April 29, 2004 - On a system over-crowded with first-person shooters and action games, it's genuinely perplexing Vivendi Universal Games decided to make a FPS based on the Riddick movie license. It's one thing to go in with a FPS, yet another to overcome the Titantic-sized berg of a hot Hollywood movie license. But The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is a genuine example of intelligent development and execution, from nearly every aspect -- presentation, gameplay, graphics, and sound. It's ambitious, and from what we can see, VU Games is indeed delivering. From the bottom up, this title is one of the elite examples of how to beat the crappy movie-license rap.

    The creative, hard-working guys at Starbreeze AB have shown their hand with The Chronicles of Riddick, a single-player first-person shooter starring Vin Diesel as the lead anti-hero Riddick, and from this exquisite delivery on all fronts it's clear their talents will soon be sought after. Taking place prior to both the upcoming movie The Chronicles of Riddick and the 2000 sleeper hit Pitch Black, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay places players in the shoes of Riddick, a disturbingly aggressive yet darkly enigmatic criminal is his quest to escape the universe's most treacherous prison.

    Players will be confronted with more than 30 levels (or sections) in a science fiction-style maximum security, double max and triple max security prison. As aforementioned, Riddick is a straight single-player game with no multiplayer modes, though it does support Xbox Live Aware. This unique experience blends action, stealth and both hand-to-hand combat and first-person shooting in a story-driven game that's original and handled exceptionally well.


 
    There are RPG elements, giving gamers the chance to speak and interact with 20 different enemy types plus numerous friendly NPCs, and as players progress from no weapons at all, they acquire everything from homemade shivs, brass knuckles, screwdrivers and scalpels, to handguns, assault rifles, shotguns and more. We've broken down the game's elements into sections, and both Hilary and myself (Doug) have fleshed out the details on them all.

Read the Full SIX page Review at IGN Click Here