The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay was a huge sleeper hit on the Xbox. It had some of the earliest and best hand to hand fighting for a “FPS”. The game allowed you explore very interactive environments where the lighting was as impressive as the graphics. The controls were tight, the aiming was spot on, and the overall game play was fantastic. Oh by the way, the story kicked ass. Where can the developers go from here? Enter: Assault on Dark Athena. We got some hands-on experience at the NYCC this weekend and to say that we are very happy and excited is an understatement.

Riddick: Dark Athena is the first next gen Riddick game made and right away you know it. If you have every played Butcher Bay, you were floored by how nice it looked. Imagine that, just totally polished and in HD. Without spoiling Dark Athena’s storyline for you, it relates to the Riddick universe obviously, but also ties in to Butcher Bay as well. What if you never played Butcher Bay? The Dark Athena version will have BOTH, yes both, games on it. So, you can start with Butcher Bay and then play Dark Athena, or jump into Dark Athena right away. If you want the whole experience, which is worth every second, you will do the former.

The game looks, plays, and sounds great, (Vin Diesel is doing the voice over work as you may have surmised) so expand on that. You are basically in a prison. A huge, huge prison with armed guards, armed robots, armed inmates, etc. Nothing here wants you to survive. You must explore air ducts, open hatches, unlock doors, you name it, to make your way out of this hell-hole. The only thing you always have is your traditional knives, your ability to beat ass, and oh yes, the Eye Shine ability. Riddick can see you in the dark. He can and will sneak up on you and will take you out.

It is hard to put a game like this into a paradigm, but imagine Splinter Cell type sneaking, whereas the game is not entirely stealth dependant, but is a skill you will master and use accordingly. You will pick up and use all kinds of guns along the way as well. The areas you have to go to flash a little so you won’t find yourself completely lost. The game does not hold your hand so much as it will steer you in the right direction. The rest is up to you.  Expect to continue this movie caliber story this June. Put this game on your lists now people, it will be that good.