The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay

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The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
North American cover
Developer(s)	Starbreeze Studios Tigon Studios
Publisher(s)	Vivendi Games
Engine	Starbreeze Engine (Proprietary)
Version	1.1 (Windows)
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Xbox
Release date(s)	Xbox NA June 1, 2004 EU August 13, 2004 PC EU December 3, 2004 NA December 8, 2004
Genre(s)	First person, action-adventure, stealth
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Mature PEGI: 16+
Media	CD, DVD

The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is a first-person action video game developed by Swedish company Starbreeze Studios and published by Vivendi Games. It is a part of the Chronicles of Riddick franchise. The Xbox version was released in June 1, 2004 to coincide with the release of The Chronicles of Riddick film, and a Microsoft Windows version of the game was released on December 8, 2004.

The likeness and voice of the movie's lead actor, Vin Diesel, are also used for Escape from Butcher Bay's main character, Richard B. Riddick. Set before the events of the films Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick, the game follows Riddick in his attempt to escape from Butcher Bay, a maximum-security prison.

The game received widespread critical acclaim upon its release. It was lauded for its implementation of different gameplay elements as well as its graphics. Common complaints included the lack of a multiplayer mode. A follow-up, titled The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena was released in 2009 which included an enhanced remake of The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay.

[edit] Gameplay

Escape from Butcher Bay is generally played from a first-person perspective and incorporates elements from several video game genres, including first-person shooter, adventure and stealth.^[1][2] The camera occasionally transitions into a third-person perspective, such as during cutscenes.^[3] Players take the role of Riddick, a recently incarcerated inmate in the Butcher Bay prison.^[4] Riddick's goal is to escape Butcher Bay, and along the way he has the opportunity to interact with other residents of the facility.^[5] He can receive quests from other inmates to gain information, tools, and other rewards.^[6] Bonus materials in the form of concept art and video files can be unlocked by finding packs of cigarettes scattered around the levels.^[7]

Riddick, in stealth mode, holding a screwdriver, about to stab an enemy.

Riddick's exploration of Butcher Bay often leads to violent conflict with guards and other inmates.^[4][5] In combat, Riddick has access to a variety of homemade and improvised weapons, including shivs and clubs.^[1][8] He can also use his fists to attack opponents with a variety of punches that can be strung together to create combos.^[9] If Riddick is defeated, he does not die but instead is dragged back to his cell.^[10]

For the initial portion of the game, firearms are unavailable to Riddick.^[11] Prison guards carry rifles, but they are equipped with technology that emits an electrical discharge if touched by someone whose DNA is not registered as a guard in the prison's database.^[8] As he progresses through the prison, Riddick eventually acquires a limited inventory of firearms,^[1] but ammunition is sparse.^[6] Health can be replenished by activating adrenaline injection stations found throughout the prison.^[12] In addition to combat, enemies can be dispatched discreetly by stalking them from shadows or dropping on them from above.^[11][4] The player, by crouching, can toggle a "stealth mode" that allows Riddick to move silently.^[3] While in stealth mode, Riddick can drag corpses out of sight to avoid discovery by guards and can move silently past enemies.^[6] Stealth mode also grants Riddick additional attacks that allow him to kill opponents quickly.^[11] Later in the game, Riddick gains an "eyeshine" and the ability to see in the dark.^[8] The eyeshine ability must be managed by the player because using it in bright light renders Riddick temporarily blind.^[13]

Escape from Butcher Bay is played without a heads-up display, a convention of first-person shooters.^[1][14] The only on-screen indicators are quick flashes signifying a weapon change,^[8] or small white boxes that display Riddick's health when he is injured.^[4] Stealth mode is represented by a blue tint on the screen, indicating that Riddick is effectively invisible to enemies.^[3]

[edit] Plot

[edit] Setting

Escape from Butcher Bay is set in a futuristic science fiction setting portrayed in other entries in the Riddick franchise.^[6] The game's story takes place in the eponymous Butcher Bay, a maximum-security prison located on an off-world penal colony.^[4] No prisoner has ever been known to escape from Butcher Bay.^[2] The facility is composed of several different wings with increasing levels of security, as well as a subterranean mining area inhabited by aggressive creatures.^[9]

[edit] Characters

Riddick in conversation with Abbott and two prison guards.

