The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay
Possibly as underrated as the movies themselves, Escape From Butcher Bay and it's sequel, Assault on Dark Athena, were some spectacular games that feels to me like not a lot of people either played or even heard of. Taking place before the events of the movie Pitch Black, Escape From Butcher Bay was created by both Vin Diesel and David Twohy with the desire to flesh out the Riddick character by explaining some of his past. In this case, his capture and imprisonment in the maximum security prison planet Butcher Bay.
Escape From Butcher Bay was certainly a unique game. Starting you out getting a feeling for the penitentiary, making friends and enemies and eventually breaking out using your skill as a master hunter/killer. Developed by Starbreeze and Vin Diesel's own company Tigon Studios, Butcher Bay takes influence from Goldeneye, Splinter Cell, Half Life and even Punch-Out!! There were even RPG elements involved originally that were removed after testing. Pitch Black director David Twohy alongside Diesel both helped write the game and it's dialogue, pushing to keep the entire game as authentic to the property as possible, which is something I always respect and admire within a game's development. And Butcher Bay certainly shows it.
All this and the game looks fantastic. At the time it included tech that pushed the visuals beyond most games at the time and I recall it specifically being a great show of my computer and what it was capable of. Even better, Vivendi recently released a sequel, Assault on Dark Athena, which includes a remastered version of Butcher Bay that really stands the test of time, especially with it's new HD graphics. This is definitely a game I've been meaning to go back and spend some more time with. But I'd like to finish Dark Athena first.
I'm not sure if these games are only great if you're a Riddick fan, but it's bound to help. It does a fantastic job on fleshing out the Chronicles of Riddick and both the visuals and the atmosphere are certainly on key with the films to date. I guess as far as I'm concerned, you can always use more Riddick.
Escape From Butcher Bay was certainly a unique game. Starting you out getting a feeling for the penitentiary, making friends and enemies and eventually breaking out using your skill as a master hunter/killer. Developed by Starbreeze and Vin Diesel's own company Tigon Studios, Butcher Bay takes influence from Goldeneye, Splinter Cell, Half Life and even Punch-Out!! There were even RPG elements involved originally that were removed after testing. Pitch Black director David Twohy alongside Diesel both helped write the game and it's dialogue, pushing to keep the entire game as authentic to the property as possible, which is something I always respect and admire within a game's development. And Butcher Bay certainly shows it.
All this and the game looks fantastic. At the time it included tech that pushed the visuals beyond most games at the time and I recall it specifically being a great show of my computer and what it was capable of. Even better, Vivendi recently released a sequel, Assault on Dark Athena, which includes a remastered version of Butcher Bay that really stands the test of time, especially with it's new HD graphics. This is definitely a game I've been meaning to go back and spend some more time with. But I'd like to finish Dark Athena first.
I'm not sure if these games are only great if you're a Riddick fan, but it's bound to help. It does a fantastic job on fleshing out the Chronicles of Riddick and both the visuals and the atmosphere are certainly on key with the films to date. I guess as far as I'm concerned, you can always use more Riddick.
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