I bought Riddick for PC this morning (after loving the original on Xbox), and I freaking love it except for the audio bugs.
One cool thing it took me a while to realize: I was looking around the world and the camera kept shifting slightly. I couldn't figure it out for a while, and then noticed Riddick's shadow. The model was turning it's head/torso, then it's legs, and it gives the camera a little bounce to it. Nice, subtle, immersive touch.
I enjoy the melee combat even more this time around. I'm almost disappointed to find guns.
All in all, I think it's great, again, save for the bugs. I eagerly await a patch.
I had to update this post with this: On the original Xbox version, Pope Joe looked really good, his model stood out from all the rest. In Dark Athena, Pope Joe looks quite literally about 98% photorealistic. It's fucking amazing and eerie. Unbelievable.
I wouldn't call "Chronicles of Riddick" an "average sci fi" film. Sorry Vin but that movie falls into the bin where you put all the overproduced, under edited science fiction films that we love to hate. It isn't as bad as "Aliens vs Predator" and it is only a step or two better than Ben Affleck/Jen Garner/Colin Farrell's"Daredevil" monstroso.
@tnmnsquare: Shit, I thought the original "Pitch Black" was laughably bad. I went around recommending it to friends as a prank after I saw it. Looks like a bunch of other people did so as well, and a lot of suckers didn't get the joke.
Bought the PC version on release day and so far, I'm not regretting it.
The Assault on Dark Athena campaign certainly isn't anywhere near as great as Escape from Butcher Bay was, but I think it's still good enough to warrant a playthrough. On it's own? It probably wouldn't be worth the price, but packaged with an updated (And VERY nice looking) version of Escape from Butcher Bay, it's worth a purchase.
lol, while Riddick may seem calm in any situation, it could just be Diesel's mediocre voice acting.
Not to knock anything against the game itself, I'm actually fairly interested in picking up myself, I'm just not a huge Vin Deisel fan; especially not his voice.
@DarkLinkinfinite: LOL that was my exact thought on reading that part of the review...
"that is not calm in any situation! That is just Diesels complete monotone method of acting..."
Basically, his characters have always been the "too cool to ever show any emotion, definitely not fear or panic, types" Cuz he does not have the acting range to show emotion!
@Stymie99: Vin Diesel's monotone acting is what made him so perfect for the role of Riddick. To be honest, this is the ONLY role of Diesel's that I actually enjoy watching.
I think his voicework in Riddick is great, and certainly far better than 99% of other games out there. Even the supporting cast is pretty stellar in Butcher Bay. It's no Afro Samurai, though. (Samuel L. Jackson absolutely makes that game, I will buy it as soon as it drops in price, the camera is too awful to pay $60 for it.)
Hmm. This is what I've heard on other reviews. I loved the original game, so I downloaded the demo, and I thought it was pretty crappy. I'll probably rent it to go through it. I also want to try the Pitch Black multiplayer, it sounds fun.
@KingDavid73: question about load times: how much shorter are they if you install the game on your hard drive? (I won a 120GB HDD for the 360 from one of those Xbox Live play and win things.)
@KingDavid73: It looks like Fahey only tried the PS3 version - but PS3 versions of multiplatform titles generally load more slowly anyway. I'd assume the load times installed on the 360 would be quite a bit better.
I actually didn't think much of the demo myself, but Butcher Bay alone is easily worth the price of admission. On PC at least, the graphics are a breathtaking update of a great, classic game, one of the top-five best-looking games I've ever played (discounting the model's speech animations)
I'm really not bragging here, but my load times on PC are about 3 seconds. It's amazing, a pleasant surprise considering how difficult the game can be.
Also, Pope Joe this time around looks human. Like 98% human. Really. It's amazing. Virtually photorealistic.
This always happens initially, people bitch, and six months later (after the pirating feeding-frenzy) they unlock the game for more installs. Happened with Bioshock, happened with Spore.
Won't stop me from picking it up, I'm headed to the store at 9 am to pick Riddick up today. I just wish I could download it off Steam to save myself the trip. Maybe I'll grab McDonald's breakfast on the way back or something.
But, really, I've been waiting to replay on PC this game since I had it for the original XBox (didn't pick it because of no widescreen support).
This is the kinda game I'd rather buy on consoles anyways, I think. The PC version of Escape from Butcher Bay had a weird visual bug when you'd user your night vision where everything would look like someone just discovered lens flare in photoshop. Not in the light only either, it'd be as black as it gets and it still looks over-bright.
