The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay

by Vivendi Universal

Product Features

• Player controlled Riot Guard--get in and attack
• Two new areas packed with high-action gameplay
• New enemies including inmates with body armor and other defensive equipment
• Exclusive “Developer’s Commentary” allow players to hear what the developer of the game has to say
• Compelling full in game voice-over by Vin Diesel and other critically acclaimed voice talent

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0002MQG36
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: December 7, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,014 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Platform: PC | Edition: Developer's Cut

The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, includes player controlled Riot Guard, two new areas packed with high-action gameplay, new enemies including inmates with body armor and other defensive equipment, and new melee and ranged weapons in the Riot Guard area. It also includes an exclusive “Developer’s Commentary” allow players to hear what the developer of the game has to say, and game voice-over by Vin Diesel and other critically acclaimed voice talent. It features a hybrid of game-play elements--classic FPS, stealth, strategy, and fighting. Unbelievable cutting-edge technology places you in an ultra-realistic world. Plus, free-form level design lets you explore and escape at your own pace.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Could...Not...Stop...Playing! A Masterful FPS!, July 24, 2004

By 

Will Culp "Livin' After Midnite, Rocking Till... (Greenville, South Carolina) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (Developer's Cut) (CD-ROM)

The Chronicles of Riddick- Escape From Butcher Bay(2004). Released on the XBox and PC(Since I couldn't find the XBOX one I'm doing the PC review).

In the past few years, the movie 'Pitch Black' has been hailed as a masterpiece from Sci-Fi fans everywhere, so it's no surprised that a sequel was made, starring, once again, Vin Diesel, entitled 'The Chronicles of Riddick'. In sort of a movie marketing scheme, Starbreeze decided to release a video game that would be a prequel to 'Pitch Black', entitled 'Escape From Butcher Bay', which chronicles(pun alert) Riddick's tenure at the Butcher Bay prison facility, and how he eventually escaped. Deciding to release it as a First Person Shooter, like the game 'Halo', I was enclined to pick 'Escape From Butcher Bay' after reading good reviews, and also that my favorite genre is First Person Shooters. So, did 'Escape From Butcher Bay' live up to my expectations, or fail miserably? Read on to find out....

Game Ratings-


Graphics- Could they be any better? The dark, gritty atmosphere dominated by bump-mapping and beautiful character designs make this one big piece of eye candy. 5/5

Play Control- The control is top-notch, as moving Riddick around, not to mention shooting, is a breeze, and I never found myself frustrated over the controls, except for the last segment where you piloted a Heavy Guard, but I didn't care because it was so fun! 4.5/5

Challenge- 'Escape From Butcher Bay' is definitely a challenge, at some points making you face multiple guards with only your fists, but at other times you can find yourself breezing through the game. There are very intricate puzzles, and that's what makes 'Escape From Butcher Bay' tough. 5/5

Storyline- 'Escape From Butcher Bay' is fun go through, because of the cut-scenes! I love the plot, and its gritty realism coupled with harsh realities make it plausible, even if it's not. Superb! 5/5

Replay Value- Although playing through the game over and over would get old, you are enticed to go back through the game and collect "Pack of Smokes" cartridges which enable you to unlock special features. Not the greatest Replay Value, but not bad...3/5

Sound/Music- 'Escape From Butcher Bay' has great sound affects, and when the bullets are flying, you KNOW! Plus not to mention great voice-acting, and they got Diesel to even voice himself. Unless you care, there really isn't any music, but it in no way takes away from the game! 5/5

Fun- 'Escape From Butcher Bay''s undoubtable strong point is in its fun factor, and I found myself blasting through robots, guards, zombies, and mutated creatures to finish this game in 2 Days! You have an insanely fun time blasting your way through 'Escape From Butcher Bay'!

Overall, 'The Chronicles of Riddick- Escape From Butcher Bay' sports excellence in every field, and this First Person Shooter is a masterpiece, and, while not being as good as 'Halo', still gives the player an unmistakeable feeling of having fun as you blast your way through the game. This game gets very tough at times, and I suggest you pick up an Official Strategy Guide to solve the puzzles and get all the Packs of Smokes.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO FANS OF VIDEO GAMES EVERYWHERE! PARENTS BE WARNED, 'ESCAPE FROM BUTCHER BAY' HAS GRITTY AND GORY VIOLENCE AND STRONG LANGUAGE, SO I DON'T RECOMMEND THIS TO ANYONE UNDER 18. HAVE A BLAST!

