The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (PC) - Part 2

The chronicle of my epic prison break concludes!

Click this link to return to Riddick's cell: Part one.

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The story so far: there was some gameplay but it was all a dream, and now Riddick's stuck in the low security section of Butcher Bay prison with a gang leader wanting him dead. And the guard took his screwdriver away.

Rust and his Aquilan boys aren't going to stop until Riddick's dead, so they're now my main priority. Not much else I can do in here at the moment anyway. He'll be waiting for me at the other end of the his cell block, across the courtyard from mine.

The Aquila's cell block ain't as a civilized as my corner of the prison, with no security cameras, no guards, and nothing to stop me killing every single Aquilan that gets in my way. Well, except for the fact that they're armed with shivs and I've only got so much health.

The health system in this not massively different to the one in Wolfenstein: The New Order, with my life bar being split into recharging sections. Once a block's gone entirely, it doesn't come back. The main differences being:

• I can't collect extra health pickups to overcharge my life bar in this.
• I can't collect health pickups at all, because there aren't any. 

There's health stations around to top my life back up to max, but I have to survive long enough to reach them, so I'm encouraged to play cautiously. Is this the earliest example of regenerating health in a first person shooter? Well it pre-dates Halo 2 and Call of Duty 2 for sure, but I'm going to guess... no.


SEVERAL MUTILATED GANG MEMBERS LATER.

Well I've reached Rust, or his unstoppable silhouette at least.

It took me a fair few quickloads just to get through the 6 goons along the way, because it turns out I'm really bad at the fist fighting. I'm not sure what kinds of punches I'm supposed to be throwing, and the convicts with shivs are able to cut right through my block. So this boss fight usually ends up with me wailing away at him uselessly, until he slashes a few times and sends me back to my last save.

Weirdly this isn't frustrating to me at all, and I'm not sure why. I'm the whiniest baby when it comes to boss fights and gameplay mechanics I don't understand, but I'm happy to keep throwing myself into this brawl until I figure it out. Though I did restart the level a few times until I could get here and quicksave with a few more health blocks in the tank.

Okay I've think I've got this now. The trick is to get the fuck away from the guy waving a knife at me! I've got this whole area to run around in, so there's no reason I ever need to let him hit me. Also if I get a bit of distance I can stop moving and rest for a second, which turns out to be what activates the health regeneration.


AFTER THE FIGHT.

Oh shit, this health station in the Aquila block works? It's so beat up looking I just assumed it was here as level decoration. Well there's four extra health blocks I could've come back for at any time.

I love how damn nasty these health machines are. You stick your head up to the holes and it stabs a pair of huge spikes into your neck. Takes away the hurt, leaves the pain.

Here's an interesting fact: the game cheats during these third person scenes by putting another light in the room to make sure Riddick is properly lit even in the darkest corners of the level. Okay maybe it wasn't that interesting.


LATER.

Even though they have NanoMED instant healing machines around, the prison still has an infirmary, and that fight has earned me a visit to it. This is all part of the plan though, as taking out Rust earned me a favour from Haley, who was owed a favour from a guard who let me inside. I'm eventually heading to Pigsville, the staff quarters, but I'm taking the scenic route.

Now what though? All the doors are locked, and there's two guards here making sure I don't try anything. Oh duh, I can just creep around behind one, snap his neck, then stab the other with my shiv when he comes over to intervene. Then I take his key card and walk right out. I forgot I was Riddick for a second there.

They've got an arcade machine sitting in the back room!

Oh shit, I thought it was going to be OutRun but it turned out to be spikes! Giant health-restoring needles in the gut. Not just health-restoring, health-enhancing; Riddick's walking away from this with an extra life box.

Didn't think I'd be testing out my new health box quite so soon.

What am I supposed to do against a guy with a flashlight and an assault rifle anyway? I can't punch him, I can't hide in the shadows....

Oh, I suppose I could always run up, wait for him to smack me with the butt of his gun, then quickly counter by spinning it around and forcing him to shoot himself in the face with it. That might work.

Shame I can't take the gun afterwards, but they're all DNA locked. The game wants me sneaking for this bit.

Okay then, next time how about I try not being seen. Just because I can survive screwing up during stealth, doesn't mean it's smart to make a habit of it. I don't have a radar, but maybe I could make more use of cover and the lean button.


SOME SNEAKING LATER.

That's the DNA encoding machine right there. If I can get down there and put my DNA into the database, I'll be able to use any rifle I find without getting electrocuted. Then I just need to get back to the prison yard, into the Pit, through the tunnels, up into the guards quarters in Pigsville and then it's just a short walk to the spaceport.

First though, how the fuck do I get down there. Seriously, I'm not seeing any ladders or doors here. Oh right, I can just check the map.

Well that's entirely useless. I get that showing the layout of a winding 3D level is tricky, especially as the artists would have to keep redoing it as the levels evolve during development, but this is basically only good for showing me how the areas connect.

It turns out that I was just supposed to jump off the railing and land on the person below, so that's one problem resolved. And now my DNA has been added to the database... setting off the alarm and sending every guard in the place heading straight for me!

