The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay

The game is in my opinion somewhat confusing at points but the graphics and the fighting moves are beyond comparison. If the game can be any better I would have to say that it could be simplified in the missions for the jail yard sections. The fun part of the game is being able to take down guards with guns with a screwdriver. The game is inaccurate in the means of how Riddick gets his eyes but that does not matter much because the plot accuracy is not much of a big deal in this game. It is one of the best games that I have played in a very long time. The character involvement in the progression of Riddick through the prison is also a nice ad on to the continuous blood and guts the game provides.

And I got to say, this is the best console port to PC ever made. The game played really smoothly provided I had the most high end computer parts and sound, the graphic was very beautiful and rivaled both Doom 3 and Far Cry by miles. The storyline was brutally cold as you play as Riddick, the prisoner who seems to just wanna be left alone. The voice acting and music was just perfect exactly like the movie. And for 30 bucks this game is not a sure miss at all. However, there was some strange crashes like having 3d sound and EAX can sometimes give you the blue of death, another annoying problem that hit me was I had to install the monitor driver instead of using Microsoft's default plug and play in order to get the resolution beyond 800x600 but I think Starbreeze is making a patch for it. Other then that, playing at 1600x1024(I have widescreen 16:10 monitor) the game looked just beautiful and really puts the Xbox's version to bad shame. Even for those who hate the movie should give this game a try and you shall see why everything is afraid of Riddick. 9 out of 10.

Yep great game, great Graphics, great game play, some great new features not seen before, and boy does he look like Vin Diesel or what? I,m going to play it again in two or three months. A nice touch going from different atmospheres a couple of times in the game and I didn't find it too heavy on my system. The only time it took a bit too long to load, was at the start. Game developers, sit up and have a look ,this is the way games are headed. As usual my only complaint is that it was too short, (why are all the new games so short?) Could be that the Developers are beginning to see PC Games as a real big money spinner, keep it short and they will have to go out and buy another game, or is it just the massive amount of resources all these great new Graphics use? so I,m taking away a point for the shortness factor. 'Butcher,s Bay' be blessed. 9/10

I hardly write game reviews, as I prefer to get literally EVERYthing from a game (beat it, unlock everything, etc...) before I even attempt to share my feelings of said game. With that said, I can give Escape From Butcher Bay a very good score. This FPS prequel to the events in the movie "Pitch Black" may be the best X-box exclusive game since Ninja Gaiden. Reason enough to buy an X-box? That's debatable, if you liked Pitch Black then YES. If you like First person shooters? YES. If you're one of those fools who blindly hates everything Microsoft? Then you're missing out on one of the better movie-tie in/spin off games out there. Oh yea and the graphics are great too. a tad on the easy side brings it down half a point.

My Game Grade: A-

Anyone with a remote interest in video games have probably noticed that, with a few exceptions, games based on movies tend to be, well... crap (and vice versa for that matter). The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is however both an exception to this rule and in some ways a milestone when it comes to collaboration between the video gaming industry and Hollywood.

Everything in this game just resonates quality. From the highly impressive graphics to the story to the voice acting and enemy AI. From the moment you slip the disc into your Xbox it's obvious that some real talent and hard work went into this product. TCoR: EfBB also blends shooting, hand-to-hand fighting and stealth elements all in a first person perspective in a very clever way, with the shooting portion being the meat and potatoes of the game. There's been a few games that has tried to pull off this variety of elements before, but Escape from Butcher Bay is the only one so far that has implemented it properly.

The only real downside to the game that I found was that it was a bit on the short side. Depending on which difficulty you choose and how much you are into exploring the surroundings and such, you should be looking at the region of 9-16 hours of game play (I recommend you play this game on hard difficulty!). This is certainly a game you would want to come back and play again though, first and foremost since it's so damn fun and secondly since there's plenty of unlockable extras scattered around the game in terms of trailers, concept art etc.

I give it a well deserved 9/10.