The stealth and gameplay from the first one are stil here, along with some badass iconic blades Riddick uses.

Too bad the game kinda falls apart in the last leg. It goes from a decent stealth game to near constant action. There's a point where you aren't on a claustrophobic, dark and moody ship anymore. You're just on a bright, boring planet with little stealth options.

That's when the game starts forcing you into more combat oriented scenarios. Combat is one of the weaker aspects of the game. You die fast and the enemies are extremely aggressive. They also give you this really shitty gun in the end.

It has unlimited ammo and uses the game engines physics to it's full potential. Sounds like the physics gun from Half Life 2, but it sadly isn't. It desperately wants to be, but the gun they give you is AWFUL. Takes forever to fire between shots and doesn't even work properly most of the time.

They also want you to use this weapon as much as possible due to the overabundance of combat encounters in the last part.

Don't get me started on the boss fights as well. The fights rely on the really shoddy melee combat system. It's smooth and animated well, but the enemies just block and counter every attack you throw at them. I had to cheese all the fights that required the melee system because it was just so horrible.

I would say overall Butcher Bay was the better game. Dark Athena fell apart at the end and limped to the finish line after a solid stealth action game.

(Only reviewing singleplayer, spoilers ahead) Second time through, I had fun memories of the particular campaign. It was a blast. The ship combat is fluid and fast paced, and I love how hard the guns hit. Although it is easy to get lost and lose track of the enemy at times.

The gunplay and zero-g combat is fun enough, but it's really the environments and set pieces that really make the game shine. It still looks amazing now. When they give you the freedom to do side missions, that's when the game gets into a fantastic sci-fi action flow. Too bad it only lasts a few hours at best.

Everything about this game is fun sci-fi action until the last string of missions. That's when the hamfisted message of sacrifice is thrown to the center of the story as we watch all the characters we've come to know die. Hell, even the end credits have eulogies from the dead characters themselves. The credits list is also a list of your dead soldiers...

I'm not saying sacrifice is bad, but the way they just shove it in your face so blatantly without any grace really brings the game down a notch. It goes from a really fun sci-fi adventure, to a depressing, typical military assault in the last string of missions. It feels like two different games entirely.

Overall, fun action, set pieces, and sci-fi goodness. Don't expect anything out of the story. The last act especially sucks the fun out of the game.