The protagonist of Escape from Butcher Bay is Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel), a criminal who has recently been apprehended.^[11] Riddick is a psychopathic murderer;^[8][15] he is also resourceful and committed to breaking out of Butcher Bay by any means necessary.^[2] Riddick has been captured and brought to Butcher Bay by a bounty hunter named William J. Johns (Cole Hauser), who has had previous encounters with Riddick.^[8] The warden of Butcher Bay is a man named Hoxie (Dwight Schultz), who paid Johns the bounty for Riddick.^[16][11] Abbott (Xzibit) is one of the guard officers,^[4] and is not popular with the inmates.^[7] Pope Joe (Willis Burks II) is a mentally unbalanced old inmate who helps Riddick after an injury and is purported to have given him his "eyeshine" ability.^[17][7]

[edit] Story

Upon arriving at Butcher Bay, Johns escorts Riddick to his cell in the "single-max" security area. Johns then meets with the warden, Hoxie, to negotiate his pay.^[11] After learning his way around the facility, Riddick eventually instigates a riot and manages to escape into the prison's sewer system during the confusion. Fighting his way through mutant "dwellers" in the sewers,^[13] Riddick eventually comes across Pope Joe, a hermit who resides in the tunnels. Riddick helps Joe by retrieving his radio lost in the sewers and upon his return, Riddick gains his trademark "eyeshine" and the ability to see in the dark.^[7] Shortly afterwards, a mysterious voice belonging to a woman named Shirah (Kristin Lehman)^[17] tells him he "has been blind too long." Afterwards, Riddick accuses Pope Joe of tampering with his eyes, who states he merely repaired Riddick's bleeding arm. Riddick then continues with his escape plans, using the eyeshine to his advantage.

Riddick is eventually recaptured and transferred to the "double-max" security area of the prison, where he infiltrates a mining facility. While in the mines, he comes across Jagger Valance (Ron Perlman),^[17] a fellow convict with a large amount of influence in the mines who wishes to escape alongside Riddick. During the escape, Riddick is discovered by the guards and is apprehended. While being transferred to another area, an outbreak of creatures known as Xeno's wreaks havoc in the prison and gives Riddick the opportunity to escape with Valance. His plans are foiled again by Johns and Riddick is delivered to the "triple-max" level of the prison.

Here, inmates are placed in cryonic sleep,^[9] and are awakened each day for 2 minutes of exercise. Eventually, Riddick discovers a flaw in the system and escapes. Shortly after, he hijacks a mechanized robot and fights his way through the offices of Butcher Bay towards Hoxie.^[18] With the help of Johns, Riddick eludes the guards and tricks them into killing the warden. The two then steal a ship and escape the prison.

[edit] Development

Escape from Butcher Bay's star, Vin Diesel, promoting the game at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in 2004.

Escape from Butcher Bay was announced in March 2004 as an Xbox video game entry in the Chronicles of Riddick franchise, owned by Universal Studios. Universal Studios Consumer Products Group granted the Riddick license to Vivendi Games; both companies were owned by Vivendi Universal. The game would be developed by Starbreeze Studios and published by Vivendi Games in association with Tigon Studios, the game development company created by Vin Diesel. It would serve as a prequel to the events of Pitch Black and Universal's upcoming film, The Chronicles of Riddick. Tigon Studios' Cos Lazouras said "[The game] features an original storyline that provides insight into how Riddick evolved into such a complex character."^[19]

The development team was interested in exploring the character of Riddick by making a game focused on a prison break, with movies like Escape from Alcatraz as inspiration. Starbreeze specifically didn't want to create a "see-the-movie-play-the-movie" experience that had been emulated in other movie tie-in games.^[20] The star of the film franchise, Vin Diesel, was involved in the game's creation. In addition to providing his voice and likeness for the character of Riddick, he contributed to the game's storyline and character design, along with film director David Twohy. The game's story was developed in conjunction with the film's.^[21] Diesel offered guidance to the game's lead writer during voice recording sessions, including rewrites of dialogue to reduce Riddick's lines, as he felt the character was speaking too much.^[22] The designers intentionally left the details of the origin of Riddick's eyeshine vague, as they were given instructions by the filmmakers to leave it a mystery.^[23]

