Platform: PlayStation 3
Date Started: July 13th, 2023
Date Finished: July 19th, 2023
Time Played: Unknown
"The wolf moves among sheep."
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay is a frustratingly mixed one. When it's good, it's absolutely fantastic - the social hub areas are so great, the little side quests and jobs you can do for people, the environments, the dialogue and voice acting, it's all just absolutely stellar stuff. The other areas, however, such as the mines and the underground facilities, areas where combat is super heavy and things get a bit clunky, really feel like they drag the game down and soil an otherwise terrific experience.
All of the moments that are set in the main prison are top tier stuff. Helping inmates for information, sneaking through the guards quarters whilst donning a uniform and blending in, poisoning someones food, getting into arena fights - this is everything I remembered from my first playing the game on the original Xbox, and for good reason. The combat isn't all that great and the stealth is pretty weak thanks to guards being able to spot you even at a small glance, and on top of this the backtracking and navigation can be a little obtuse - it's clear to me where the game's strengths are, though, and these strengths make the game such a good time.
Riddick is a strong anti-hero, and all of the other main side characters are brilliant too - although how Johns just shows up behind you every time you reach the conclusion to a main story point is beyond me. Besides that, and a few cheesy lines aside, the writing and performances are great, and it really gives a high quality, premium feel to the game, something worthy of being a licensed game instead of something cheap and churned out.
It'll probably be a little while before I play the other entry in this series, but I had a good time with this first one.
Date Started: July 13th, 2023
Date Finished: July 19th, 2023
Time Played: Unknown
"The wolf moves among sheep."
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay is a frustratingly mixed one. When it's good, it's absolutely fantastic - the social hub areas are so great, the little side quests and jobs you can do for people, the environments, the dialogue and voice acting, it's all just absolutely stellar stuff. The other areas, however, such as the mines and the underground facilities, areas where combat is super heavy and things get a bit clunky, really feel like they drag the game down and soil an otherwise terrific experience.
All of the moments that are set in the main prison are top tier stuff. Helping inmates for information, sneaking through the guards quarters whilst donning a uniform and blending in, poisoning someones food, getting into arena fights - this is everything I remembered from my first playing the game on the original Xbox, and for good reason. The combat isn't all that great and the stealth is pretty weak thanks to guards being able to spot you even at a small glance, and on top of this the backtracking and navigation can be a little obtuse - it's clear to me where the game's strengths are, though, and these strengths make the game such a good time.
Riddick is a strong anti-hero, and all of the other main side characters are brilliant too - although how Johns just shows up behind you every time you reach the conclusion to a main story point is beyond me. Besides that, and a few cheesy lines aside, the writing and performances are great, and it really gives a high quality, premium feel to the game, something worthy of being a licensed game instead of something cheap and churned out.
It'll probably be a little while before I play the other entry in this series, but I had a good time with this first one.