The Chronicles of Riddick
Vin Diesel hits the Xbox with a tale of deep space
prison life.
January 26, 2004
- The film "Pitch Black" didn't hit with too much star power back in
2000, but now that Vin Diesel is an eight-figure/movie superstar, it
could be the cornerstone of a fledgling powerhouse franchise. The title
"The Chronicles
of Riddick"
is the name of the upcoming summer sequel film, and Vivendi-Universal
is in production on a videogame prequel due out around the same time
currently under the working title "Chronicles of Riddick" (working off
the name of the film to form a sandwiching saga that get in on both
sides of Riddick's story) due out around the same time. In the
videogame adventures of Riddick --Vin Diesel's character in Pitch Black
-- gamers will get to guide the antihero's escape from that maximum
security prison facility referenced in the film. With games like Prisoner
of War and The Great Escape
still floating around our recent memories, it's clear that prison
escape videogames have met with limited success. Riddick will at least
avoid the World War II elements that may have doomed those two efforts,
because this game is pure sci-fi with big guns, scary monsters and high
technology. However, this is all balanced out by some harsh brutality
that comes with prison life. The actor is known to take his videogames
seriously and so his
contribution to Riddick goes way beyond mere voicework for a character
that he helped define. Because of Vin Diesel's direct involvement in
the game's design, story and visual elements, this will be the most
accurate representation of "The Fast and the Furious" star yet. It's
primarily a first person title but during certain sequences the camera
will swing around to show off the true-to-life model of Diesel's
character in stunning detail. It looks like Diesel must really know his
stuff when it comes to this videogame thing of ours, because an early
glimpse at The Chronicles of Riddick has piqued plenty of curiosity
around IGN. It's a first person action title with a minimalist approach
to the HUD
since there will be more than just shooting going on in this one. The
Swedish developer Starbreeze --best known in Xbox circles for 2002's Enclave--
has implemented a system where information and Riddick's abilities will
presented more contextually. The character Riddick has heightened
sensory abilities that allow him to see and hear beyond normal human
ranges and these abilities are engaged whenever he's crouched in
"stealth mode." You'll get a spacey blur effect around the edge of your
screen when he's engaged stealth. When Riddick is in a place where he
can't be detected, at his stealthiest, the screen will have a distinct
blue tint and will remain so until he's become detectable again. But
this is where the intelligence of the game becomes apparent. If Riddick
moves into an area with less cover, you lose the blue. If an enemy
turns a corner and can look directly at him, you lose the blue. If he's
in shadow but that enemy shines a light or laser sight on him, you lose
the blue. There are stealth elements to The Chronicles of Riddick but
by no means is it a sneak-around-snuff-everybody title.
You'll have the option to use different combinations
of stealth, action
and even the environment can be used to your advantage. Riddick is
trying to escape from multiple levels of security with this prison so
it's not a bad idea to keep your interactions with the guards to a
minimum and one at a time. Initially you'll only have prisoner-grade
weapons at your disposal so stabbing with shivs and shanks and clubbing
with crowbars and pipes will be your means of advancement early in the
game. Snapping necks and running screwdrivers into the skull of a
correctional officer are moves best done stealthily since the prison's
alarms will automatically sound whenever there's gunfire (guards
shooting at you). Guns can only be used by guards with matching DNA so
picking up a dead guard's weapon will only give Riddick a good zapping.
That is until you reach the mission where you upload Riddick's DNA into
the system, allowing him to wield pistols, assault rifles and other
goodies.
Once you've got guns at your disposal some of the
more action-oriented
elements of the game open up since you don't have to cower in the
corner and curse yourself for a lack of firepower when waves of guards
are scouring the prison looking for you. While standing toe-to-toe with
an entire prison full of heavily armed COs seems a little farfetched,
it can make for some fun gaming. While the guard AI will be juiced up
so that you will be compelled to either fight or hide for a long time
when they come looking for you, we're told that the old wait-them-out
maneuver can work in this game but you'll have to be a little more
intelligent about it. An obvious hiding place shrouded in shadow will
make sense until a guard comes around with a flashlight. There will
also be different levels of prison guards to deal with so that a
captain will always be accompanies by grunts. Taking out the captain of
the guards will change the behavior of the remaining COs to your
advantage, but you'll have to earn it. The clean first person
perspective allows Riddick to pull off intricate
hand-to-hand combat moves and melee attacks. Reversals will let you
turn an enemy's weapon against himself including assault rifles that
Riddick himself can't even pick up. You just throw the combo and use
the guard's own trigger finger once the barrel of the gun is under his
chin. In one instance, the reversal is how you'll pick up new weapons
like screwdrivers the first time. Whenever Riddick interacts with the
environment like climbing boxes or ladders or getting adrenaline shots
(health) from an injection station, the camera briefly switches to a
dramatic third person perspective. It adds a cinematic feel and should
be good payoff for the legions of Vin Diesel fans out there. The health
powerup is particularly satisfying with two steel spikes jabbing into
Riddick's neck for a split second and then retracting back into their
housing.
The prison setting for Riddick will have it's own
desolate personality
with guards and inmates interacting with each other and doing their own
thing in the background. The guards have the green light to shoot any
inmate on sight so it won't be uncommon to see inmates right next to
Riddick getting smoked. This free-flowing world applies to gameplay as
well. You can unleash a cloud of poisonous gas in an area knowing that
a squad of unsuspecting troops will be coming through momentarily to
investigate your activities. Events like formal inmate gladiator
sessions may sound like a romantic prison evening for Vin Diesel's
Riddick, but they're actually key gameplay segments that you can
revisit often later in the game for bonuses.
In an homage to the film "Pitch Black" there's
one segment of the game
before Riddick has had his eyes shined and gained the ability to see in
the dark, where he'll have nothing more than a dying flashlight and the
muzzle flash of his near-empty shotgun to show him the swarms of scary
mutant cave dwelling nasties surrounding him. The strobe effect of the
shotgun blasts in this Pit level is top-notch and is just one of the
many impressive lighting elements that will end up defining the game.
The level of detail in the environments and the
quality of the lighting and shadows in The Chronicles
of Riddick
rival what we've seen in the limited snippets of Doom 3
and the game could be just as fast paced. We won't be the last ones
fooled into thinking this game from Starbreeze is the long-anticipated
sequel from id Software.
IGN will have more on The Chronicles of Riddick
in the coming weeks and months leading up to its June release.
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