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The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay Review for Xbox
Posted on Monday, August 09, 2004 @ 02:20:58 pm E.S.TIn more than one way, the term ‘sleeper hit’ perfectly describes Vivendi Universal and Starbreeze Studios’ The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. The first fashion it describes the game is a fiscal one: no one could have guessed how popular Escape from Butcher Bay has become. The second is a less literal one – envision happening upon a human body in the middle of a street. Upon crouching down to inspect it and much to your surprise, the cadaver’s eyes snap open, their body leaping up from the street in an attempt to voraciously attack you. It’s with this suddenness and ferocity that Diesel-powered Escape from Butcher Bay comes at players, who, instead of receiving a ho-hum licensed title as expected, will instead experience this year’s (or maybe any year’s) most terrific ever sleeper hit.
Richard B. Riddick (voice-acted and face-mapped by Vin Diesel) is shackled and onboard a prisoner transport plane. Though he’s adept at killing, sneaking, and generally running from the law, he’s been captured by an officer of the handle, ‘Johns.’ Riddick, growing bored of talking smack to Johns, falls asleep, which subsequently leads him to dream up one of the coolest instructional tutorials ever. Riddick’s deep sleep outlines most of his abilities, like crate-climbing and dropping on enemies from above, to his skillfulness with a shotgun and cat-like ability to slink back into the shadows when enemies search for him. It really is quite neat.
Awake now, Riddick is pushed out of the plane and shown to the Warden of the prison that he now stands at the foot of. Riddick gets his last glimpse of the free world as he’s escorted by two guards—one played by rap star Xzibit—into the infamous, impenetrable, and most of all, inescapable Butcher Bay Triple Maximum Security Prison. Credits rolling (giving the game a decidedly cinematic feel), players are free to debate about how impenetrable or inescapable Butcher Bay really is, and how much more infamous they can make it.
Don’t be mislead – Riddick’s venture into the grit and grime of fabulously recreated prison life is not, as some screen shots would lead you to believe, a first-person shooter. True, there are shooting elements at work here and the game is indeed played from a first-person perspective, but there is an immeasurable amount more to Escape from Butcher Bay than a tell-tale first-person shoot-‘em-up. In all reality, this game is much more easily compared to Retro’s Metroid Prime than Halo or Painkiller. “First-person adventure” sounds more fitting than anything else.
Evidencing this is a multitude of RPG elements that can be found in various areas of Butcher Bay Prison. Since the jailhouse’s inhabitants can’t use money, Riddick’s forced to play into their barter system: he does something for him, and they do something in return. Sometimes these tasks are simple – “Talk to [insert name] and I’ll give you a shiv,” while other are harder: “Kill [insert name] and I’ll distract the guards (referred to adoringly as ‘hacks’) when you need some cover. All “barter trades” take place in the form of side-quests; players don’t actually have to complete any to beat the game. It’s usually a good idea to partake in them, though, if only for the sole purpose of their added longevity an otherwise extremely short game.
Also adding depth to Escape from Butcher Bay are some killer stealth elements. Pressing down on the controller’s right thumbstick will cause Riddick to crouch, leading a blue haze to cover the screen. When players enter the shadows, the blue hue (pardon the rhyme) will become more prevalent, alerting players that, unless a flashlight or something similar is aimed in Riddick’s direction, they are as good as invisible. This can lead to some truly exhilarating moments: sneaking up on a guard, reaching for his neck and finding it in the dark, twisting it slowly and silently (or quickly and noisily, whichever you prefer), watching it drop to the floor and slinking off to the shadows to hide from the inevitable influx of investigating guards. Talented players can use stealth throughout almost the entire game and hardly ever touch an automatic weapon.
Speaking of automatic weapons, their limited use during the course of the game only further proves Butcher Bay’s variance from normal first-person shooters. Players will be supplied with but meager weaponry; the most standard assault rifles, shotguns, pistols and mini-guns will be available. Escape from Butcher Bay makes up for this lack of weaponry, though – each gun is absolutely terrific to use. A feeling of power rushes through you when you fire even the smallest of the game’s weapons, as they look just right, they sound just right, and by God, they feel damn fine to shoot. The euphoria these weapons inspire is partly attributed to the game’s tendency to give players a load of weapons, let them go on maniacal rampages with them, and then suddenly—though use of some scripted event—take them all away, forcing players to rely on stealth maneuvers and wit instead of guns.
