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The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay is 10 years old.

Miguel81

Member
Those shots look great. I still haven't purchased these games, and am waiting for a price drop over on GOG. The first/last time I played Dark Athena was a demo for the PS3 -- poor image quality and framerate. My standards have risen and I expect older games to run 1080/60. Man, it's been 10 years....
 

Pifje

Member
Thick atmosphere, chilling soundscape, memorable characters, awesome level design, unique gameplay mechanics, straightforward story. Attributes, that bring the game into my personal list of top 10 video games.

And the graphics are still good.
 

jetjevons

Bish loves my games!
There was a pretty darn good looking PS2 SKU of COR:EFBB that SBZ had up and running at the time. Was never green lit.
 

eshwaaz

Member
The first 2/3 of Dark Athena is classic Riddick. The last 1/3 is awful and should have been scrapped.
So true. Totally flies in the face of everything Riddick should be about. Actually, the last 1/3 would have been poor in any game - it almost felt like it was designed to be irritating. A real shame.
 

Simo

Member
There was a pretty darn good looking PS2 SKU of COR:EFBB that SBZ had up and running at the time. Was never green lit.

Whatever happened to Sin City jet?

Butcher Bay was a fantastic game though. I was digging the whole Riddick universe at the time so with a new movie coming out AND a game? Fuck yeah! I even repurchased an OG Xbox just so I could play the game and it was well worth it.

I can't really recall a poor or crap moment in the game really. Those final chapters man....
 

zsidane

Member
Best Xbox game with Ninja Gaiden.
Had a blast and didn't know Xzibit was in it untill I let the character in the game. After that I watched the movies and they are now among my favorite series.

Might try that PC version someday.
 

Card Boy

Banned
Amazing game and is one of the best licensed games out there. Butcher Bay reminds me of Prison Break season 1. sogood.gif

Dark Athena is good aswell, not quite as good as Butcher Bay but still awesome.
 

dreamfall

Member
Starbreeze FOREVA.

Loaded the game up last year on PC, and am still blown away by how good it is. The writing is great, and the ambiance is unmatched. Vin Diesel gives a hell of a performance!

Been loving the hell out of Wolfenstein and The Darkness will always be up there with my favorite shooters ever. So, so good!
 
Such a great game. One of the best displays of atmosphere and sense of place in gaming. All the voice work is great as well. Plus the brutal melee kills are so good.

And the fact that we just got pretty much the spiritual sequel to this + The Darkness from much of that core team with Wolfenstein warms the cockles of my heart. It's like something that's not supposed to happen but the Gaming Gods™ threw us a bone for once.
 

Vidpixel

Member
Fantastic game. I distinctly remember playing it during the summer before school started and falling in love with it. Such a great sense of style and atmosphere. The way Starbreeze Studios (now MachineGames) puts you in the body of the main character in all their games is unparalleled, from the fact that you can actually look down and see your character's lower torso in the first-person perspective (which I hadn't seen in a game before Riddick), to the real sense of weight of your character.

This just reminds me that I really need to pick up Wolfenstein soon.
 
I think it's worth recognizing just how hard Vin Diesel worked to get this game made. He didn't just provide the voice acting for Riddick. He helped shape the direction of the story and the character (apparently he made Starbreeze cut down the number of Riddick's lines, because he didn't want the character to be too talky). He also founded Tigon Studios specifically to help publish the game. Not only that, but he went out on the press trail and marketed the game to as many outlets as he could. I specifically remember picking up a copy of OXM, and there being a four page interview with Diesel where he talked about the development process and basically how awesome it was.

The dude fucking committed himself, and deserves major props for that. He's part of the reason why EoBB was so very much more than a movie tie-in game.
 

Xyber

Member
Can't get GeDoSaTo to work for some reason and none of my custom resolutions in the nvidia control panel shows up in the game.
 
It's hard to deal in absolutes, especially with genres as extensive as FPSs, but I think this might be my favorite FPS and I've been playing them since their inception.
 

RE_Player

Member
Yes I got that, but why would you do that?
I only like buying PC games through Steam because I get discount Steam cards. I don't want the Xbox Marketplace version because I would have to pay tax where I live. If it was on PSN I would buy it there because I am not charged tax on PSN but it's not on that service. I'll just buy a PS3 or 360 copy for cheap on ebay.
 

RE_Player

Member
Ew. So resolution and graphical quality really doesn't matter to some people, huh? I just don't know why you'd buy a game on console when you have a PC. It's demonstrably a lesser product.
I have no problems playing console games even if a PC version is available. My PS3, 360 and PC are all connected to the same TV in my room and I enjoy playing multiplatform games on all of them. It's not really a big deal.
 

SURGEdude

Member
The best movie-based game I ever played. One of those games that really was before its time in so many ways. Playing Wolfie last week really served as a great reminder that I need to fire this sucker up again soon.
 

Grief.exe

Member
I only like buying PC games through Steam because I get discount Steam cards. I don't want the Xbox Marketplace version because I would have to pay tax where I live. If it was on PSN I would buy it there because I am not charged tax on PSN but it's not on that service. I'll just buy a PS3 or 360 copy for cheap on ebay.

I have no problems playing console games even if a PC version is available. My PS3, 360 and PC are all connected to the same TV in my room and I enjoy playing multiplatform games on all of them. It's not really a big deal.