Man, the guards make aiming with these things look easy. I'm spraying shots everywhere right now. It doesn't help that I can barely see where the enemies are standing when their flashlights flare out, and I definitely can't see where I'm shooting. The weapons all have a red dot laser sight in place of the crosshair and pretty much disappears when aimed at anything brighter than it. There's no way to aim down sights either, though weirdly Riddick can zoom in with his eyes at any time, no matter what he's holding.

Incidentally, check out how much of a HUD I don't have in this game. The health only appears on screen in combat, and my ammo counter is on the guns themselves. That gun picture on the right only pops up when I reload to show me how many magazines I have left, and reloading's not something I want to do often as Riddick throws away the remaining ammo in the gun each time. I didn't realise that at first and nearly ran out of bullets.


SEVERAL HALLWAYS FULL OF SHOOTING LATER.

Oh shit, a huge bloody mech just came down that elevator! That's a little out of my weight class, seeing as it's got head to toe armour plating and three machine guns on each arm. Even with my full five health boxes I wouldn't last more than a few seconds out in the open.

By the way, the action music at this point really reminds me of 'Pirates of the Caribbean' at this point, in a good way. Check it out with this YouTube link and see for yourself. And then when I duck behind a wall to escape the scary robot it seamlessly crossfades into a more Metal Gear Solid sounding stealth version of the track instead, it's really well done.

That's right mate, keep walking, and especially keep yelling shit out at me because I'd like to know exactly where you are as I creep over to the elevator.

I really am entirely invisible in darkness and I can move around all I want without making a noise as long as I'm crouched. The guards on the other hand never shut up, so I always know what they're up to. Though "I don't deserve to die! ...Ok, maybe I do! But I don't wanna die!" gets a bit old the 15th time around. The levels are designed to make sure that enemies always start out in front of me, so I always know who I need to be keeping track of in an area, and it's not all that tricky to keep track of them.


LATER, BACK IN THE CELL BLOCKS.

Well I've ended up back in the cells somehow, which is good because I need to get back to the courtyard to escape into the Pit. Seems like the boys had a prison riot without me while I was out visiting the DNA database and stocking up on weapons, so now there's guards patrolling the hallways and the turrets on the walls have been set to kill.

Fortunately I do have one advantage, and I can't believe it's taken me this long to figure it out. I've been running between shadows, using the darkness to hide in, but this is all indoors right and I don't see any windows around. So there's nothing stopping me from shooting out the lights and putting the whole place into darkness! Sure the guards all have flashlights, but it's not going to save this poor idiot. Here's a hint mate, I'm not in the wall. One shot directly at his head is all it'll take, though with this gun that's never sure thing. Enemies aren't robots though and take a moment to process what's happening, so I'll get him with the next spray... or run away behind a wall to try again later.

By the way, check out the way the textures look now. The levels have pretty simple geometry, but the rough surfaces look fantastic as I walk around and the light catches them from different angles. Doom 3 also uses normal mapping to add fake detail to walls, but it keeps the metal panels clean and smooth, so the overall effect isn't so impressive to me.


SOON, IN THE PIT.

"Excessive damage to flashlight power source due to impact. Estimated time to failure: six minutes."

Not really what I want to hear when I've landed into a sewer full of feral mutants and toxic waste. You know what the worst bit about this is though? This isn't even the first sewer level in the game.

This gives me an opportunity to make another comparison with Doom 3 though, as the two games are all about the dark, but they go about it in very different ways. In Doom 3 the darkness is meant to be terrifying and hostile, and it doesn't (or didn't) even let players use the flashlight and a weapon simultaneously. In this though, my gun is literally counting down out loud how long I've got left until my light source dies, and I'm not actually that bothered. Even without night vision, Riddick is the scariest thing you're going to find in a dark hallway in this game. I mean look at these sewer dwellers, they explode in a single shot from my wimpy shotgun, they're no real threat to me.

Though I might change my mind on that if I run out of ammo trying to get out of this bloody maze. I can't believe that I've actually found my way to the exit, and it's locked! The door handle's fallen down to the lower levels, so now I have to backtrack to find a way down, then find then handle, then find my way back up, then find my way back here. Against infinite sewer dwellers.


AN INCIDENT LATER

Here I am in Pigsville at last, on my way to the spaceport, and look I've finally got my eyeshine ability! How he gets it was a little bit of a disappointment really, but considering I'm able to see in the dark now I'm not complaining. The downside is that his eyes are now incredibly sensitive to normal light, but as long as I'm quick with the goggles button that's not a huge problem. Though I did have to switch to a less advanced shader to stop the screen flickering while night vision's on.

It's nice to be able to shoot out all the light bulbs and move around practically invisible, and this pistol is practically a win button. The rifle's a bit all over the place, but with this pistol all I need to do is get that dot lined up with a guy's head and hit the trigger, and I instantly win. Or I could just walk behind him and snap his neck.

An alien monster is loose in the prison, sneaking through the vents and murdering the staff one by one, and it's me.

One thing I had no idea about though until I listened to the developer's commentary, is that there's a guard uniform hidden in a locker near the start of this area, and wearing it lets me walk around Narc-town openly with zero killing or mayhem. No Predator behaviour whatsoever. I can even go shopping!

