Customer Reviews

The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (Developer's Cut)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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!

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?).

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.

First I'd like to mention that I have been playing FPS games since DOOM and have not missed one since (except those who have had bad reviews), and I was always interested in this game but no THAT much. It was released on December 2004, I started playing it 4 days ago and finished it today, and I must say it is an incredible game! I regret not buying it earlier!

Grapichs: 9.5/10 (Just almost DOOM3-like)
Sound: 10/10 (It is just SUPERB)
Gameplay: 10/10 (Great stealth, action and adventure mix)
Length: 8/10 (Just a few hours long, but GREAT few hours)
Replayability: 8/10 (No multiplayer, not really a "re-playable" game, but has director's comments unlocked once finished and other bonuses)
Value: 10/10 (It's way cheap, BUY IT!)

Parts I liked the most: The intro (basically the first 20 minutes will prove to you that this is a completely different and original game), the "Riddick Feel" (you just can't get over feeling like you are actually Riddick), the real Vin Diesel voice, great gameplay, videos are also great (intro is the best).

I would also like to mention that it is more inmersive than F.E.A.R. in the FPS "feel", more fun than Half-Life 2 overall, and it's almost as good as Doom 3. I would have liked it to be longer and have more weapons, though. It is also a bit buggy.

C.O.R: Escape from Butcher Bay is an excellent game. Ironicaly, it is far superior than the movie that it shares a title with. Overall gameplay is excellent, and for a console-PC port it plays less like a console game and more like a PC. The lack of the ubiquitous third-person POV was refreshing, as I half expected the game to play solely from that POV. The smoothed out stealth/combat mix is an interesting and innovative change for someone who is accustomed to Thief-style stealth games, the two are equally balanced in Butcher Bay, and the stealth option becomes more effective once the player gains Riddick's infamous ability to see in the dark. Graphics-wise, this game is good looking, however, if you expect to get the best out of it then you must have an especially high-end machine. Otherwise, you'll have to put up with choppy battle sequences (with two or more enemies) and running the game at a resolution of 800 X 600. Sound is superb, as are the weapon and environment design.

There are no real negative aspects, the voice acting is superb, gameplay innovative and excellent. However, as mentioned prior, "find the key" missions exist in abundance, and this becomes tedious. Also, the action really doesn't pick up until Riddick gains his eyeshine ability, and then the stealth option becomes a no-contest option. The adventure-style inventory system is great, as is the mission objective stats screen. However, the map section is laughably useless, as it shows just a rough outline of the area and no other details, not even a "you are here" note. The assault rifle is worthless in a long range fire-fight, walking up behind an enemy and emptying a clip on them is the only efficient means. Apparently accuracy hasn't improved in the future. It serves better as a "light extinguisher" and as a flashlight. The final and most telling negative aspects of this game is that the end-level is laughably easy and too linear (you'll feel like a mouse being herded to cheese in a maze) and the game takes 10 - 12 hours to beat. I spent roughly a week, on and off with the game (one to two hours max). I had made it to Triple Max (final stage) and decided to go "all the way"; it took me less than an hour, with one reload after dying. A huge change from the eight hours spent in Double Max and uncounted reloads from dying.

All in all, this game is worth the 19.99 (or better offer) because it definately has a high replay value, and is an excellent game. In an interview Diesel mentioned something about a sequel in the works, though Tigon and Starbreeze have not mentioned such nor given any clues. If there is, I look forward to it with glee. Hopefully they'll iron out the very few bumpy areas and produce another ass-kicking Riddick-romp of a game.

I just finished playing and was pleasantly surprised by both the depth and the addictiveness of this new addition to the increasingly crowded field of FPS games for PC. It's hard to stand head and shoulders above the rest when there's sooo much hype over the mega-titles like Half-Life 2 or Doom III. I was especially surprised at the quality of game play on my somewhat modest gaming system (2.6 GHz P-IV, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 Mb, 256 MB RAM). And yet, I was even more surprised by the fact that this is a piece of movie merchandising. Normally, I'd avoid these spin-offs but the early positive reviews piqued my interest.

