Riddick: Dark Athena PC Review

Sadly, the new gameplay cannot compare to the tight mixture that held Butcher Bay together so wonderfully. As you traverse your new confines seeking escape–first on the titular ship, later on a planetside prison colony–you’ll encounter a few strong personalities, but their stories aren’t mixed in all that well with the experience. These early conversations go on for too long and result in multiple tedious fetch quests that require some annoying backtracking, all the while failing to instill a sense of place or offer any kind of organic flow to the proceedings. It feels contrived, and in fact, most of Dark Athena seems artificial, which makes for a jarring contrast to its dynamic predecessor.

These blades are great for carving up drones, and can also dice an onion in no time flat.

The gameplay elements are fundamentally the same as Butcher Bay’s. You will lurk in the pitch-black corners, use your eyeshine ability to see in the blackest of crawlspaces, gun down hive-minded drones, and slice up some enemies in a few different gruesome–and often satisfying–ways. Sadly, none of these aspects feel balanced, and they aren’t put together well on their own. A protracted sneaking sequence in which you avoid a searchlight while climbing across a series of stacked boxes is tedious and uninspired, and poor enemy placement and cheating artificial intelligence cause some moments to induce tension headaches in lieu of actual tension. Every gameplay element feels split into chunks rather than flowing smoothly together. You play a short stealth portion, then a shooting portion, and then a quick melee portion; the pace feels stilted, especially when compared to its companion game. To make matters worse, scattered environmental puzzles that involve excessive amounts of platforming (not the game’s strong suit) grind the tempo to a halt. The manner in which the gameplay has been sliced up in this manner is not only choppy, but it also makes the action predictable. And in Dark Athena, as with most games, predictability leads to monotony before long.

There are some new elements that seem meant to add variety, but they actually have the opposite effect more often than not. For example, some mech sequences are briefly fun but highlight Dark Athena’s unbalanced gameplay, which favors guns over sneaking prowess. This emphasis is particularly clear during the second half of the game, which takes place on a well-lit base and puts you up against a series of unmanned spider drones, the most annoying enemies in the game. Well, perhaps more annoying are the giant robotic foes that the game tediously tosses at you over and over again in the final hours–which you must take down the same way every time. After the fifth or sixth such encounter, it feels like tedious filler and represents one of Dark Athena’s biggest drawbacks: lack of imagination. Rather than melding multiple genres into a cohesive, original experience, this sequel is a humdrum shooter with some sneaking and melee elements. And one of the most important elements of Butcher Bay–the mission-based adventuring–is all but missing, with the exception of the boring early-game fetch quests.

Nevertheless, Dark Athena is not awful, but it inspires more indifference than excitement. Likewise, the multiplayer component feels unnecessary, though it’s competent enough. You can join other players in one of six modes, in ranked or unranked matches. Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag work exactly as you’d expect, though few people seem to be playing them. Instead, most players seem to prefer Pitch Black mode, in which one player skulks in the dark as Riddick, while the others equip their weapons and flashlights and smoke him out. It’s fun to pick someone off as Riddick and slink away, or to gun down the gruff prisoner as he crosses in front of your beam, though the novelty wears off in time. Butcher Bay Riot pits three teams against each other in a succession of rounds, letting you purchase weapons, armor, and ammo in between them, a la Counter-Strike. It’s sporadically amusing, but weird animations and occasional lag aren’t apt to inspire large online communities. In fact, the PC and PlayStation 3 versions don’t seem to be inspiring many players at all, and though the Xbox 360 contingent is a bit healthier, even on that platform it is difficult to find matches in certain modes.

Riddick lives life on the ledge.

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is many things: an attractive rerelease of an amazing game, a mildly disappointing sequel, and a forgettable online experience. If you haven’t played Butcher Bay, it’s a must-play. If you have, be aware of the sequel’s abundant shortcomings before making a purchase. Nevertheless, though the new content lets in far too much sunlight, those that crave the darkness will still find plenty of inky crevasses in which to lurk.

source: gamespot.com

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