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Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, The

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7.2 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 26 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 16 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Atari

Developer: Starbreeze Studios

Genre(s): First-Person Shooter

Players: Multi

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Release Date: April 7, 2009

Summary

Taking advantage of new hardware technologies, this package presents a reinvention of "Escape from Butcher Bay", delivering 2004's award winning experience in high definition with enhancements. Also included is the Dark Athena chapter, an expansion of the original game with a new story and new gameplay features. With The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, players are not only be challenged to survive Butcher Bay, but also engage in a new single-player experience and, for the first time in the Riddick universe, take action in intense multi-player combat. The game introduces the ominous Merc-ship Dark Athena, which sits silent like a marauding spider, awaiting helpless prey in the dark reaches of the galaxy. Players must face a large, bloodthirsty operation led by the dreaded Captain Revas and her slaves-turned-controllable combat drones, storm though death-defying events and fight fierce enemies in a battle of malice and gore. [Sierra Entertainment]

Also On Metacritic

GAMES: Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay - Developer's Cut

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Game Informer

One of the year’s best deals in gaming. [May 2009, p.78]

Vandal Online

The new contents are not as good as the original games, and the enemy AI could have been improved, but without doubt this is one of the most interesting launches of recent months.

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NZGamer

Players looking for a pure stealth game will be disappointed, but everyone else will find in Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena a healthy mix of action, stealth and heavy weapon gameplay.

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GameZone

Solid mechanics, lavish presentation, and strong audio all combine for one great gaming value.

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PC Zone UK

An excellent game that would have breached the 90% barrier had it been a little bit more substantial and erred less on the combat side of things. [June 2009, p.62]

Gamer 2.0

With the economy on the ropes and gamers finding it harder to purchase game, you will not find a better deal than Assault on Dark Athena, which gives you two single player campaigns and a multiplayer component for one price.

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Gamers.at

For fans of the Original (TCoR:EfBB), this is nothing but a "must have". But everybody else, who's simply looking for a good, brutal shooter with stealth-elements and a cool main character, should definitely have a look too! Personally, I'm sure you won't regret it.

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GamingExcellence

While all of the work that went into Dark Athena is appreciated it doesn’t change the fact that the pacing and level design in the original game far outshines that of anything that the expansion really brings to the table.

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PC Format

There are many reasons to dislike Diesel, this isn't one of them. [May 2009, p.92]

Gameplayer Sweden

Pain needs a mate and finds it in two grim dark tales of outlandish brutality. Escape from Butcher Bay gets a facelift and expands with the more versatile Assault on Dark Athena. The devil is in the details, and this devil is named Riddick.

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PC Gamer

A brutally enjoyable stealth shooter that revisits and builds on the success of the original Escape from Butcher Bay. [May 2009, p.84]

Total PC Gaming

Not in any way groundbreaking, but two games in one and hugely entertaining nonetheless. [Issue#18, p.52]

VideoGamer

With two great games that will take somewhere in the region of 15-20 hours to complete, superb presentation and a sense that you're playing something different to the norm, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena comes highly recommended. If it weren't for a few unfortunate bugs and the odd strange design decision that score below this paragraph might even have been a notch higher.

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Play (Poland)

The news of Riddick's comeback made my subwoofer purr with delight. The rough Vin Diesel adds a truckload of mood to this excellent and diverse game. And when I finally reclined in my armchair after five solid hours of action, I was in for a surprise - the end was not yet in sight! [May 2009]

ImpulseGamer

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault On Dark Athena is a well made action title.

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GameStar

It may not be as good as the predecessor, but it's still a good game that can glue you to your chair for more than 10 hours. Vin Diesels voice is a bit over the top this time, there's only so much coolness one can bear.

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2404.org

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena has a lot of content to shuffle through, especially if you’ve never played Escape, so it’s totally worth getting.

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Cynamite

Unfortunately Riddick hasn't evolved much in the years since Escape from Butcher Bay, while the genre definitely has. Five year old gameplay doesn't compete well with next gen games, though Riddick still copes well.

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Pelit (Finland)

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena gets stuck in one gear for too long. Even though the game has many same aspects as the great Escape from Butcher Bay, the pacing is bad and the action forces you to run through the same corridors over and over again. The included Escape from Butcher Bay is still a masterpiece, however. [Mar 2009]

InsideGamer.nl

The Chronicles of Riddick: AODA tries to combine several genres into one single game. The result: an average game with nothing but mediocre aspects. Vin Diesel's presence and the Riddick-license make the game enjoyable nonetheless and additional to the Assault on Dark Athena campaign, there is a full next-gen version of the original Escape from Butcher Bay game. Sadly though, this remake does not live up to modern day standards.

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Meristation

The experiences of "Butcher Bay" are superior to the new chapter in playability, level designs and possibilities of game.

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IGN

The first half of the game, Escape from Butcher Bay, certain shows its age, but is still an innovative game. The sequel, however, comes off as a poor imitation. It's far more frustrating and seems more shooter than anything else. It's not a terrible game for a sequel, but it's inferior to Butcher Bay.

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Gaming Target

At the end of the day Dark Athena doesn't stand next to the original title. It lacks the innovation, and on top of that, the new campaign missed much of what made Escape from Butcher Bay so grand.

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Absolute Games

Akella, Russian distributor of the game, pulled a crazy marketing stunt. In addition to the regular PC release, it sells the game as two independent halves – Escape from Butcher Bay and Assault on Dark Athena. My gut reaction was to scold Akella for greediness, but now I see that this is an unintentional benefit. You buy the remake of one of the best action games of 2004, and forget about its defective 6-hour appendage.

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GameSpot

A remade classic and a passable sequel meet in this fun but inconsistent package.

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LEVEL (Czech Republic)

New revelation of “sighted” hero brings more action and less stealth than its predecessor but keeps gameplay still enjoyable. When the dark atmosphere is gone we are thankful for multiplayer. [Apr 2009]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 7.2 (out of 10) based on 16 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Luis V gave it a9:
Great setting, play mechanics, story. Different than the average shooter. Needs some improvements, but definitely worth picking up.

Ribs R gave it a9:
Love it! It's not quite as good as butcher bay, but still manages to stay true to itself. I love the atmosphere and the gameplay is fantastic! There are quite a few bugs that they need to work out, but that doesnt take away from this great game. + and Butcher Bay is included! maybe not such a plus for those who already had butcher bay... I'm still very impressed.

martin t gave it a3:
I am voting for the whole product. The game itself is great, the remake is better then the athena part but you will enjoy both if you like this kind of fps. The product is totally overpriced. You can only install it on 3 PCs because of drm. A hardware change, e.g. a new vga card or an os re-installation will use up one installation. There is no revoke tool available. You have to phone a support hotline to get more and you have to state a legitimate reason before you get one - try this in the middle of the night. This game is a rental at full-price, it has no resell value. Do yourself a favor and wait until this game is available in the bargain bin for 10 bucks without drm in a year or so. The game is great, the product is horrible.

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Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, The

Game Info

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