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The Chronicles of Riddick: | ||||||||||||
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ne of the purposes that movies and games share is to let their audiences experience vicariously what they could never experience in real life. In the case of The Chronicles of Riddick, the game succeeds in delivering the same experience as the movie with which it shares its name: What is it like to be the meanest sumbitch in the valley? The answer, shown over about 15 hours of gameplay, is that being the baddest man in the room is bruising, painful hard work, particularly when all the rooms are in the toughest prison in the galaxy—but that it is also good, vicarious fun.
The basic form of Riddick is that of a first-person shooter. The player sees the game out of the eyes of Riddick, even when fighting hand to hand. Cutscenes, dialogue and some in-game actions (like climbing ladders) change to a third-person perspective, allowing the player to admire just how much the character model looks like Vin Diesel. The rest of the time, there is no heads-up display, only some plain white boxes to track Riddick's health. There are no crosshairs, no ammo readout, etc., which means that the player sees the world in a "natural" way that fits the tone of the game.
Riddick starts the game as a prisoner, so at first he has only his fists and crude knives with which to fight, but later he will finally get his hands on various guns. Getting hold of guns in Riddick is harder than in most shooters because the guns are equipped with high-tech DNA readers and shock everyone but their owners. This means a lot of sneaking around, which is done with the game's simple but effective stealth mode. The more hidden Riddick is, the bluer the screen becomes. The special attacks that Riddick can deliver from hiding kill instantly. When caught, but unarmed, Riddick can use special counters to disarm opponents or even force the ones with guns to shoot themselves.
Tough, deadly and oh so cool
The production values on Chronicles of Riddick are very high, and they start with Vin Diesel's voice acting. Indeed, all the cast does a good job with the hard-bitten, profanity-laced dialogue. Visually, all of the characters with speaking parts have different heads. The environment isn't very interactive, but it is completely true to the story and sets the bleak, crushing tone for the obstacles that Riddick must overcome. The frame rate is smooth, and the load times are tolerable.
Another element of the game that contributes to the bleak, crushing tone of the prison is the AI that controls the guards and other inmates. In combat, it is good. Enemies seek cover. If they have a gun and Riddick doesn't, they try to put distance between themselves and him so they can shoot him. Even when provoked, they won't charge in, but will hang back, wary of Riddick's deserved reputation. On top of these elements, the designers programmed the human enemies to taunt and insult Riddick, which may well upset the player as they are intended to upset the character. Another nice touch is that even when Riddick is acting like a well-behaved prisoner, the guards will still beat him with their gun butts if he comes too close.
Badass that he is, what makes Riddick particularly special is his see-in-the-dark eyes. Riddick does not start the game with them, but gains them during the course of the story. Their arrival, however, doesn't transform the game. Riddick still has to sneak and fight and talk tough. The eyes do let him do some of that sneaking in the dark, but when his eyeshine is on, the flashlights of the guards can blind him, making the special eyes more of mixed blessing than it would seem.
The Chronicles of Riddick is one of those rare movie-based games where the execution, story and gameplay make it a game worth playing on its own merits. — Eric
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