Assault on Dark Athena: What Could’ve Been

If you like your games part stealth/part shooter with a healthy dose of sci-fi, chances are you are already more than a little familiar with 2004′s The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, a first-person action video game based off the franchise by the same name. Main character Richard B. Riddick is back, still bearing the voice and likeness of Vin Diesel, in a sequel entitled The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. If you were to divide the general gaming population into two main groups, one for fans of the first game and the other for people who have yet to experience the bad ass-ness that is Riddick, you would find the fanatics comfortably at home in the second game with the newbies wondering what the hell is wrong with everybody in the first group. Yup, the sequel isn’t exactly the best introduction to the series. Unless you like games that make you want to vomit while you wander around aimlessly for hours on end that is. And if that’s the case, well you’re in luck!

One of the staples of the Riddick video game series, which started with the first game and continued into the sequel, is employing a standard first-person perspective that subsequently pulls the player out to third-person when performing an action. While the graphics during those sequences are really quite spectacular (hello Mr. Delicious Vin Diesel!), the constant changing of angles grows stale after about five minutes. Worse than that, the changing of perspective even becomes a hindrance during certain extended platforming parts of the game. Having to battle controls instead of battling the enemy is frustrating, although not nearly as frustrating as battling nausea.

Assault on Dark Athena uses head bobbing to mimic realistic movement. The shakiness of the camera often causes motion sickness symptoms to those who find themselves sensitive to that particular ailment, and in this game it is not an option you can turn off. My first playing session resulted in a massive headache along with the urge to spew chunks after a very short 20 minutes. Games that required medication to be played are a deal breaker for me as I’m extremely prone to all things motion sickness. That’s strike one Assault on Dark Athena, not that I’m keeping track.

Another feature relatively unique to the Riddick series is the health system. You don’t get regenerating health. You don’t get health that needs to be replenished by med packs. You get regenerating health that needs to be replenished by med packs. I know, right? You have a handful of blocks representing health. If you stop taking damage and still have part of a block, the partial bar of health will regenerate. If you completely lose a block however, you need a med station to regenerate it. The health system coupled with the automatic save system is something I like to refer to as FAIL. The game will save your progress at its leisure and often times before a more difficult part. Meaning if you are down to one health block and it saves your game right before a boss battle, your choices are hitting your head repeatedly against a brick wall or completely starting over. In other words, you’re shit out of luck. Why games (without regenerating health) are still made without a save system that allows you to select an optimal point of your choosing is beyond me. That’s strike two Assault on Dark Athena, and now I am keeping track.

Gameplay bounces back and forth between stealth and shooting with healthy amounts of wandering around with your head up your ass because you have no clue what to do next mixed in. I would estimate that I spent approximately 40% of my time backtracking, searching for clues, and shouting insults at the game’s mother due to not knowing where to go next. The game definitely needs a feature giving assistance in finding the next objective’s location. I would suggest perhaps a light indicator reminiscent of Dead Space or simply clues that automatically pop up after … oh I don’t know … A FUCKING HOUR OF WANDERING AROUND IN CIRCLES. Here’s a free hint to anybody who is playing this game right now: look up. Way up. Like so far up there is no possible way you could get up that high. Yup, that’s where you need to go. You’re welcome.

Another place Assault on Dark Athena could use improvement is the loading system because often times I would be listening to important dialogue, I would hit a loading screen (in the middle of gameplay none the less), and it would not finish the sequence once it was done loading the next area. You might as well adopt a fondness for the loading graphics right now because it will interrupt your experience repeatedly throughout the entirety of your playing sessions. Consider it the mother-in-law of the game. I know you know what I’m talking about. And for the record, that was strike three. Guess what Assault on Dark Athena? That means you’re out, and this review is over!

Overall The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is a worthy purchase for those who enjoy this franchise. You get two games (both a hi–definition re-imagined version of Escape from Butcher Bay and also the newest chapter to the saga, Assault on Dark Athena) for the price of one, and while the second is nowhere near as fun as the first, Riddick fanatics will still probably enjoy the overall experience. The best parts of the game were when you got to play as other characters such as the enemy drones and a completely bad ass mech. However, the main thing those sequences did for me was point out the failed potential of the game. I believe Tiffany said it best, “Could’ve been so beautiful, could’ve been so right …”