Chronicles of Riddick? Really? I'd imagine if there ever was a game that needed absolutely no protection whatsoever, it would be CoR. I mean....does anyone actually want to play it?
I'm getting fed up of this shit. Even EA have realized that what they are doing hurts their sales more than if they hadn't put the install limit in.
Anything made by man can be unmade by man. Pirates are never going to have a problem with DRM since most pirates have the knowledge to get rid of it.
What they need is to create a new type of DRM that will stop the pirates and not affect the sales. If your a programmer and you came up with the new type of DRM, you're a guaranteed millionaire.
This is the reason I have not purchased this game for my PC. I already am having a fucked up time with Spore after my HDD crashed with the game on it and now when I installed it on my new system, it says I don't have a legit activation code! Fuck, it's one that came with my game. The one that I purchased.
I don't want to go through this shit again, so I have to say no to Riddick, even though I really want to play this game on my PC. Maybe I will rent it for my PS3.
04/10/09
04/10/09
04/10/09
One cool thing it took me a while to realize: I was looking around the world and the camera kept shifting slightly. I couldn't figure it out for a while, and then noticed Riddick's shadow. The model was turning it's head/torso, then it's legs, and it gives the camera a little bounce to it. Nice, subtle, immersive touch.
I enjoy the melee combat even more this time around. I'm almost disappointed to find guns.
All in all, I think it's great, again, save for the bugs. I eagerly await a patch.
04/10/09
I had to update this post with this: On the original Xbox version, Pope Joe looked really good, his model stood out from all the rest. In Dark Athena, Pope Joe looks quite literally about 98% photorealistic. It's fucking amazing and eerie. Unbelievable.
04/10/09
04/10/09
04/10/09
04/10/09
The Assault on Dark Athena campaign certainly isn't anywhere near as great as Escape from Butcher Bay was, but I think it's still good enough to warrant a playthrough. On it's own? It probably wouldn't be worth the price, but packaged with an updated (And VERY nice looking) version of Escape from Butcher Bay, it's worth a purchase.
04/10/09
I played the demo for Assault On Dark Athena and was horrified. It just didn't seem to...WORK. Total bummer.
04/10/09
04/11/09
04/10/09
Not to knock anything against the game itself, I'm actually fairly interested in picking up myself, I'm just not a huge Vin Deisel fan; especially not his voice.
04/10/09
LOL that was my exact thought on reading that part of the review...
"that is not calm in any situation! That is just Diesels complete monotone method of acting..."
Basically, his characters have always been the "too cool to ever show any emotion, definitely not fear or panic, types" Cuz he does not have the acting range to show emotion!
04/10/09
04/10/09
I really need to watch Find Me Guilty.
04/10/09
04/11/09
I think his voicework in Riddick is great, and certainly far better than 99% of other games out there. Even the supporting cast is pretty stellar in Butcher Bay. It's no Afro Samurai, though. (Samuel L. Jackson absolutely makes that game, I will buy it as soon as it drops in price, the camera is too awful to pay $60 for it.)
04/10/09
04/10/09
04/10/09
04/10/09
I actually didn't think much of the demo myself, but Butcher Bay alone is easily worth the price of admission. On PC at least, the graphics are a breathtaking update of a great, classic game, one of the top-five best-looking games I've ever played (discounting the model's speech animations)
04/10/09
I'm really not bragging here, but my load times on PC are about 3 seconds. It's amazing, a pleasant surprise considering how difficult the game can be.
Also, Pope Joe this time around looks human. Like 98% human. Really. It's amazing. Virtually photorealistic.
04/10/09
Won't stop me from picking it up, I'm headed to the store at 9 am to pick Riddick up today. I just wish I could download it off Steam to save myself the trip. Maybe I'll grab McDonald's breakfast on the way back or something.
But, really, I've been waiting to replay on PC this game since I had it for the original XBox (didn't pick it because of no widescreen support).
04/09/09
04/09/09
04/09/09
04/09/09
04/09/09
SORRY, STUCK IN CAPS, DON'T WANNA HOLD SHIFT.
04/09/09
I'm getting fed up of this shit. Even EA have realized that what they are doing hurts their sales more than if they hadn't put the install limit in.
Anything made by man can be unmade by man. Pirates are never going to have a problem with DRM since most pirates have the knowledge to get rid of it.
What they need is to create a new type of DRM that will stop the pirates and not affect the sales. If your a programmer and you came up with the new type of DRM, you're a guaranteed millionaire.
04/09/09
I don't want to go through this shit again, so I have to say no to Riddick, even though I really want to play this game on my PC. Maybe I will rent it for my PS3.