick them up will cause you problems, only minor problems but it will take your health away and it means that sneaking up on your enemies can be followed by a grapple and a counter blow but you will have to leave everything minus the Shotgun until you can hack the control room later on in the game. Not a problem though as you will need to use s**tealth to survive early on, if not you won't survive, simple as.
The hand to hand combat as innovative, no ques**tion about it, in fact it looks pre-scripted as every punch connects as you would expect it to and the characters actually bruise and even have nose bleeds from being hit. The level of detail achieved within the game is memorable, top marks to the developers on all accounts. Another impressive feature which I mentioned above was the ability to blow a guards head off with careful timing on the right trigger, it doesn't actually perform a decapitation but you certainly know they are dead with the blood and face dismemberment.
As you go further into the game this is when you are taken off to butcher Bay, captured by a Bounty Hunter who grants you your wish, only he isn't aware that your plan was to 'Escape Butcher Bay' all along, no pun intended.
The environments are very close quarters, claus**trophobic and incredibly detailed to the point that you want to turn your flash light jus**t to see all the detail. On the topic of detail, by shouting a barrel near a guard you will witness Havoc Physics on a par with Max Payne 2 (PC) only with the richer character models and a higher polygon count. Sounds 'jargony' but all you need to know is, this game looks incredible, truly incredible.
Them game seamlessly mixes Stealth, RPG and FPS, no doubt about it, at the point I am currently at there is certainly more of the FPS genre than any other and I believe that I have gotten over the majority of RPG and Stealth elements although I am s**till capable of capping a few guards without being seen although it usually leads to a massive fire fight shortly after. The difficulty can be set when s**tarting a new game; I jumped s**traight in on Hard to counter the supposedly short length of the game. The Human's AI is extremely clever, they will take cover, fire upon barrels to take you out and they will kill you if you are seriously out numbered. The fiend/beas**t AI is as you would expect, they hide in shadows and s**trike, they will run at you very quickly and they hunt in packs, some sections reminded me of Blade 2 with the 'Vampire Hunters' in the Russian Night Club, eerie...
The audio is superb as well, not over shadowed by any of the other elements in the game, the music is very moody and up-beat on the whole; it does however drop to suit the surroundings and the s**tealth situations without you barely even noticing. The directional audio as mentioned earlier is possibly the bes**t on the Xbox, more so than Splinter Cell, it seems every top Xbox game released manages to better the previous one in this department, all that is missing is 7.1 support which isn't a tragic exclusion and thankfully it will keep my wallet a couple of thousand lighter over the coming months.
I don't want to s**tart throwing ratings around as it is without ques**tion a top end game on a par with Ninja Gaiden, Far Cry, Thief 3, Halo, Metal Gear and all the other games at the height of their consoles quality tree. Make up your own mind regarding the scoring issue, mos**t definitely in the 9 region but it would be s**tupid to cas**t a vote without fully finishing the game.
Make no mis**take though, this is going to be one of the Games of the Year and it is quite frankly one of the fines**t games of recent years.
You will s**truggle to find a better game on home consoles!
Okay I lied, I said The Chronicles of Riddick was a good game, little did I realise how good. I will take it from the s**tart for those who haven't seen Pitch Black or for those who don't really unders**tand what the game is about...
Riddick is a character with a dark pas**t and a man out for revenge on practically everyone he meets. He was locked away in a dark cell for multiple decades for his ruthless murders. Whils**t inside he met a doctor who injected a liquid into his eyes so that he could see in the dark, this however can work as both an advantage and a disadvantage for Riddick. If any light source is encountered with Riddick's 'Eye Shine' enabled you will be left floundered for a couple of seconds as the effects cause you to lose your normal vision for a few seconds, as you can imagine this can prove quite tricky in the dark depths of Butcher Bay when you need it on to see where you are however the patrolling guards nearly always have their torches on making it damn near impossible at times to get out of certain situations alive. Those who have seen Pitch Black will unders**tand what I am talking about, for those who haven't that was a little insight into Riddick's world.
Onto the game...
Escape from Butcher Bay is a prequel to both Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick due out in the s**tates in a few weeks so aside from the little knowledge you will gain about his pas**t and personality you don't need to have seen Pitch Black (or apparently The Chronicles of Riddick) to unders**tand what is going on.
Riddick has very few reasons to live which is highlighted in the opening FMV and the consequent cut scene. The opening FMV shows Riddick s**talking a creature in the middle of a snow driven plain which shows off the games amazing attention to detail and also how Riddick views things through his 'Eye Shine' in both dark and light places. As Riddick sneaks up on the beas**t he forces it into a cave where he begins to rip the living sh*t out of it before leaving bait and finishing it off with a very s**tylish drop onto its body where he drives his blades s**traight into its heart. It appears that Riddick has now experienced everything... only his C.V is short of one thing, the Escape of the Universe's mos**t feared prison; Butcher Bay!
The following cut scene uses the in game engine which highlights the excellent lighting effects, slight early aliasing problems (as pointed out by many reviews) but also the refined character models which quite simply look fantas**tic. At this point the ship is heading for Butcher Bay and the Law enforcer escorting you is the only person between your freedom and two other deadly inmates.
The ship lands a far way away from Butcher Bay so you aren't thrown s**traight into the action but ins**tead you are left outside of a ship with 2 other deadly inmates, two automated guns facing you from a dis**tance and a sand s**torm sweeping across the dark environment.
