Topic: Riddick Demo on 360

[wizall]

Anyone try this out yet?  Just came out today, I believe.  I never had a chance to play the first one, but I must say I'm impressed with this.  The melee(ing) is stupidly satisfying.   

It is kind of hard, though, not knowing what the hell it is I'm doing.

And it seems some people thought the demo was utter shit.  Why is it that the first thing these "gamers" bitch about are graphics?  Do you spend the entire length of the game marveling at textures, models, so forth?  Stick with fucking Myst if that's your attitude.

Anyway, it's enjoyable, I think.  Check it out at least.

[MysterD]

And it seems some people thought the demo was utter shit.  Why is it that the first thing these "gamers" bitch about are graphics?  Do you spend the entire length of the game marveling at textures, models, so forth?  Stick with fucking Myst if that's your attitude.

Having great graphics is a nice thing to have, of course -- but I think the most important thing is for the game itself to be somewhere between good to great and for the game to technically perform well.

Riddick: Butcher Bay PC looked great (back when it came out), ran great, and just was a flat-out awesome game.

[Quemaqua]

Starbreeze is an utterly awesome studio.  Highly underrated, I think.  I suspect the end result will be pretty phenomenal.  I've been heavily considering reinstalling Butcher Bay to prepare for this next one.  The Darkness remains one of my favorite games of all time.

[Cobra951]

I missed this, just a short while ago even.  I'll check again.

[gpw11]

Starbreeze is an utterly awesome studio.  Highly underrated, I think.  I suspect the end result will be pretty phenomenal.  I've been heavily considering reinstalling Butcher Bay to prepare for this next one.  The Darkness remains one of my favorite games of all time.

Don't bother.  It's a bitch to get working properly with dual core cpus and newer graphics cards.  Or at least it was a couple of months ago.

[Quemaqua]

Oh, drag.  Well, I do have it for Xbox if I got desperate.  Always wanted to hear the commentary mode, though.

[PyroMenace]

Yea but wont Butcher Bay be coming with it? Or did they take that off?

[MysterD]

Yea but wont Butcher Bay be coming with it? Or did they take that off?

This thread talks about what happened.

Basically, they originally play to remake Butcher Bay on a newer engine.

Also, they decided while they were at it, to restore some content that was STILL left on the cutting-room floor cut from the game.

Plus, while they were at it, they added some new SP content that takes place after Butcher Bay -- which sounds like the length of a new "episode" or your typical DLC length for stuff (4-7 hours, maybe).

Plus, they added a Multiplayer component.

I'd say -- think of Dark Athena product as "Butcher Bay: The Enhanced Edition."

[Quemaqua]

Uh... I thought they completely dropped that and now it's a brand-new full sequel?

EDIT - According to Xessive's post in that thread:

Courtesy of Gamershell.com

To be released on April 24 in Europe
Atari has announced that The Chronicles Of Riddick: Assault On Dark Athena, a new game developed by Starbreeze Studios for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC, will hit the store shelves across Europe on April 24th, 2009. Previously announced as a remake of The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena now features a brand new full-length campaign, an entirely new chapter in the Riddick saga and, for the first time, online multiplayer modes. The game will be available in North America on April 7th. Demos for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions will be released this March.

Am I misreading that?

[Xessive]

That was the quote I got from Gamershell.com, which is based on the Riddick page at STarbreeze Studios' site.

Speaking of which, here's the official The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena website.

[Quemaqua]

Okay, so I'm right, it isn't a remake of Butcher Bay any longer.  It's a brand-new sequel.

[Xessive]

I'm not 100% sure, but according to some forum posts here and there, there's a suggestion that Escape From Butcher Bay will be included possibly as a bonus prequel or it's the introductory part of the whole game. The idea floating around is that they've already remade that content so they're not just going to toss it out.

[sirean_syan]

I thought it contained both games. A lot of the trailers show stuff from Butcher Bay (with slightly shinier graphics) and new stuff that I completely didn't recognize.

[Quemaqua]

Well, shit.  I don't know if I should reinstall or not then.

Meh.

[gpw11]

Dark Athena includes Butcher Bay.  Going from what i read on wikipedia a few hours ago it seems that it was still a complete remake with an extra chapter until the last hiatus, where they used the extra time to flesh out and expand the extra content.  That's coming from an interview in December of 08, so it's pretty recent.

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, I just watched a video earlier tonight.  They redid BB, then the extra content kept getting bigger and they kept wanting to do more, until it basically became a sequel.  So I guess I won't be reinstalling.

The real downer is I have a free day tomorrow when it comes out, but I can't go get it because I have no money.

EDIT - Tomorrow isn't April.  Also, it's Saturday.  What the hell is wrong with me?

[PyroMenace]

I checked out the demo... not bad, but its not very indicative of what the game is. Its short and theres alot of shooting, not much stealth. But it plays exactly like Butcher Bay, I dont even notice anything new to the gameplay really at all.

[W7RE]

I guess I was expecting too much stealth in the demo, and was annoyed because of that. Too many brightly lit hallways full of guards. The melee seems really poorly done to me. You get attack and block, and that's it. So you spam the attack button and throw in the occasional block if you want. Or you can turle with block and counter with attacks. You can do a stealth kill, but that would require shadows to hide in, which are few and far between. The eyeshine thing feels underwhelming too. All it does is remove most of the shadows, and leaves the world looking the same. So now you can see into the dark spots, but you can't tell they're dark spots where you can hide unless you turn off eyeshine.

