Michael Corvin

Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
Starbreeze Studios
Chronicles of Riddick Website
March 24, 2009

• Brand new full-length campaign "Assault on Dark Athena" - same length as EfBB, so roughly 10 hours.
• Escape from Butcher Bay included and re-imagined for hi-def - every model's been redone, the AI's better, there's a new weapon select system, environments are three times the size they once were, etc.
• Online multiplayer combat - 12-player deathmatch and capture the flag modes, as well as an interesting Butcher Bay Riot game that pitches three teams of four against each other
• New "Pitch Black" MP mode - which puts combatants in a big dark arena and makes one of them a fast-moving, ultra blade-wielding Riddick - the others are just grunts with guns and flashlights. You kill Riddick, you become Riddick the next round.

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mattysemo247

Sounds kick ass. I'm surprised we didn't hear more on this sooner.

kakihara1

GameInformer has a small write-up in this month's issue. It sounds like this is going to be wicked awesome.

Michael Corvin

It was one of the games mixed up in the Vivendi/Blizzard merger in 2007. The year long hiatus actually enabled them to create the new campaign. It was originally just going to be Butcher Bay re-done with a multiplayer mode added.

xmiyux

I have been excited about this game since the very beginning. EfBB was one of the best games on the original Xbox.

I hope this thing is bargain priced at 40$ rather than 60$ at launch.

nemein

Considering a rework of EfBB is included I'm expecting this to be higher not lower. We'll see though...

Raul3

It should be a $50 game.

But yeah, I'm getting it even at $60.

Liver&Onions

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KingSmoth

Can't wait for this one, Butcher Bay rocked.

maingon

cant wait, i loved it on the xbox, it was an awesome game, visuals look great in this one.

Supermallet

So sold.

Mordred

Pitch Black MP mode sounds incredibly badass.

Michael Corvin

The first game sold on word of mouth. Since then it's become almost legendary. Sales for this one should be pretty big.

boredsilly

I think it will definitely be worth the $60. A complete reworking of the original game, plus I think I've heard that the new stuff is almost as big as the old game (I'm not sure about this), plus online modes. I don't mind them going back to the well at full price for this one.

Michael Corvin

[cough] first post [/cough]

Supermallet

I haven't heard it anywhere, but I presume Vin Deisel is back as Riddick, yes?

Raul3

I guess.

He was the producer or something like that of the first game.

Update: According to Wikipedia, Tigon Studios is a video game production company focused primarily on games featuring or starring actor Vin Diesel. Tigon is one of de development studios, and I think is owned, at least partially, by Vin Diesel.

TheBigDave

So the demo's on XBL. Anyone try it out?

I've gotta admit, I was a little letdown. It seemed fairly solid, but nothing new. I guess I was expecting more after all these years of hearing about the greatness of Butcher's Bay.

Run down hallway. Knife generic guards. Pick up gun. Run down hallway. Shoot generic guards. Run down hallway. Shoot generic guards. etc...etc...etc...

I feel like I've played this 100 times before.

Decker

That's kind of my impression as well. Didn't look much different from the original either. I liked that first game, but not enough to make a purchase of a copy-cat pseudo-sequel.

BTW : Corvin, you mention that EFBB is a 10-hour game. I think you're way off there. I beat it during a five-day rental and I SUCK at gaming. My best guess is that it was a 5-6 hour game (not counting all the times I died). I've said before EFBB was the greatest game rental ever, and despite a furious challenge from Heavenly Sword, it remains so. This new game has much more depth, and the Pitch Black MP game mode sounds like fun. Still, my excitement for the full game is tempered.

It's funny that two Vin Diesel demos hit the Marketplace at the same time.

Decker

It's a full-price game.

PopcornTreeCt

I downloaded and I was very disappointed. It certainly looked like I was playing an original Xbox game. The level design was boring, futuristic hallways and stairs. *yawn. The shine was pretty cool and I like the gimmick of the game, but it seemed like the bad guys could see me in the dark anyway. Also, do you ever fight any of the aliens from Pitch Black? First Person Shooters have come so far if they want me to drop $60 on a game it better have something I've never seen before.

Overall, disappointing. The other Vin Diesel game, Wheelman, was a lot more fun.

Supermallet

The aliens from Pitch Black are indigenous to that particular planet, and as EFBB and Dark Athena both take place before the events of Pitch Black...no, you don't.

PopcornTreeCt

I guess I'm more a fan of Pitch Black and less of Riddick. Didn't like the universe that was shown in the sequel. I thought the movie was pretty clever and enormously fun but this game just seems boring killing people.

Supermallet

I loved EFBB. There's more to it than what is in the first level, which is what I assume the demo is. It's at least worth a rental.

Michael Corvin

I think a lot of people that missed out on the first are going to be disappointed for the mere fact that it's has this cult status vibe about it. Nothing will live up to expectations that have unintentionally been built around it.

I liked the demo. Captured the spirit of the first game perfectly.