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Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena Review
| Author | Stuart Andrews |
| Published | 26th Apr 2009 |
| Manufacturer | Atari |
| Supplier | Play |
| Price | £30.43 (Exc VAT) |
| as reviewed | £34.99 (Inc VAT) |
| Latest Price | Click here |
| Overall |  |
5 comments
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TrustedReviews NewslettersLuckily the final segment, with Riddick back in the dark where he belongs, helps the campaign win back your heart. In my book, three quarters or more of good game and one quarter mediocre game still makes a decent game overall, and even when Assault on Dark Athena is at its worst I never found it less than engaging. Were it a proper sequel I’d probably expect something more, but as an expansion it’s easily good enough to complement Butcher Bay.
The final portion is, of course, the multiplayer. Sadly, and in the interests of full disclosure, I can’t really tell you much about it. Why? Well, I only have pre-production, pre-release code and the servers have only just gone live. I’m reliably informed that the Pitch Black mode, with one player playing Riddick while the others hunt him, is a hoot while the other modes are a bit take ‘em or leave ‘em. If you feel different, leave your comments in the usual place, and I’ll add mine when I get a proper retail box.
For me, multiplayer isn’t really the point, anyway. Riddick was always about delivering a visceral, narrative-driven single-player FPS. Starbreeze showed it could do this with Escape from Butcher Bay, then showed it could do it again with The Darkness. Now, Assault on Dark Athena – while the weakest of the bunch – makes it a hat-trick. It’s still way beyond anything you might call average, and in its best moments it’s very good indeed. That’s enough to keep me going, enough to re-inspire the Riddick faithful, and enough to keep Starbreeze in the frame as one of the most interesting action game developers around.
Verdict
Assault on Dark Athena isn’t consistently as great as Butcher Bay, but it’s still a fine hybrid stealth/FPS. Put the two games together, and you have an exceptional package.
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TheEvilGenius said on 27th April 2009
StuAndrews said on 27th April 2009
I thought the review did cover this, but this is basically an HD remaster of Escape from Butcher Bay with the Assault on Dark Athena campaign on top. Structurally, it seems to be t... more
Mik3yB said on 27th April 2009
@Stuart - how long is Dark Athena? I remember EFBB being a good 20 hours or thereabouts and one of them that completely hooks you from start to finish. It had the "I'll j... more
StuAndrews said on 27th April 2009
It's hard to put a figure on it because I was playing it in stints over about two weeks, but I'd say that I put in a good twelve hours on the game at the medium difficult... more
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@ Xiphias the new version contains both the polished version of the original and the Dark Athena "expansion pack", so no need to buy the original.