Also Recommended-

Halo-Xbox and PC
Splinter Cell- Xbox and PC
Rainbow Six 3- Xbox

Thanks For Reading!

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!! This game is a gem!!, January 20, 2005

By 

Vappour (SYLMAR, CALIFORNIA United States) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (Developer's Cut) (CD-ROM)

I just happened to be looking through Amazon.com, and I came across Escape From Butcher Bay. Thank God I did. This game is a real gem...one of the best action titles I've played all year. It holds its own with Far Cry, HL2 and Doom 3 or anything else for that matter. I've never been much of a Vin Diesel fan and didn't know much about the "Riddick" character, but this game changes everything. It's a perfect combination FPS, action game and RPG which comes off very, very well (I didn't even know this could be done).

The graphics are amazing -- an incredible depiction of stark metal, rock, concrete and dirt in a "max-max" security prison of the future. Some of the scenes look like the sci-fi portion of 3Dmark03 benchmark.

To add to the game's cinematic quality, Escape is the first title I've seen which has absolutely no HUD on screen. You can bring up information like missions, inventory, ammo, weapons, etc., but it disappears after a few seconds. There is no on-screen reticle (just use the weapon's red laser sight -- and a weapon like a minigun doesn't really need a sight). Health just shows up as white squares which quickly disappear.

Escape has great replay value too. Do you go for stealth (with a few snapped necks from behind or drop them with a non-lethal tranq/TAZER gun and stomp their heads after they go down) or do you try shooting it out (like an RPG your strategy requires some thought/choices)? Do you fight your way "up the ladder" (ever harder "cockfights" to the death against other inmates) to acquire the head guard's key card or do you buy some drugs and get busted on purpose? And there's usually more than one way to get from point A to point B.

The AI is pretty good - both for the guards and the other inmates. The fighting -- especially melee or with fists --is really good. (There's one sequence where you struggle with a guard, and if you press the "fire" and "use" keys just right, you'll turn his rifle around and shoot him in the head. Really well done).

Above all, the gameplay style seems to change just when you're starting to get bored with what you're doing. I have a fairly strong machine which is about a year old, and the game ran perfectly on highest settings. However, I've heard (on forums) that some people are having issues with it (like it won't launch, crashes a lot, etc.). Just something to consider along with the fact that this game is definitely NOT FOR KIDS. There's no sex, but the language is rough and it's very violent (no way to turn this off if you can't handle it).

Finally, my only really serious criticism of Escape is that it's kind of short (about 10-12 hours). From talking with Xbox owners, it seems that the PC version includes an extra sequence where you get to go crazy with an anti-riot suit (two mini-guns). Unfortunately, this doesn't even add an hour to the gameplay. But once you beat Escape, you unlock and get to play a "developers' level" (hence "developers' cut") which is like having the game developers and/or programmers sitting next to you and explaining how different game sequences were done. Very interesting if you're really into gaming. I'd like to see this feature on more games (like how did they DO that?).

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is what a video game should be, December 18, 2004

By 

Ex-magician "elrond20002" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (Developer's Cut) (CD-ROM)

I always thought Vin Deisel was a cheesehead and that games made from movies were mostly crappy and thrown together in 10 days. But THIS GAME IS TOP NOTCH!

I'd say this hands down beats DOOM 3, which is too dark most of the time to enjoy the scenery on my newish video card. With Chronicles, I had time to really notice the real-time lighting and shadows. Whats the point of having the amazing character models in DOOM 3 if you have to shoot everything before you can get a good long look and appreciate the art?

This game has a really cool storyline, it's really amazing to look at, it's not watered down for children, and it's pretty open ended as far as what you can do. You can even drag corpses around to hide them from guards. I really haven't enjoyed a game this much in years. You can tell this game was made by people who love good video games.

If your video card can handle it, and you want to play a game that involves more then just shooting zombies, this is it.

This is what a first person action game should be. As entertaining as a good movie, and as interesting and fun as a well made video game.

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