Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena

Vlad Piranha · Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 11:30 am Post subject: Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena

If you've gone searching for reviews online, you've noticed that things range from average to very good in terms of quality. As a big fan of the first game, I can give you a bit different perspective.

The game does take place after Escape from Butcher Bay plotwise and still has pretty much all of the same elements going for it: sneaking, melee combat, sabotage and shootouts. Melee combat still remains a hell of alot of fun contrary to what some reviews have said. One of the complaints I've found online is that there's too much gunplay involved and not enough sneaking or fightfighting. I'm a good four hours into the game and I'm not seeing much of a difference from the first game in terms of balance (in a good way).

Starting with your bare hands, you'll slowly work yourself up to better weaponry or, as I prefer, using stun weapons and knives to disable a room full of well armed guards after you've had ample opportunities to simply shoot the bastards. Using stealth to outsmart opponents may be the hard way, but it often gets you out of tough spots with far less damage taken than to blast your way out.

While I haven't done a full run for my review, the game is a carbon copy of what made the first one great and seems far too consistent to simply spiral downward at this point. Speaking of the first game, Athena comes with the best bonus I've seen in a title in a long time: the inclusion of the Escape from Butcher Bay remastered with the 2009 engine. This is a treat considering how good of a game it was and that Xbox 360 owners can't use their Xbox copy in the new system.

The bottom line is that if you're a fan of the first game, this one is a great follow-up. The two-pack concept is basically added incentive. In my case, it meant it would be stupid to not buy this game.