Well I finally got around to renting this game, and all I have to say is WOW. This is a GREAT variation of the FPS genre. Here are some reasons why its great:
1) Gameplay. It seems to be equal parts shooting, melee fighting and puzzle solving. The puzzles range from easy to moderately difficult and the melee combat is excellent. If Breakdown could have reached this level it might have been a decent game.
As for the melle fighting, well, theres nothing much more satisfying than throwing left-right combos as your opponents head nearly detaches from his body. You can't break too many necks either, its just too damn fun!
The shooting portions are realistic. The guns kick and affect not only your aim but your controls. If you're laying out round after round of ammo, your aim will worsen AND your maneuverablity will suffer too, making it nearly impossible to hit a moving target. Just like in real life, its better to lay down short bursts than a sixty second clip emptier.
The AI is very good, but not brilliant. Enemies will roll to evade fire, but they rarely ever use the environment for protection like in Halo. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though, as yuor enemies are no joke. It takes a couple rounds to take them down and if they get a bead on you they can kill you in a heart beat.
The eventual addition of eyeshine is quite nice as well.
2) Graphics - It doesn't get much better. The character models are extraordinary. Each NPC, and there are a lot of them, seem to be individually designed from head to toe. The faces are especially impressive. Also, the work on Vin Diesel's character is about as photo realistic as you're going to get. Hoxie and Xzibit's characters are also very well done.
The lighting and environments is what makes this game so visually impressive though. The only game I've seen that has better lighting is Splinter Cell and I honestly have never seen environments rendered better.
When combined, this makes for one hell of a visual experience.
Presentation - Dark, dingy and atmospheric. From the open of the game menus you are in Riddick's world. The story is pretty good, if seemingly a little repetitive, but then again the entire game is about Riddick trying to escape from one location: Butcher's Bay prison. I guess you would have to get a little repetitive in those sorts of contraints and in fact, once you get to Double Max, the environment changes quite nicely.
The voice acting is outstanding, and in truth the worst voice acting would have to be Vin Diesel and he's pretty good. There are a lot of cutscenes, and be rest assured this game earned its M rating. From gallons of blood spatter to the sheer number of times the F-bomb is dropped, this is as mature as a mature game gets.
My one big complaint is the loading times from area to area. Considering the graphical quality of the game this may have been inevitable, but once your in Double Max, you do a lot of moving from area to area trying to complete tasks, and it gets QUITE annoying.
Well those are my impressions so far. I'll add more as a play.
Chronicles of Riddick Impressions
Linear Mode
