Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena

For Macintosh from Virtual Programming, £39.95, €39.95, $49.95

The basics, pt 1

The Chronicles of Riddick, newly released by Virtual Programming, includes two complete stand alone games as well as an online option, letting you pit your abilities against other players online. The first of the two, Escape from Butcher’s Bay, was released in 2004 for the X-box and Windows and begins with Riddick held captive by an annoying bounty hunter who brings him to the prison colony planet: Butcher’s Bay. As Riddick, your goal is to learn enough about life in this prison to eventually figure out a way to escape. As a Con in the penitentiary, Riddick must depend only on his hand to hand combat skills as well as an impressive stealth ability. As you interact with inmates and learn about this prison, eventually you gain enough information to begin a plan of escape. 

There are two parts to the first chapter of this game. In the first part, Riddick learns about a possible means of escape. Learning this information requires that you interact with many of inmates, do battle with some, and acquire a weapon or two to help. Eventually a plan comes together and you fight your way through a series of challenges.

Alas for poor Riddick, for he soon finds himself re-captured and now faced with being placed in an even deeper and more secure part of the prison. The second part gets a bit more interesting, as you eventually get to use weapons other then the fist and a shiv. There is even a sequence where Riddick takes control of a prototype armored riot suit and you get to rampage on the prison guards for a while. Lots of captivating action there.

The game has an interesting way of keeping Riddick away from more powerful weapons earlier in the game. Weapons are DNA encoded, so only those people in the approved DNA database can use them. Think about it, guards have guns, kill a guard and get a gun! To quote Riddick, “It ain’t gonna happen...” not until he figures a way around this problem. The action comes to a crescendo deep inside the prison mines, where Riddick finds a secret to exploit which stirs up a lot of trouble, offering a means of escape. 

The basics, pt 2

Assault on Dark Athena was originally released in 2009  by Atari and continues the Riddick based events. The scenario for Dark Athena also comes in two parts. In this game, Riddick is traveling with the bounty hunter again. Both men are in cold sleep during inter-stellar flight. Something wakes Riddick from the sleep, and he is able to hide, before a mercenary ship captures their smaller vessel. Riddick recognizes the captain of the ship, though little is given about her past history. Fans of the movies might recognize this woman.

In the first part of the game, Riddick sneaks and kills his way through the mercenary ship, trying to find a way off. He finds some unexpected help and works with other captured people to find a way to escape. Dark Athena, the mercenary ship is huge and it protected by an army of remote controlled and autonomous drones. The ship is soon alerted to his presence and things get a bit more difficult. There is a lot of ship to explore and a lot of things to do, but finally Riddick gets off the ship and onto a nearby planet.… 

It just so happens that the nearby planet was recently defeated by Dark Athena. The Mercenary ship has a need for human bodies, (you will learn what this is as you play). With the planet all but destroyed, Riddick realizes his only option is to get back onto the Dark Athena. So he sneaks and fights his way through the various areas in the town he landed near, helping the locals and avoiding or killing the all too numerous mercenaries and drones searching for him. Until he finds a way back onto Dark Athena. 

The play's the thing

As with most shooters, sections of each game require you to face and defeat a more powerful boss character in order to proceed. There is usually a trick you need to have discovered before before defeating a boss. For instance, one monstrous robotic killer can only be defeated using hand weapons, you have to figure out how to stun it long enough for Riddick to move in to make the kill. 

Stealth and movement are important parts of both of these games. Riddick had something done to his eyes, so they are extremely sensitive to the light. Normally he has to wear dark shades to see. But when the lights go out, he takes them off and can see pretty well. Use this ability when you can. It is easier (and sets off fewer alarms), when you sneak by rather then kill a guard.The game allows you to drag dead guards into the shadows. Leave them out in the open and someone is bound to find the body and set off alarms.

Enemies and weapons in these games vary. Riddick it pretty good with hand combat. You can learn mouse button combos that can be very deadly. There is also a big advantage given if you can sneak up behind the enemy before you attack. Since Riddick can see in the dark, luring an enemy into the dark gives a big advantage. The AI in this game generally looses interest in finding Riddick after he hides. Which means, if you stay in the shadows long enough, the guards often wander away, providing ample opportunity to sneak past them.

As the game progresses, Riddick acquires a variety of weapons. Pretty standard FPS fair, automatic machine gun, shotgun, pistol, and such. In Dark Athena a special gun is introduced. With it you shoot one or more charges that stick where they hit. You can then explode them together for a maximum effect. Multiple charges do more damage and can be used to stun the larger nasties. The environment offers canisters of explosive materials that can be used to help with removing enemies. 

