The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay

Since the game takes place before the events detailed in Pitch Black, fans of the character will get to experience Riddick's brutal, violent nature for themselves. He's a good anti-hero, someone you'll root for even though his morality isn't entirely clear. Not to mention that he's a serious bad-ass who can see in the dark (proponents of the film will remember Riddick's "eye shine" the surgery that make his night vision possible. You'll actually meet the inmate that does the shine, as parts of EFBB occur before he has it done).

The game opens with Riddick's arrival at Butcher Bay, a prison planet that actually has the main facility built directly on top of the old one. Of course, the initial prisoners have been left to rot down below, which leads to one of the more intense sequences in the game, as Riddick must make his way through the old cage, and deal with the freaks, cannibals and mutants that the inmates have become.

Once Riddick is placed in his cell, it's time to do the unthinkable: escape from the toughest prison in the galaxy. You'll start out weaponless, and since the game is played mostly from a first person perspective (though certain platforming actions will smoothly transition to a third person view) you'll need to have your wits about you as you stealthily move through the shadows, breaking necks, as well as straight up brawling with guards and fellow inmates (who travel in gangs, each of which has a unique look and style to them). Along the way, you'll also deal with a few surprises, including a nasty looking suit of battlearmor equipped with dual chain guns.

The game features no standard HUD to speak of. Instead, your view will become tinted with blue to indicate when you're safely hidden in shadows (similar to how Riddick's perspective looked in Pitch Black) and all weapons have ammo counters incorporated into their design. Also, a small health bar will appear briefly whenever injury occurs. To regain health, you must find health stations that are placed strategically about the levels. This is accompanied by a full-blown 3D view of Riddick getting the juice jacked directly into his neck.

Besides the neck breaking and brawling, Riddick will also be able to take a shiv or a screwdriver from enemies, and use it against them, as well as anyone else stupid enough to go up against the big guy. All of the guns in Butcher Bay are DNA-encoded to the guard staff only, so at some point in the adventure, Riddick will need to get to the central database to upload his DNA. Once that mission is complete, EFBB changes pace to an all out assault, with Riddick facing all sorts of intense firefights. The development team is working hard to insure that the balance between stealth and all out action is maintained, so expect to shift gears between the two styles on the fly. You'll also be able to use the environment to your advantage, and killing guards by tossing them into a corpse disposal unit, affectionately known as the meat grinder, looks like seriously gory fun.

Graphically, Escape From Butcher Bay looks amazing. Through the use of Normal Mapping, unbelievable detail has been added to all facets of the game. Every surface is reflective, and metal walls will glow red from being blasted. The weapon models are intricately detailed, as are the environments. The character model of Riddick looks absolutely perfect, and the guards and inmates look on par with the main protagonist. The level architecture is insane, and really goes a long way towards immersing you into the adventure. Riddick's escape will take you through the bowels of the old prison, as well as filthy jail cells, dark and foreboding mines, and a clinical cryo-sleep facility -- not to mention a few others. Sources indicate that the sound is as well implemented as the visuals, with the various eerie cries and screams of tortured inmates adding greatly to the oppressive atmosphere. Additionally, Vin Diesel himself is involved intimately with the game, and will be providing Riddick with his distinctive voice.

Starbreeze has plans to include unlockable content via Xbox Live, and the title will be Live Aware. Apparently, you'll come across some locked doors in Butcher Bay, which you'll eventually be able to breach to accept new missions, similar to Splinter Cell's downloadable levels. Sounds like a hell of a ride to me.