Game Review: Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena

Billy O'Keefe - Mclatchy -Tribune News Service

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena

For: Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows PC

ESRB Rating: Mature

If selling games is a race, then "The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena" is a 100-meter sprinter with an eight-second head start. In a move that hopefully becomes a trend, developers Starbreeze and Tigon have included a remastered copy of "Athena's" prequel, "Escape From Butcher Bay," as bonus content.

"Bay" was incredible enough to command $50 on its own five years ago, and its approach to first-person stealth still feels fresh in its 2009 incarnation. Tigon and Starbreeze took an oft-inaccessible genre and made it immersive and exciting by nailing the control scheme and devising some ingenious means of communicating your ability to hide and remain hidden. It didn't hurt that the game's storyline and characters were more engaging than those found in the "Riddick" movie released around the same time.

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"Athena," at least initially, doesn't monkey around with the formula. The story picks up where "Bay" left off, and following a brief reintroduction to the controls and nuances of the stealth system, you're back in the shadows, avoiding fights whenever possible and dividing and conquering when that won't do. As was the case in "Bay," even the most pedestrian of enemies can deal quick and debilitating damage, and picking multiple fights at once almost always is fatal.

But it's on the same token where "Athena" arguably loses its way. Following a deeply satisfying stretch in which melee weapons and a dodgy tranquilizer gun are your only bets, the game slathers you in guns and ammo, and it counters this bounty by sending waves of stupid enemies storming your way. You still can shoot out lights and lurk in the shadows, but you don't necessarily need to, and once you face enemies who only succumb to gunfire or force you to fight in entirely cover-free environments, all that delicate balance takes a flying leap.

This isn't to suggest "Athena" is a failure. It's more fun than not, and some of its best moments are during these wheels-off-the-bus stretches. But with "Bay's" meticulous construction feeling fresh all over again in the same package, the reckless abandonment of stealth and artificial intelligence feels sloppy even when it's fun.

Even with "Athena's" problems taken into consideration, though, the total package - two nice-sized campaigns and a respectable suite of multiplayer offerings (12 players, online only) that capitalize on Riddick's special abilities - comes recommended without hesitation. "Bay" did things in 2004 that no game until now has done since, and its re-release to a wider audience is absolutely deserved. That it brings a whole additional game along for the ride is merely a very, very nice bonus.

(For those wondering, "Bay" and "Athena" exist as separate options in the main menu, so you can play them in whichever order you please.)

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