The gunplay feels weak though. The guns don't have that solid sound to them. They bob all over the place when walking, and the gun drops out of view when you get up against an object or wall. To me this makes it feel sloppy. Not sloppy design, just... it feels off somehow.

Taking over the drones was kinda cool though.

[Quemaqua]

Actually, that's much more realistic, and in my opinion much nicer.  After going through The Darkness three times, it irritates the hell out of me to run right up to a wall and not have my gun move out of the way.  There's no sense of 3D space, you just have this disconnected arm that's basically just overlayed over the screen and really has no interaction with the world in any capacity, making it little more than a glorified targeting reticle.

I haven't played the demo, so I can't speak to it, but the original game had a lot of stealth in it.  Possibly even too much for me, as there were a couple times when I got sick of sneaking and just wanted to off somebody.  I doubt they're going to abandon that wholesale in the sequel.

[MysterD]

Riddick: Dark Athena goes GOLD for PC, X360, and PS3.

Release dates:
April 7th in the USA
April 24th around the globe.

THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK: ASSAULT ON DARK ATHENA GOES GOLD

- One Step Closer To Becoming The Galaxy’s Most Notorious Criminal with Development Complete on Anticipated New Game –

- ‘Assault On Dark Athena’ Brings Riddick into Multiplayer Realm for First Time with Six Intense Online Combat Modes -

- Xbox LIVE and PLAYSTATION®3 Demos Available Now -

NEW YORK, NY – March 20, 2009 – Atari, one of the world’s most recognized video game publishers, today announced that development is complete on the latest gripping installment from the Riddick franchise, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena.

Developed by the acclaimed team at Starbreeze Studios in conjunction with Tigon Studios and Universal Pictures, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena features a brand new 11 hour chapter in the Riddick saga with six intense online multiplayer game modes including the unique and thrilling Pitch Black mode.

In addition to the full Assault on Dark Athena campaign, the disc includes a stunning HD remastering of celebrated title The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay.

The game is scheduled for launch on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft ($59.99), PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system ($59.99) and Windows PC ($49.99) on April 7th in North America and April 24th worldwide.

In The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena the player takes the role of Riddick, as played by Vin Diesel, using stealth and action to overcome the merciless crew of the predatory Merc-ship Dark Athena which awaits its prey in the dark reaches of space. Cheating death through a series of spectacular battles and events, Riddick will fight for his life amid a storm of malevolence and horror. The Chronicles of Riddick series of games takes the player deeper into the universe of Universal Pictures' films The Chronicles of Riddick and cult classic Pitch Black, which first introduced Vin Diesel as enigmatic anti-hero Riddick.

Starbreeze Studios has created an exciting and original multiplayer component in The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. The game features six multiplayer modes, including the original and inventive Pitch Black mode and intense Butcher Bay Riot. Unlike traditional MP modes, Pitch Black features a nerve-wracking stealth hunt through the darkness. A six player mode on all maps, five players take the role of Mercenaries trying to hunt down and kill Riddick across levels swathed in darkness, with only weapon-mounted flashlights to see by. Butcher Bay Riot presents a fast paced three team mode, in which 12 players split into teams of Guards, Prisoners and Mercenaries fight over a power cell.

Playable demos of The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena for both Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION®3 are currently available for download. Featuring the Athena Main Decks level, the demo showcases the evocative art style and breadth of the gameplay contained in the game, including brutal melee combat, nerve-rattling stealth, and high-powered gunplay. Among other gameplay elements, the demo also lets players try one of the game’s unique features, controlling a Drone, while classic Riddick cut-scenes bring the harsh Riddick universe into sharp focus.

Featuring a tense and brutal new adventure, a high-definition re-work of the classic Escape from Butcher Bay campaign and exhilarating multiplayer gameplay, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena launches worldwide in April 2009.

For more information visit the game’s official website at http://atari.com/riddick/

[MysterD]

A Multiplayer Map Pack DLC is already planned for Dark Athena.
It'll add 5 maps to the MP portion of the game.

No details yet other than that on it, so far...

[gpw11]

I have to say that this is pretty awesome. I'm only a few hours into Butcher's Bay, but having never played it before I have to say I'm very very impressed.

[Quemaqua]

Starbreeze is a kickass studio.  If you ever get access to a 360 or PS3, try The Darkness, which is one of my all-time favorite shooters.

[Pugnate]

I could never truly get into Riddick for some reason. I quit after a few hours.

[gpw11]

So, finished BB a few days ago and Dark Athena today.  Both were fairly short but really good.  DA has a bit of a different feel to it in that the environments are more varied and it's a bit more action oriented than BB, but it's still good times.  Actually the only flaw I could find with it is it seems the AI cheats in the DA portion and will often find you when you're hiding in shadows.  Like, you shoot and they'll know where you are until one of you dies. Still, a lot of fun that I'd recommend and it looks damn good too.

I should point out, however, that there is no commentary in the PC version at least.  Not sure about the consoles.

[Quemaqua]

None at all, or just none in DA?

I still kinda' want to get these, but I'm not sure I can justify the price.  After I get a little more cash, though, I just might.

[gpw11]

None at all.  The only extra content are the packs of smokes unlocking art and the bounty cards doing pretty much the exact same thing in DA. I haven't found any option for commentary, and I think I read that they left it out.

For me it was totally worth it since I hadn't played through BB.  I had tried to get it to work a few times to no avail, so I was basically getting two (short) games worth of new content. Would I pay the full price for just DA?  Probably not, but when it drops totally pick it up (or if you really really want to play through BB again with better graphics).