To progress through the game, there are various tasks Riddick must complete. Generally tasks for someone who will then provide information or help, or gathering tools and equipment needed to get past a barrier. There are other tasks that can be completed that aren’t part of the main story line, but are also fun. For people who like to explore, these games have hidden rooms and spaces. If you search, you can find items that unlock images related to and information about the game and the Universe of Riddick. In the Butcher Bay game, you will find packs of cigarettes (with very interesting names) in these hidden places. In Dark Athena you find bounty cards. The information and images you unlock can be looked at from the main menu of the game. It is a minor aspect of the game, but I expect it would appeal to fas of the movie.

Both of these games make good use of video cut scenes to set up part of the story. In some cases they involve game characters interacting in some fashion. In others, it may simply be Riddick “thinking” to himself, describing an area, a feeling, or his thoughts. They did a great job of rendering Riddick, and Vin Diesel does the that terrific voice for the character. It is really quite wonderful. The graphics in this game are great, especially considering the age of Butcher Bay. Its a real credit to the Virtual Programming who did the work to port the game to the Macintosh. I am sure they did a lot to enhance and improve the this game. 

Riddick ain't a boy's game

This game got a 17+ ESRB rating, mostly because the audio track is quite mature. Consider a no holds barred convict way of speaking. It can get pretty nasty at times. I thought it was a bit over done, but that is what the people who created this environment thought was needed. Along with the voices there are a plethora of ambient sounds. The game gives audible clues of approaching enemies either with certain sounds or with chit chat. Some of the guards seem nervous and talk to themselves. (Yes, I do realize that these are essentially aural clues that something is around the corner, but I think it detracts from the realism of the game.) If they know or suspect you are nearby, they will call you names and try to get you to expose yourself.

Progress through the game is somewhat linear. Generally you follow the only path in a new direction. In some areas, you will need to go out and then return to a particular point. I didn’t find it particularly hard to find my way around. Some areas are more complex and offer more then one way to pass through. For instance, the town on the planet Dark Athena has attacked offers several paths to move through. There are specific spots where enemies appear, although once you take them out, they remain gone. 

Prompts are provided to let you know that a particular key needs to be pushed to climb, operate a button, or enter a device. Earlier in both games, you are provided instruction about how to control the game. When you come to an area where you need to climb, open a door, or press a button, the screen tell you this. This game makes use of the function keys, (press F1 for more information.…) Which means, you will have to tell your Mac that you want to use the function keys as function keys and not Mac keys, which is a bit of an annoyance. Basic mapping is provided in Butcher Bay, but it is very basic. No mapping is provided for Dark Athena.

Healing is provided by strategically placed Nanomed healing stations. They can generally be used once before they require a recharge. Some stations don’t fully recharge your health and there are a few that take you beyond the normal. A nanomed recharge unit can usually be located in areas which are a bit more difficult. The Nanomed stations are rather cute. After you use one, it does a little commercial for itself in a raspy robotic voice. Nice touch.

Action can get pretty tense, especially if you put the game into the highest of the three difficulty levels. However, you can change the difficulty during play. While sneaking by the enemies usually works, there are some places where you simply need to kill them all before the game allows you to proceed. If you find it impossible to sneak around or kill the enemy, look for a special solution. There usually is one: an earlier interaction in the game or even Riddick might provide a hint. I read on the Internet that the console versions appeared to include a sympathy feature, that is, if you can’t manage to take out that harder boss, the game eases up. I don’t know for sure. I did run into one instance where I just couldn’t kill the boss. Trying to do something different, I moved around and happened to locate the vent hatch I needed to go through next. After that, the guard went down, not easily, but Riddick did win. 

This game keeps you moving and fighting for your life. As you move through the game you pass into different areas, each with several checkpoints. If Riddick is defeated, the game brings you back to the beginning of the previous checkpoint. although you can choose to start from the beginning of the area. Side tasks, not necessary for the progression of the game are dropped once you leave an area and there is no going back short of returning to the start of that area and doing it all over again.

And a little bit extra

Also included in this game is an online option where you can play against real people. There are several different game options, pretty much standard FPS maps and games. There is one type special to this game called Pitch Black, which makes use of Riddick’s special abilities to see in the dark. 

The Chronicles of Riddick is a great First Person Shooter that can provide hours of fun. It has an interesting story line, based on a successful movie and enough action to keep one wanting to return and finish the game. I found few glitches in the game, and genrally hey weren’t repeated. If you like games of this genre, you will be happy with Chronicles. Many thanks to the people at Virtual Programming for bringing this game to the Macintosh.