Consolation Prize

Game demos seem to come in two flavours - those that ease you in gently and those that throw straight into the action without any explanation. In some respects the latter approach is perhaps the best way to experience a demo; the raw nature of being plunged into the deep end quickly highlights any flaws and it allows the formulation of an opinion based upon the time it takes to go from bewilderment to enlightenment. The faster this can be achieved, the more intuitive the game is to play.

Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena successfully takes the latter approach, and anyone who is remotely familiar with first person shooters shouldn’t have too much trouble learning the nuances of controlling the anti-hero Riddick and dropping straight into the game.

This demo doesn’t really give too much of the plot away. All that can be surmised is that Riddick has escaped, is working in cooperation with another mercenary, and is about to free all the captured prisoners aboard the Dark Athena. This story fragment is really of little consequence until we get to see the bigger picture in the released game, but it does at least give us a brief (very) insight into the characterision - especially that of Riddick, whom thanks to active participation of Vin Diesel looks and sounds like he should.

In terms of the actual gameplay on offer, the Chronicles of Riddick demo is fairly short, but it does do a good job of showcasing what could be an interesting game.Yes, there is the expected run-and-gun element, but the opportunity to use stealth in order to swiftly and efficiently attack from the shadows using a collection of savage looking melee weapons is also present and is certainly representative of the Riddick we know from the movies. However, one sequence in particular grabbed my attention during the demo and that was the use of remote control humanoid drones. At one point during the demo Riddick takes control of these flesh and bone automatons to clear the surrounding area of enemies. It’s a simple concept, but it was strangely liberating to turn these weapons of war back upon their masters.

Visually, I can’t really find much to complain about, although I hope that the repetitive and familiar looking corridors and rooms so symptomatic of spaceship game design is avoided or at least kept to a minimum, which at present is my only gripe with Chronicles of Riddick.

I have not had a chance to check this demo out yet, but it seems like a loft of people are liking it. I’ll have to check it out.