RIDDICK

i left work yesterday evening with a copy of the OXM demo disc and a single agenda: to record as much video from riddick as possible. i'd only recently become interested in the game following a vivendi pre-e3 press event; for the unitiated, the chronicles of riddick: escape from butcher bay is a game based on the movie that's appearing in theaters this summer. actually, the videogame is a prequel to the film and helps shed a little light on riddick's background. but what's really interesting is that the game will very likely be much better than the film.

i have no interest in the riddick films -- pitch black, any of that. i could care less about vin diesel. but i do like good first-person shooters. and i have been known to be a bit of a graphics whore. starbreeze, the developer of chronicles of riddick, has somehow created a game that is not only immersive and fun to play, but they've also crafted a proprietary graphics engine that is very similar to what carmack built for doom 3. the real question is "how?" this game came outta nowhere. and if the demo and videos i've seen are any indication, the rest of the game should live up to what i've played so far. and the game comes out june 1st, so the wait is pretty much nonexistent.

as in breakdown, the game places the player inside the characters body. it's one of those, really first-person first-person shooters. like, if you look down, you see your body. as such it has some really cool melee combat, interesting platforming and climbing elements (which are often played in third-person) and some nice, though short, cutscenes; using a health charger triggers a really good example of this.

so take a look at riddick if you have a chance. the demo is available now and the game ships in a few weeks. my videos should be available on fileplanet soon as well. Posted by ryan at May 20, 2004 11:05 AM