Grab the GOG version. Its cheap, DRM free, and you get all the benefits of PC.

Its truly the definitive version of the game by a long shot.
 

Scrabble

Member
I remember g4 did a really good icons episode of starbreeze and the development of Butcher Bay. I wish I could find it.
 

Vitor711

Member
Happy 10th Anniversary Riddick, my favorite Single Player FPS of all time.

Amen. That and The Darkness were so beyond their time. Excellent pacing and varied game play without resorting to cheap tricks like turret sections to break up the shooting. That balance between combat, exploration and npc interaction still isn't done right today.

Wolfenstein tried but it's not quite the same.
 
I remember being blown away by the normal mapping in this game, it beat Doom3 to the punch.

It was probably the last time i was truly impressed by the technical side of graphics in a videogame, the white sterile rooms in the later levels were incredible to look at.
 

Scrabble

Member
Grab the GOG version. Its cheap, DRM free, and you get all the benefits of PC.

Its truly the definitive version of the game by a long shot.

Maybe I'm just a purist, but I prefer the original pc developers cut version. It's a lot cleaner without the post processing, and I remember the remake being a lot harder in certain parts. Most notably the fight with Rust.
 
Man, it only feels like yesterday that I was stood outside my local blockbusters from 9am on release day for this.

It was such an incredible game. The visuals especially were mind blowing at the time.
 

bishoptl

Banstick Emeritus
One of the best looking, best playing games of the Xbox generation - hands down. The shitty demo nearly put me off purchasing the full title, but luckily my love of the IP overcame the bad first impression. I can say without hyperbole that it would have been the worst decision of my life to pass up Riddick.
 

Pimpbaa

Member
I would like a new Riddick game. But I fear how well it would turn out if most of the talent at Starbreeze is at Machine Games.
 
I loved this game on the Original Xbox, such a great game. I re-bought the game on steam a while ago. I should replay this game soon, it's funny that I didn't know starbreeze did those other amazing games.
 
This game was so unexpectedly amazing and not that many people actually played it. They missed out.

The PC version of this game has an amazing "Developer's Commentary" feature, something which would be later seen in Half-Life 2: The Lost Coast but in much more abbreviated form. The DC of EFBB goes through the entire game.
 

eshwaaz

Member
Grab the GOG version. Its cheap, DRM free, and you get all the benefits of PC.

Its truly the definitive version of the game by a long shot.
Does the PC version have controller support? I played through multiple times on Xbox, and would prefer to play with a controller on my TV.
 
...

The PC version of this game has an amazing "Developer's Commentary" feature, something which would be later seen in Half-Life 2: The Lost Coast but in much more abbreviated form. The DC of EFBB goes through the entire game.

I didn't know that.... only ever played the Xbox version, now i need to buy the pc version just for that!
 

Sojgat

Member
Easily the best FPS of 2004.

giphy.gif
 
I got the game after reading the gamespot review by Greg kasavin. It was totally amazing- if I remember right it came out around the time of doom 3 on pcs, but it had graphics that looked pretty comparable. Gameplay and story was a whole other level, though!

It still has to be in the top 3 best licensed games of all time even after all these years. I really should play Assault on Dark Athena- heck probably a perfect time as soon as I finish Wolfenstein.

My favorite part though was the warden - Howling Mad Murdock/Lt Barkley!
 
Does the PC version have controller support? I played through multiple times on Xbox, and would prefer to play with a controller on my TV.
Yep.
At least the GoG version does, I'm not sure about the Steam version, but I imagine it's the same.

--
I remember playing this game ages ago and never being able to finish it, I got stuck during one section where you went down an elevator into this big area with lots of guards to find someone or something, and I just got confused and wasn't able to figure out how to finish it.

I liked what I played of it, I did manage to finish Assault on Dark Athena though, so that's something...right?
 

Big_Al

Unconfirmed Member
Amazing game. When I first played it I was blown away. I loved Pitch Black so had to play the game regardless but the quality was outstanding. I had to ask a friend of mine also playing it if I was going mad and he said that it was brilliant too :p

So began my love for Starbreeze Studios with The Darkness as well.

I know noone else will but I'm going to give a shoutout for Syndicate as well. Despite a game being made in tumultuous circumstances I still thought it was a fantastic shooter with great full body awareness, something they've always done well. It definitely doesn't have that storytelling magic of Riddick or The Darkness but I still consider it a damn fine game if you like FPS with an excellent coop mode. Great sound design.


I got the game after reading the gamespot review by Greg kasavin. It was totally amazing- if I remember right it came out around the time of doom 3 on pcs, but it had graphics that looked pretty comparable. Gameplay and story was a whole other level, though!

It still has to be in the top 3 best licensed games of all time even after all these years. I really should play Assault on Dark Athena- heck probably a perfect time as soon as I finish Wolfenstein.

My favorite part though was the warden - Howling Mad Murdock/Lt Barkley!

Dwight Schultz has appeared in a few Starbreeze games and he was in MachineGames Wolfenstein game as well. In Riddick he played Hoxie, in The Darkness he played Uncle Paulie and in Wolfenstein he plays DeathsHead. Great voice actor and very talented :)
 

Grief.exe

Member
I really have to finish this game. Got it on Steam, love it, but like so many games, I'm just somewhere in the middle of it :/

Maybe I would have finished it already if the game hadn't retconned stuff to tie in the awful post-Pitch Black movies :(
 
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