The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena

At first glance, The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena doesn’t seem like a particularly appetising prospect.

It’s effectively a remake of a five-year-old film tie-in based on a Vin Diesel movie that nobody watched – any individual element of which would normally be reason enough to give a game the widest possible berth. Yet somehow Dark Athena manages to be much more than the sum of its parts.

For starters, it’s not just a simple re-release. It’s actually three games in one, with a graphically overhauled version of 2004’s The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay being joined by an entirely new standalone sequel as well as a multiplayer part that was sadly missing from the original.

Secondly, while the Vin Diesel-starring Riddick movies range from the forgettable (2000’s Pitch Black) to the downright awful (2004’s The Chronicles of Riddick), the games based on the series manage to reverse the trend of mediocre movie cash-ins by being significantly better than the films themselves.

An intelligent, absorbing and varied take on the first-person shooter genre, Butcher Bay sees you playing as Mr Diesel’s alter ego as he attempts to break out of a maximum security space prison.

Combat is a satisfying mixture of fisticuffs and firepower, but it’s not all about the fighting. Stealth, side-quests and searching for stuff in the dark all play a big part too. The game has aged extremely well and the new graphics make it look not unlike many current releases.

The Dark Athena campaign follows on directly from Butcher Bay and has a similar premise (namely Riddick escaping from some hostile mercenaries) as well as an identical visual style. It’s much more than a simple expansion, though, with a running time that’s similar to the original game.

Gameplay is not quite as varied or inventive but it’s still an enjoyable companion piece. Multiplayer highlights include the excellent Pitch Black mode – a kind of Riddick-based murder-in-the-dark.

The Chronicles of Riddick is a genuinely pleasant surprise and pretty good value to boot. If you didn’t catch the intriguing original release (and most people didn’t), then this bumper package is well worth investigating.

PEGI age rating: 16+