Riddick's Assault on Dark Athena demo up on XBLM, full of 'ulaks'
by Ludwig Kietzmann 
{ Mar 4th 2009 at 11:30AM } 
Those uninterested in bullets can also take a stab at wielding Riddick's "razor-sharp ulaks," though we'll remind you that bringing an ulak to a disintegrator fight is always a bad idea. Look for the demo on PSN later this March, and the full game on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on April 7th (April 24th if you live in Europe).
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Markez @ Mar 4th 2009 11:34AM
Is this like a space Max Payne? The 1st movie was decent, the 2nd pretty mediocre. Don't know what to expect what this would actually be like, anyone playing it yet?
sicsided @ Mar 4th 2009 11:41AM
Well its a remake of Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, with a ton more stuff included (10 plus hours of gameplay). So I'd advise looking up reviews and videos of that. It is not like Max Payne, it is more like Thief mixed with a First Person fighting/shooter. The story and characters were great in the first one, and I hope they keep it up in this one. Definitely going to get it.
superklye @ Mar 4th 2009 11:53AM
Playing right now...I don't know how I feel yet. The look sensitivity makes Killzone 2 feel like CoD and acceleration only makes it worse. :-\
baby sea tuna @ Mar 4th 2009 11:58AM
"The look sensitivity makes Killzone 2 feel like CoD and acceleration only makes it worse. :-\"
So, uh, what exactly are you implying?
superklye @ Mar 4th 2009 12:00PM
The look sensitivity is painfully insensitive; without acceleration on, your view barely changes by moving the right stick. And with acceleration on, any overcompensation you make is then magnified enormously.
It'll take a LOT of getting used to.
And I don't like that B is reload without any ability to change that. :-\
baby sea tuna @ Mar 4th 2009 12:05PM
Ah. Well if it's so hard to turn your head as Vin Diesel, then it must be pretty realistic. I mean, have you seen that dude's neck?!
superklye @ Mar 4th 2009 12:09PM
Yeah, they must've modeled it after the look sensitivity of a 232 year old California Redwood.
You know, to enhance him for teh games.
Levi @ Mar 4th 2009 5:58PM
lol
I'm on page 60-something of the official controller input thread for KZ2 on the Playstation forums... it's mostly the same drivel over and over, but some of it is entertaining to read at work.
baby sea tuna @ Mar 4th 2009 11:56AM
Whoa, nice surprise.
Vcize @ Mar 4th 2009 12:05PM
Download link: http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/offers/0DDF0001-0000-4000-8000-0000494787F9
Markez @ Mar 4th 2009 12:44PM
That's pretty rad. I'm assuming however this doesn't power up my 360 at home to download it? Remote on & off for downloads would be pretty cool.
Vitamin A @ Mar 4th 2009 12:59PM
@ Markez
Yeah, it just adds it to the quequeu=es (however that is spelled). When you turn it on it will start downloading. I find it faster this way. The marketplace seems slow at loading these days. Remote on and off would be sweet. Or a low power state to allow us to start remote downloads and then to download them and then go back to the low power state. Something like that would be cool.
Tank @ Mar 4th 2009 12:09PM
So when can we expect a PC demo?
After release I assume.
Vitamin A @ Mar 4th 2009 12:18PM
Awesome, downloading now. I sure hope this fills that empty place in my heart for more Vin D love.
ToRo @ Mar 4th 2009 12:39PM
I'm not even gonna download this. I'm buying it day one. I've recently stopped playing demos. Why? Take the Dead Space demo. HORRIBLE demo and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth about the game. Which makes sense as to why every RE fanboy and his mother say that Dead Space isn't great. There is always gamefly though.
Swagman @ Mar 4th 2009 5:23PM
Yeah, they'd have to be some sort of fanboy, as Dead Space clearly out-Resident Evils, Resident Evil 5
Sad thing is, RE5 will outsell Dead Space, yet from what I have played of both games, Dead Space is clearly the better game. Where Dead Space takes all that was good about RE4, and updates every aspect of it, to make a proper current generation horror title, RE5 simply just slaps a new coat of paint on RE4, makes no improvements outside of adding strafing, and then pretty much calls it a day. From what I can tell, RE5 doesn't even try to even be scary - how can you continue to call the series "survival-horror" when it no longer even tries to be scary?