The object of the game is, of course, to escape Butcher Bay, the triple-max-slam mentioned in the films, but the game is a pre-quel to the films, chronicling Riddick's arrival in prison. One never learns the exact nature of the crime that sent Riddick away which would have made for an improved introductory cut-scene IMO. After an early "dream sequence" that serves as a tutorial level, one is thrust into the filthy, ultraviolent, testosterone-quenched world of slam-life. The fight sequences are bloody and the foul language of the cons and the guards would make a sailor blush so it definitely earns its M-rating for content but the gore can be turned off in the setup screens.

Most guards and prisoners can be engaged and there are several side-missions beyond the overall goal of escape. During the game you'll meet a motley bunch of personalities, including the Slam Preacher (responsible for Riddick's most-useful eye surgery). Most combat in the game is not of the "break down the door with guns blazing" category. In this game, subtlety and sneakiness go a long way. The strategy reminds me a lot of the Hitman series by Eidos Interactive®. Your best bet before charging into battle is to survey all the surroundings and make the best use of cover, silence, and darkness. Speaking of darkness, the use of shadows is very good in this game. I played it at 1024x768 resolution and had no problems whatsoever with frame rate, stitching, or significant aliasing. Riddick's night-vision comes off a bit blurry by design but I don't see it as harming the game overall.

Most experienced FPS players will probably want to start the game on the hardest difficulty level. At the top level, I found it much harder than Doom III. There are a few levels in the mines that are especially challenging. Weapons range from homemade shivs on up to mini-guns but as I mentioned earlier the key is to tread lightly. Successful game play requires careful balance of force, stealth, quick-thinking, and especially awareness of surroundings. Make plentiful use of shadows, climbing atop objects, and crawling through air-ducts for bypassing heavy defenses.

There are one or two plot and game flaws that are very noticeable in the game play. These include a cut-scene that is apparently unviewable even though the sound can be heard and the game can continue, a handful of dopey guards that just don't seem to see you, and a section in the mines where the interaction between the prisoners and guards just didn't make sense to me.

Overall, I found the game to be a good value at the price of $29 USD new (not hard to say when HL-2 debuted at nearly $70 USD and Doom III at nearly $50). Like Riddick, it will likely be eclipsed in the shadows of the mega-hits like HL-2 but should not be overlooked for those that like games that don't require a $500 video card or who don't have parents to buy them new games every month.

This game was very good, although with work, food, and sleep, I could only play it for maybe 2 hours a night. I beat it in a week. It was only $15 though. So I feel like it was a deal. It's the kind of game you beat once and then up the difficulty level. Very unique in that it's a good stealth ops game with a twist: anti-hero convict Riddick has to escape the unescapeable Butcher Bay. Most stealth ops games involve government agencies or "good guys". You won't find that here.

this game is done well. the graphics are good and the game play is refreshing.
it draws you into the story. a little hard to play but enjoyable when you solve a section.

A very addictive FPS game with good graphics. The addition of Vin Disel doing the voice over for the Riddick character added to the good graphics and storyline and you end up with a great gaming experience. Be sure to watch all the credits run at the end of the game for another great cut-scene that ties into the game opening and the movie "The Chronicles of Riddick"

This was a great game. The gameplay is similiar to half life instead of you fighting aliens you are battling your way out of prison and on the way you must confront psychotic inmates and often have to "take them out" as well as hot shot powerfreak corrections officers who are just as "bad" as the prisoners. Loads of fun and intersting dialogue awesome voice acting and sound all in an action packed FPS make this game a gem. Only downfall about this game is that it is a little too short I finished it in 4 days but it is still well worth your money if you decide to buy it. I wish theyd make more of these prison type games.