Like Deus Ex, all trading is carried out using dialogue options and despite having an inventory I can only ever buy things. It's nice to be able to use the dialogue box for something though, seeing as it's rare I ever get to have any input in what Riddick comes out with.


SOON. 

Well that didn't work out.

I got cutscene'd just before I could get the codes to get out to the spaceport, and that pretty much brings an end to my daring prison break adventure I think.

Now I've lost all my weapons and I've been thrown into an even deeper part of the prison where I'll never see the sun again and it's even less possible to escape! So much for being the monster loose in the hallways, I'm back to being caged and helpless. I still have my eyeshine and my extra heath box though so I'm not entirely back to square one.

Here I have a choice between two paths towards freedom:

1. Beat up several prisoners in the arena until I eventually get a guard's attention. Then beat him up and grab his keycard.
2. Beat up several prisoners until I eventually get hold of some drugs and get a guard's attention. Then beat him up and grab his keycard.

Either way I end up fighting a lot of the same people, and running back and forth through the same areas over and over. I can't challenge someone to a fight until I find and talk to them you see, then I have to run all the way back to the start again. These are supposed to be the 'adventure' sections of the game, but you wouldn't mistake this for something like Deus Ex or Monkey Island. Having to get involved with the society the prisoners have created down here helps flesh the place out for sure and I can't complain about the characters, I'm just finding all this running around pretty tedious to be honest. There's no interesting decisions to be made, no problems to be solved, and I'm not doing anything here.

There's a couple more side quests to complete, for the players inclined to chat with every NPC, but they're unlikely to give out any gear to make my life easier, and my limited character upgrades come from making progress in the levels, so they mostly just unlock concept art and videos. Oh, plus there's a dice playing mini-game too, where you pick what you think the dice are going to be, then lose.


MUCH LATER.

Anyway I've gotten far enough now I think, so I'll write some kind of conclusion and then shut up about the game.

Oh damn, I forgot to mention the vents! This game is all about climbing in and out of vents, to the point where I felt like I was playing Arkham Asylum again. Actually they're not all that different now that I think about it, considering they're both about predator stealth, hand to hand fighting, and making your way around a huge complex.

Though honestly there hasn't been much stealth for me since I got my hands on a stun gun. One shot to put an enemy down, then I run over and slam my boot down to finish the job. Then I leave the body laying there to lure out his friend and shoot him in the back as well. It really doesn't seem fair for them.


HOURS LATER.

Look I really am going to stop soon, I promise. I mean there can't be much left to play at this point. I just wanted to show off how great this part of the game looks. It's also a lot more dangerous for me seeing as Star Trek rooms have no shadows, but hey it's a change. If there's one thing you can't accuse this game of, it's sticking to one kind of gameplay for long.

Hang on, is this a mech with the cockpit unlocked and the keys in the ignition...


CONCLUSION

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Chronicles of Riddick... is a really dumb name. How am I supposed to take it seriously with a name like that? Though I guess I should be grateful that they didn't end up calling the game Chronicles of Riddick: Origins seeing as it's a prequel.

Vin Diesel's Mary Sue Prison Adventure is a licenced movie tie-in that doesn't suck! At all! Well maybe a little bit, sometimes, but nothing's perfect. It's pretty impressive really considering it had to be finished and out in time to sync up with the film and the 'Dark Fury' animated movie (there was a lot of Riddick that month in 2004). The game's kind of short, lasting maybe 8 hours, but it doesn't feel like it was rushed for a deadline. Well, except for the limited arsenal maybe. You get just a pistol, a shotgun, an assault rifle, a prototype assault rifle and a stun gun to find, and never all at once. I found myself sticking to one weapon for an entire area because there didn't seem to be a point in switching. There's grenades too, but without a separate key to throw them I forgot they were even there.

TCoR:EfBB switches between stealth, shooting, brawling and adventure gameplay fluidly, without any style seeming out of place (and without any QTEs). In fact it reminded me of The Nomad Soul, and how that game utterly failed at trying to pull off the same thing. It's like a stealth game for people who aren't necessarily that keen on stealth games, and as someone who usually runs and hides from the genre I appreciate that. Riddick is a very vulnerable protagonist, but he's also instantly lethal. If you get close enough behind someone for Riddick to raise his hands up, that person is dead, and you can move on to the next guy. Unless the next guy saw you do it and is shooting you, then you need to move on to plan B. In fact I think it could've used some Metal Gear Solid style VR missions to let stealth fans do some proper sneaking, with more penalty for being seen.

It's also got a audio commentary explaining every aspect of basically everything, which I really do appreciate, even if some of the nodes go on for over 15 MINUTES and you can't stray too far or the commentary shuts off. I figured this might actually be the first game to ever include one, but nope that's actually Star Wars: Episode I: Battle for Naboo. So it's possible we've both learned something here.

I like the game, but I wouldn't say I loved every minute of it. Though on the other hand I actually finished it twice over and got halfway through a third run getting screenshots for this and listening to the commentary, and I'm somehow not sick of it yet, so how can I not give it a shiny trophy?

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