The game's developers relied on other video games for inspiration. The opening sequence, showing Riddick being escorted into Butcher Bay,^[24] was a tribute to Half-Life. Other sources included Goldeneye and the Splinter Cell series.^[25][26] The hand-to-hand combat was inspired by Punch-Out!!.^[25] Like Doom 3, Escape from Butcher Bay makes use of a technique called normal mapping, which allows complex graphical details to be drawn on models with lower polygon counts. This permits the game to run at a higher speed with the enhanced visuals.^[27]

Starbreeze originally intended for the game to have more roleplaying elements, but feedback from Diesel and problems with focus testers changed their minds. Starbreeze senior producer Peter Wanat referred to the role-playing elements of the game as "RPG-lite" and said "We tried to limit the number of really hard or really intricate RPG elements, and that was a choice because we wanted the game to be playable."^[22] Other features were cut from the final release of the game, such as a 25-minute final boss fight and an electric bullwhip for the guard Abbott.^[28][25] The game did not include multiplayer because Starbreeze was only interested in developing a single-player campaign. The company felt that a multiplayer mode would require a design team twice as large and another year of development.^[29][26]

Escape from Butcher Bay was completed in 18 months.^[20] Vin Diesel promoted the game and the accompanying movie at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) video game convention in May 2004.^[30] The Xbox version was released on June 1, 2004 in North America,^[31] shortly before The Chronicles of Riddick.^[32] It was released on August 13, 2004 in Europe.^[31] North American customers who pre-ordered the game were given an additional DVD, which included promotional items such as an interactive walkthrough for a portion of the game and footage from the corresponding film.^[33] The game's soundtrack, composed by Gustaf Grefberg, was released by Vivendi as a free download on June 24, 2004.^[34]

[edit] Windows version

In response to rumors, Vivendi confirmed the development of a Windows port of Escape from Butcher Bay in July 2004.^[35] In October 2004, Vivendi Games formally announced the PC version, subtitled Developer's Cut.^[36] The game featured a higher resolution, additional cigarette packs, and new levels allowing Riddick to wear mechanized riot gear. It also came with a commentary by the development team detailing the creation and design decisions of the game.^[37] The PC version was released on December 3, 2004 in Europe and on December 8 in North America.^[38]

[edit] Assault on Dark Athena

In May 2007, Vivendi announced that Escape From Butcher Bay was being remade by Starbreeze Studios for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, titled The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. Vivendi referred to the new game as a "reinvention" of Escape from Butcher Bay, and it would include a new chapter for the single-player campaign, as well as a multiplayer mode.^[39] The initial announcement gave a release date of late 2007.^[40] The game was to be published by Sierra Entertainment,^[41] a Vivendi company.^[19]

In December 2007, Activision and Vivendi Games merged to become the world's biggest independent video game publisher, Activision Blizzard.^[42] The following July, the new company announced a "streamlining" of its publishing operation. Several games were dropped from the company's roster and made available for sale to other publishers,^[43] including Assault on Dark Athena.^[44] In September 2008, Starbreeze Studios confirmed that the game was still in development and was almost complete.^[45] In October, Atari was reported to have paid a flat fee for publishing rights for Assault on Dark Athena and another casualty of the Activision-Vivendi merger, Ghostbusters: The Video Game.^[46] Atari confirmed that it had picked up both titles,^[41] and had also signed a deal with Universal Studios to develop additional games in the Riddick franchise.^[47] The game was given an April 2009 release date for North America, Europe, and Australia.^[48]

[edit] Reception

Escape From Butcher Bay received positive reviews from critics.^{[49][50][51][52]} It was described as an exception to the normally mediocre treatment of movie tie-in video games and superior to the movie it was based on.^{[53][2][54][55][56]} The Xbox version sold 110,000 copies in its first three weeks of release and was one of the best-selling games across all platforms for June 2004,^[35][57] but the PC version had sold only 32,500 copies six months after it was published.^[58] The game was later re-released for the Xbox as a Platinum Hits title.^[59]

