The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay - Xbox review

within its genre. The majority of game-play is set in first person, although, to pin the tag of first person shooter on this game would be to sell it short. It is in my opinion one of the most mesmerizing games I have ever played.

The game begins with Riddick being delivered to Butcher Bay by a bounty hunter. Riddick doesn't waste any time in his attempts to find a way out, even though it is said nobody has ever broken out of Butcher Bay before.

Picking up the controls is quite easy and you will grasp the basics in the opening few scenes. The screen lacks the usual set of meters for health, bullets etc this will help you to become more immersed in the world of Butcher. Your health does appear as a row of simple, white boxes as you're taking damage which is all you need to see. You do have the ability to regenerate your health if you crouch down to avoid further attack for a few moments, this is a good feature because it encourages you to move around stealthily and stay out of the line of fire. Don't worry though, the game does have plenty of parts in which maximum shooting – run and gin style is required. Of course, you do begin the game unarmed and will spend a considerable length of time fighting either with your fists or hand weaponry such as shivs, knuckle-dusters, and clubs.

Riddick has some cool combat moves which will take a bit of practice but when mastered are incredibly satisfying to pull off. I think my favorite is when up close and personal with a guard Riddick can grab the guard's gun and force the guard to shoot himself with his own weapon. Most of the guards guns are DNA protected so taking the gun off the guard isn't going to work but getting the DNA provider to pull the trigger on himself is an ingenious way of getting around the problem. Riddick also possesses a feature called Eye Shine which enables him to see in the dark. You pick this facility up as you progress through the game, once you have the Eye Shine ability picking off guards in the dark becomes a whole load easier.

There are many great little touches within The Chronicles of Riddick this attention to detail is really what lifts the game above its competition. The guards are all individual characters with an individual name, voice & set of attributes. This gives the game more depth than other games. Riddick's lines are all delivered by Mr. Diesel himself and this goes for every character in the game. Instead of powering forward, fighting bigger foes with bigger weapons you will have to think your way through the levels using all your powers to deal with a myriad of different situations. There is more to keeping a low profile than meets the eye.

Graphically this game has no competition, the atmosphere that's created in the prison environment is truly creepy and claustrophobic, the lighting is amazing and there are no obvious or intrusive glitches. Staying on ground level is not enough to survive and you will find yourself climbing high into the rafters for better views and to keep hidden well. The character models are superb and so are the environments. Sound is also really cool and with having the movie and its actors to utilize the sound only helps enhance the realism.

To conclude, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay sets new standards in gaming. It turns around the annoying truth of movie based games always being a let down & accurately gels the two media types into an experience never seen before. If you have an Xbox you need to own this game.

9.5 out of 10