The irony here is, that Dead Space is from EA, a company renowned for making craptacular software, while Resident Evil 5 is made by Capcom, a company renowned for making awesome software. Yet they somehow manage to trade places on this one - go figure.
Levi @ Mar 4th 2009 6:01PM
RE stopped being survival horror at RE4. It is now an action game. It's not creepy anymore like it used to be, sure it may be about survivng, but this is as much survival horror as Doom at this point.
Not saying it's bad, but it's totally not survival horror anymore. I got the game reserved still :P
ToRo @ Mar 5th 2009 1:16PM
@Swagman
You took the words straight out of my fingertips. It's just a shame that most RE fans don't see this. My biggest gripe with the Resident Evil series has been the controls. I have tried many times to get into them but I just get pissed off and give up. They say it's to add tension. I call bullshit. Dead Space throws tension at you at every orifice of your body and it doesn't play like a fucking tank simulator.
blindfromthesun @ Mar 4th 2009 1:50PM
I LOVED Riddick: Escape from Butchers Bay. Definitely one of the best Xbox games to be released. Not only is there multiplayer but a completely new campaign. I would have paid full price for the new campaign alone. Its awesome that you can choose stealth, or guns blazing combat; in addition drones add a new element. Its brutal and vulgar and wonderful. Advanced controls allow you to change the sensitivity to your hearts content and even turn down/off auto-aim. Can't really say there were any faults with the demo. Not sure if it runs in 1080 p but it looked great on my TV. The frame rate is great but there are a few more jaggies than I like. Anyone else a Riddick fan?
Deck @ Mar 4th 2009 2:31PM
OH HELL YES!
I am putting this on my QUEUE right now now! I can't wait!
ChooChooCharlie @ Mar 4th 2009 3:26PM
I've tried to play it twice now and it crashed my 360 twice. The first time the screen went completely black (while I was controlling the drone). The second time I restarted my 360, reloaded the demo and right when I pressed Y to "interrupt" the conversation, vertical static-y lines appeared, I heard a faint buzzing noise, and my 360 froze.
I don't think its my 360 that's the problem as it's worked fine with everything else I've tried (both before and after this incident). Anybody else having this problem?
MystileArmor @ Mar 4th 2009 4:56PM
Did your screen go Pitch Black?
...
Just couldn't resist it, sorry.
Riley @ Mar 4th 2009 6:30PM
I lol'ed
ChooChooCharlie @ Mar 4th 2009 6:47PM
It did actually. Well, pitch black with a blue bar across it that said "input not accepted'.
:(
Swagman @ Mar 4th 2009 5:14PM
Played this demo twice already, earlier this morning.
Took some getting used to, coming off other recent shooters. However, it feels like old times again - I mean that in a very good way.
Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, is one of the absolute best shooters from last-gen. A healthy dose of first-person shooting, mixed in with hand-to-hand combat, puzzle solving, stealth game play, and a whole lotta wuppazz.
Once I got back into my groove, Dark Athena is like old times once again.
The controls have been changed around a bit (for the better), but from what little of the game you can access in the demo, everything else you once loved about Butcher Bay, is intact.
The stealth works flawlessly. Shooting out lights and going Nightshine all over fools with stealth kills, is still a blast. And if you thought Riddick was a total badass with the shivs in the last game, he ups it several notches with the ulaks in Dark Athena. I was actually so impressed with knife fighting with the ulaks, I am seriously thinking about having a pair made up myself. Not that I make it a habit of getting into knife fights, but if I ever did, I think I'd take ulaks over a switchblade, or even a combat knife, anyday of the week.
If there was any downside to this demo, it is that it was painfully short. The first time through, just as I was getting into my groove, the demo was over.
The only other "detractors" that I could see, and this is mostly nitpicking, is I do not like how you cannot remap all your buttons the way you want to (but of course, this is a problem with 99% of the games out there, these days). Also, while I like they have a weapons select mode similar to Rainbow Six Vegas, I do not like that it is mapped around the right stick.
Anyway, those are both very minor gripes, and do not detract from the experience very much. This game, like the original, is still a day one purchase.
Levi @ Mar 4th 2009 6:03PM
Can't wait for this game :P
Xanto @ Mar 4th 2009 7:15PM
Looks pretty good, I never got a chance to play the one on the original Xbox, so I may pick this one up as I enjoyed the demo.