The Chronicles of Riddick Xbox Review

Title: The Chronicles of Riddick .............................................. Publisher: Vivendi Universal .............................................. Developer: Starbreeze Studios .............................................. Release: 6/1/2004 .............................................. Xbox Live: Yes .............................................. ESBR: Mature ..............................................

I’ve been a huge fan of the Riddick series ever since Pitch Black came out back in 1999, and I was really excited when I heard that a CoR game was coming out for the XBox along side the movie sequel. Even being the Riddick fan I am, I must say that the movie wasn’t all that good. But the game didn’t disappoint me, I can safely say it surpassed what I was expecting because, well, it’s a game based on a movie. How often do they turn out this well?

Graphics
Lets start off with the best part of CoR, the graphics. This game definitely pushes the XBox to its limits. All the levels give off that gritty, lonely feeling and look great while doing it. All levels are bump mapped, small details like blood, numbers, nicks and scratches were not forgotten either. Most of the areas you’ll visit are somewhat interactive. Some even effect combat. For example, in the early stages of the game there are big fans on the roof. If shot they can fall and crush your opponents.

All the characters are greatly detailed. The main character, Riddick, is based on the actor Vin Diesel and looks exactly like him. The other characters all look unique. some have tattoos and scars. The best thing though is when you get in a fist fight. After you’re done beating the living daylights out of your opponent, you can see cuts, bruises, and blood all over his dirtied face.

One problem with the graphics in this game though, is that they’re so good, they’ll look choppy if you don’t have high definition TV. There is also some pop-ins every now and then, but not as bad as other games like Halo 2.

Gameplay
The Gameplay in CoR is unique. It’s a mix of FPS (fist fighting and shooting), Stealth (Only where needed) and Action (But not tons of it). That’s not even all of it. It’s hard to explain really. But if I had to use one word to describe it, I would use: ‘Amazing’.

The games gimmick and our main characters special power is of course the eye shine he has. You obtain this power about halfway into the game and it really comes in handy at times. But it is a bit annoying. It’s like night vision, but purple. It was cool for a bit, but after awhile I really got bored of it, and stopped wanting to use it. Fortunately/Unfortunately this game is quite dark, so you really need it sometimes or else you’ll die or just have a hard time.

Another thing I disliked about the game was the lack of weapons. It does make sense to not have a gun sometimes, because it’s not all the time prisons arm all their inmates with weapons. But the gunplay is great, I just wish there were more of it during the 5 hours of this game.

Yeah, that’s right, 5 hours. Ok, 5 give or take some depending on the difficulty. The game is just really, really short. In a way it’s good, because it wasn't strung out. But it’s bad because it’s so good, you just crave for more, but it ends. I was actually sad when I saw those credits roll.

The physics in CoR are really great. Throwing people off cliffs, knocking them off their feet with clubs or just moving them around, is really, really fun. Now, they may not be the best rag-doll physics, and they aren’t really used as much as I would have liked, they’re still fun to play around with.

The stealth in this game is alright. It’s fun sneaking around in shadows then breaking the unsuspecting guards neck, but it also get frustrating because it doesn’t show 3rd person view. Is there an armed guard around that corner? You never know, so it’s pretty much trial and error which does get tiresome.

Riddick also fights quite a lot in this game. The fighting system isn’t bad at all, in fact, it’s a really good one. Hand-to-hand combat is really fun in this game, I wish there were more of it. Earlier, I mentioned that sometimes you don’t have a gun and you have to go unarmed against guards with guns. Hardly a problem. What you can do is go really close to the guard, and he’ll try to melee you. If you time the buttons right, then you take his gun and shoot him in the mouth with it. There are a ton of these moves you can do, one for each weapon. Some of these include breaking and opponents arm, beating them with a club and cutting their throat with a shiv.

The gameplay in CoR is really enjoyable and unique. Lots of variety in the ways you can play, which makes for plenty replayability. I forgot to mention that you can collect packs of cigarettes, which unlock content like concept art, early videos of the game and movie screenshots. So, you’ll probably take the time to find all the packs…. Well, I took the time.

Controls
The controls in CoR are okay, but could use a bit of work. I’m not saying they’re terrible, because they definitely aren’t. They make take a bit of getting used to before you get them down pat. It took me about 20 minutes until I really started to get used to them.

Sound
The sound in Riddick is quite astonishing. It supports In-Game Dolby Digital. It’s very useful for stealth parts, you can hear footsteps, gun shots, far away voices. Pretty much anything you would in a real prison.

And I really do mean anything you’d really hear in a prison. The agonizing screams of an inmate getting tortured, inmates fighting, rusty machinery at work, bugs buzzing and everything else you could imagine that would be in a triple max slam. Well, except for the robots, maybe those aren’t the most realistic things, but this game has you believe so.

Just a minor problem I have with the sound is the character dialogue. Well, only Riddicks. The actor that plays him in the movie voices him, and that man goes by the name of Vin Diesel. No problem with that, I’m quite a fan of him. But what bugs me is that he tells you every stupid thing. Man, if a doors locked of course I need to find a damn key! I mean, the game is rated M, so any one who plays it should know that if a door’s locked, you’ll be needing a key. And he sounds like he has a nasal infection or something.

Overall
All in all, this game is definitely one of the better single player games on the XBox, and probably the best movie game that’s out now. Everything about it is great. Even the cover art rocks. I also didn’t bring up that it’s online aware. So if you have XBox LIVE and you’re playing the game, you can be signed into XBL so your friends know that you’re online. So, I highly recommend this to any FPS/Stealth/Action game lovers out there, or any fans of the series. I recommend this game to just about anyone.

9.6 Overall Score  Fun 10  Gameplay 9.5  Graphics 9.8  Sound 8.7  Replay 6

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Xbox Core Rating System