[edit] Critical reception

Reception
Review scores Publication Score PC Xbox 1UP.com A+[4] A[60] Computer and Video Games 8.6/10[8] 8.3/10[7] Eurogamer 9/10[5] 9/10[16] GamesRadar 8/10[61] GameSpot 9.3[62] 9.3[2] GameSpy [63] [11] GameZone 9.2/10[6] 9.2/10[64] IGN 8.8/10[65] 8.5/10[17] Aggregate scores Game Rankings 90.92%[49] 88.50%[50] Metacritic 90/100[51] 89/100[52]

Escape from Butcher Bay's gameplay was compared to stealth game franchises like Splinter Cell,^[18] Metal Gear,^[7] and Thief,^[66] as well as first-person shooters like Far Cry and Half-Life.^[66][67] Reviewers were pleased with the variety of gameplay options available to the player;^[16][37] GameSpot said "[Escape from Butcher Bay] is played mostly from a first-person perspective, and it effectively and innovatively combines excellent shooting, hand-to-hand combat, stealth, and adventure elements".^[62] Game Informer said "This mixture may sound toxic, but every aspect of play is expertly implemented."^[68] The stealth elements were considered well-implemented,^[16][66] but the first-person shooter sequences were less popular.^[67][69] Reviewers appreciated the control scheme,^[67][68] including the Xbox's focus on analog sticks for hand-to-hand combat.^[16][1] Critics generally welcomed the implementation of Riddick's signature ability, his eyeshine,^[70][66] but Computer and Video Games said the feature functioned no differently from night vision goggles in other first-person shooters and "the concept could've been developed into so much more."^[7]

The game's visuals were praised,^[71] especially on the Xbox,^[68][16] and often compared to those of Doom 3 and Half-Life 2.^[69][55][68] GameZone said "[the graphics of] this game takes the genre to the next level."^[64] The textures and lighting of the game were considered particularly noteworthy,^[69][64] especially because a player can use shadows to their advantage when dispatching enemies.^[72][5] Character models and facial animation were considered very realistic,^[3][16] in particular the character of Riddick.^[8][5] GameSpot praised the attention to detail, such as bulletholes in walls that appear smoking red when fresh but gradually darken as they cool off.^[3] Complaints about graphics generally referred to occasional animation glitches in the form of "seams" and "clipping",^[68][37] like bullet tracers that could be seen through walls.^[62] The game's sole location was regarded as a convincing prison, and 1UP compared it to the dingy settings of the Alien franchise.^[4][16][3]

"You can almost smell the thick stink of Butcher Bay and its inhabitants from the grime on the walls, dirty clothes of the inmates, and environmental textures. This places oozes with style and creates sense of reality in which it's easy to become immersed."

—Perry and Adams, IGN^[37]

The audio of Escape from Butcher Bay was generally well-received.^[65][64] Critics praised the voice acting, especially Vin Diesel and Cole Hauser.^[73][68][74] The music was given a more lukewarm reception, with IGN commenting "The music isn't memorable, but it's not bad",^[17] and FiringSquad stating "It's not good enough to sweep you away but it's also not bad enough to stick out like a sore thumb. In the words of Goldielocks [sic], it's just right."^[72]

One of the more common criticisms of the game was its length; reviewers said that it could be completed in eight to fifteen hours.^[4][65][68] 1UP quipped "Its brevity is where the game comes the closest to dropping the soap".^[4] IGN said "If you consider around 12 hours of gameplay short, then Riddick is just that."^[65] Several reviewers were unhappy with the game's lack of a multiplayer mode;^[61][5][65] Computer and Video Games referred to it as a "missed opportunity",^[8] and Game Informer said "Since the main quest is short (I beat it in less than 15 hours) and there is no multiplayer, it’s not a ton of game for your money."^[68]

[edit] Awards

Both versions of the game were given editor’s choice awards from IGN,^[65][17] GameSpot,^[62][2] and GameSpy.^[11][63] IGN later added it to its list of the 25 greatest Xbox games of all time, as the 12th best.^[75] The PC version was IGN's PC Game of the Month for December 2004.^[76] Escape from Butcher Bay was nominated for GameSpot's Game of the Year award for 2004,^[77] but lost to World of Warcraft.^[78]Billboard's Digital Entertainment Conference nominated Riddick as its Best Character in a Game.^[79] It won a Golden Joystick Award for "Unsung Hero Game of the Year",^[80] and won MTV's first award for Best Video Game Based on a Movie.^[81]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site