I don’t mean to say, however, that the game can’t be a hardcore shooter when it wants to. At intervals in the beginning and middle (and through practically the entire last third of the game) Escape from Butcher Bay becomes a balls-to-the-wall first-person shooter, throwing guard after guard—and the occasional alien monster—at Riddick, a problem he and his shotgun know only too well how to solve. During these moments, players experience the aforementioned euphoria of the weapons more so than ever, and really give them more a ton of incentive to work their way through some of the game’s more difficult stealth bits.
Enemy A.I. is a mixed bag here. On one hand, guards (and some of the less friendly inmates) are constantly vigilant, searching for Riddick around every corner. They’ll point flashlights into dark areas, alert fellow enemies of your presence and notice things like dead bodies and loud noises. On the other, though, enemies will rarely pursue Riddick outside of their assigned areas, and oftentimes seem oblivious to the fact that their comrades are dropping dead all around them. They do, however, neglect to stand in pools of water (as to avoid death by electrocution), unlike enemies a la Pandora Tomorrow.
Control is, for the most part, sound. All Riddick’s actions are operated by means of standard first-person controls – left thumbstick moves, right thumbstick looks. Players will almost never experience any camera trouble in the game, running into it only slightly when the camera switches to a third-person view during the game’s platforming bits. Even then problems only occur when environments are especially dark. Riddick moves very fluidly and has a very nice feel to him – there’s no awkwardness or movement delay here. Hand-to-hand combat, through use of the right trigger and left thumbstick, also works very well. It’s integrated seamlessly into play, and allots players a number of other weapons (aside from Riddick’s fists), like clubs and brass knuckles, to beat enemies into a pulp.
Escape from Butcher Bay is presented in a very clean, cinematic fashion. A nearly blank interface truly pulls players into the game, letting them not only guide Riddick through his adventure, but take part in it themselves. Opening credits and fabulously dark mood also add to the game’s movie-like appeal. The only times players are pulled at all from the engaging first-person perspective is when they’re either refilling health or taking part in platforming bits like climbing boxes, ladders, poles and other things of the sort. Few games I’ve seen have such an immersive, dramatic quality, but maybe this game has set a new norm for the video games industry.
In no small part, Escape from Butcher Bay’s terrific presentation is due to its wonderful graphics. Nearly every environment, weapon and character model is photo-realistic, making the whole game even more convincing. Since Riddick keeps to the shadows roughly one half of the game, logic says that the game’s lighting engine would need to be spectacular, and it definitely is. Also, no polygons have been spared on Escape from Butcher Bay’s environments – they all look detailed and damn beautiful (if prisons can evoke beauty) to boot. Really, my only graphical complaint is one of the least expected of all – Riddick’s character model. It really does look ugly; the lines are rough, Diesel’s face is blocky and some alaising is pretty obvious. On another note, the game holds a steady sixty frames per second, and one of gaming’s coolest opening menu/start screens doesn’t hurt, either.
Terrific audio matches Escape from Butcher Bay’s stellar graphics like black and white stripes on any standard prisoner’s uniform. A decent score (that seems to be lifted straight from Konami’s Metal Gear Solid) graces the game – it climaxes at the appropriate times and ducks back down when Riddick’s in no immediate harm. Most of the time, though, it keep to the shadows, like Riddick himself. All sound effects are perfectly done, from blasting weaponry to the clinking of shutting cell doors. They, along with the blank interface, give the game a further immersive feel. Also well done is the game’s voice acting. Vin Diesel’s deadpan, emotionless voice actually helps him this time around, and his dry humor adds some personality to his character. Other voice actors include the already mentioned Xzibit, Cole Hauser, Kirsten Lawman, Willis Burks the II and Ron Perlman as the infamous but hushed Jagger Valance.
As far as replay goes, there’s almost nothing to be had here. The game’s difficulty may warrant players to escape Butcher Bay all over again, but the game’s unbending linearity really discourages it. Other than a few movie stills and some concept art (unlocked via comical boxes of cigarettes), though, there’re no chains holding you to this game. Add a short lifespan—eight to ten hours for most people to complete—and a lack of ANY multiplayer whatsoever and you’ve got yourself one short-lived title.
Utilizing a combination of prizewinning graphics, a clean and cinematic HUD, awesome voice-acting and extremely varied gameplay mechanics, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is one hell of a game. Though it’s plagued with so-so A.I. and an incredibly short lifespan, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t at least rent this title. Careful when you approach it, though – it isn’t really sleeping at all. Review By: Stealth52 - 1549 Reads
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay Review Scores for Xbox :
| Gameplay |
| 9.9 |
| Graphics |
| 9.7 |
| Sound |
| 10 |
| Replay |
| 4 |
| Overall |
| 9.3 |
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