games: Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena

Last time on ChannelFlip Games, we looked at The Wheelman. That game starred Vin Diesel, as a sociopath who’ll stop at nothing to get the job done. Today, we’re looking at the new game in the Chronicles of Riddick franchise, Assault on Dark Athena. This time, we have Vin Diesel playing a sociopath who’ll stop at nothing to get the job done - in space.

Beyond Riddick’s dodgy one-liners, Assault on Dark Athena is really very good. Almost exactly like the first game, it’s a combination of stealth, guns, savage melee combat and platforming that does everything so well that nothing feels out of place.

Admittedly, the guns are pretty weak - the submachine gun is a bit feeble, and the shotgun is imprecise. But the hand-to-hand combat is more fun, anyway. Creeping around in the shadows and gouging people to death is how a real hero kills people.

And all the other characters are great. It’s not Oscar-winning dialogue, but it’s better than it needs to be. The first mission contains a woman who’s lost her daughter, a deposed and insane captain, and a randy psychopath, and you have to deal with them all. They’re good characters. Even the little girl running around in the ship’s vents is well acted.

The pacing is excellent, and the missions and level design are varied enough to make sure you never get bored.

You’ll be controlling drones, scaling huge walls and fighting in mech suits. There’s also a multiplayer game but as of the date of this review (which we’ve written from pre-release code), no-one’s playing it. Ho hum.

Although the single-player is quite short, developers Starbreeze have remade the first game and included it. So now, you can play the entire campaign through without having to look at any rubbish old graphics. It’s a generous gesture, even if it does really hammer home just how fundamentally similar the two games are.

Assault on Dark Athena isn’t as original as Escape From Butcher Bay, the original Riddick game, but it’s a good extension and great value with the original included and updated. A worthy 4 stars.