To s**tart off with the game uses a Help function which basically acts as an in game training facility which is a welcome change to s**tupidly boring training sections (Full Spectrum Warrior excluded) and this can be activated by pressing B when ever the red button flashes on screen. You firs**t objective is to talk to the guard who basically tells you "You ain't fu**ing going anywhere" to which you can select a reply from the lis**t, ala Knights of the Old Republic. As far as the RPG side goes as far as I am into it this is about as deep as it gets but it definitely adds another dimension to a game bus**ting with truly magnificent features.
Once your little banter is over the officer turns his back to talk to another inmate at which point the remaining inmate whispers in your ear "Break his fu**ing neck". As you may have gathered and will gather from the opening sections, swearing is a frequent feature in Riddick which adds a personality to the game which other games avoid to get around the high end rating sys**tem; thus reducing sales... thankfully though the developers literally thought "f**k this".
This is when you are chucked into the action with your firs**t s**tealth kill. There are two neck breaks available, one is performed using the left trigger which requires frequent tapping of the 'X' button - this is the silent s**tealth kill; the other requires you to press the right trigger which is a louder method but it will dispose of the enemy with a quick two handed neck snap, it does indeed look sweet as a mules m**f.
The control s**tructure is very similar to Halo and extremely easy to pick up. The layout is basically...
Y = Rotate between weapons followed by the right trigger to select.
X = Action function, used to activate doors etc.
A = Jump function.
B = Help function.
L = Silent neck snap followed by X to carry out, block when fighting.
R = Loud neck snap, punch when fighting followed by movement of Analog s**tick.
By clicking the left analogue s**tick down you will enter s**tealth mode, unlike other games this jus**t sees Riddick duck down but you can s**till move around freely which makes s**tealth kills fun rather than a game of chance. Whils**t in s**tealth mode you zoom out of the action (remaining in the Firs**t Person) and the screen tints blue, any voice are m**fled slightly and all the sounds are toned down. Innovation? Perhaps wouldn't go that far but it's a superbly original idea that moves away from the idea of slowly moving the analogue s**tick to sneak up on someone. The white button activates any of the light sources that may be attached to a weapon, however as witnessed early on by myself, if you let guards see it the AI is clever enough to hunt the source down and they will gut you, a couple of shots from the Shotgun and you are toas**t, very tough game which punishes s**tupidity.
Early on you can not handle any other weapon aside from the Shotgun as all of the others are DNA encoded which means trying to pick them up will cause you problems, only minor problems but it will take your health away and it means that sneaking up on your enemies can be followed by a grapple and a counter blow but you will have to leave everything minus the Shotgun until you can hack the control room later on in the game. Not a problem though as you will need to use s**tealth to survive early on, if not you won't survive, simple as.
The hand to hand combat as innovative, no ques**tion about it, in fact it looks pre-scripted as every punch connects as you would expect it to and the characters actually bruise and even have nose bleeds from being hit. The level of detail achieved within the game is memorable, top marks to the developers on all accounts. Another impressive feature which I mentioned above was the ability to blow a guards head off with careful timing on the right trigger, it doesn't actually perform a decapitation but you certainly know they are dead with the blood and face dismemberment.
As you go further into the game this is when you are taken off to butcher Bay, captured by a Bounty Hunter who grants you your wish, only he isn't aware that your plan was to 'Escape Butcher Bay' all along, no pun intended.
The environments are very close quarters, claus**trophobic and incredibly detailed to the point that you want to turn your flash light jus**t to see all the detail. On the topic of detail, by shouting a barrel near a guard you will witness Havoc Physics on a par with Max Payne 2 (PC) only with the richer character models and a higher polygon count. Sounds 'jargony' but all you need to know is, this game looks incredible, truly incredible.
Them game seamlessly mixes Stealth, RPG and FPS, no doubt about it, at the point I am currently at there is certainly more of the FPS genre than any other and I believe that I have gotten over the majority of RPG and Stealth elements although I am s**till capable of capping a few guards without being seen although it usually leads to a massive fire fight shortly after. The difficulty can be set when s**tarting a new game; I jumped s**traight in on Hard to counter the supposedly short length of the game. The Human's AI is extremely clever, they will take cover, fire upon barrels to take you out and they will kill you if you are seriously out numbered. The fiend/beas**t AI is as you would expect, they hide in shadows and s**trike, they will run at you very quickly and they hunt in packs, some sections reminded me of Blade 2 with the 'Vampire Hunters' in the Russian Night Club, eerie...
The audio is superb as well, not over shadowed by any of the other elements in the game, the music is very moody and up-beat on the whole; it does however drop to suit the surroundings and the s**tealth situations without you barely even noticing. The directional audio as mentioned earlier is possibly the bes**t on the Xbox, more so than Splinter Cell, it seems every top Xbox game released manages to better the previous one in this department, all that is missing is 7.1 support which isn't a tragic exclusion and thankfully it will keep my wallet a couple of thousand lighter over the coming months.
I don't want to s**tart throwing ratings around as it is without ques**tion a top end game on a par with Ninja Gaiden, Far Cry, Thief 3, Halo, Metal Gear and all the other games at the height of their consoles quality tree. Make up your own mind regarding the scoring issue, mos**t definitely in the 9 region but it would be s**tupid to cas**t a vote without fully finishing the game.
Make no mis**take though, this is going to be one of the Games of the Year and it is quite frankly one of the fines**t games of recent years.
You will s**truggle to find a better game on home consoles!
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