Chronicles of Riddick

[jim g]

Thanks to wonders of Tronix and FedEx ($15 shipping) my package arrived 30 mins ago.

What can I say, have played the first section and all bodes very well indeed. The atmosphere, sound, Vin Diesel's voice all awesome. It looks like I will awake all night playing this!

The opening sequence sets the scene superbly and then the game begins proper. I won't give anyhting away here (cos it willl ruin it for others), but after 20 mins or so play, I am hooked.

I will post more later, but now I have to go the office, ****! Get this is you can.

I also got Full Spectrum Warrior, but that is still in its wrapper!

[Prine]

thanks, still waiting for my copy from Videogamesplus

[Bleeders]

Just ordered my copy from VGP.

Really looking forward to playing this now.

[the shape]

Picked mine up yesterday. Played all last night and will be continuing through today and the weekend.

This game has the most ominous, enveloping atmosphere of any FPS I can recall. I am IN this disgusting prison AND I REALLY WANT OUT! It's the same type of fear, determination and claustrophobia you feel from a good survival horror, even though it's largely a shooter. You are constantly on edge about what's coming around the corner and what you're going to have to endure.

There were things in the sewer that actually made me shudder and I REALLY WISHED WOULD PLEASE GO AWAY LET ME OUT LET ME OUT.

The first time I beat a man to death with my bare hands was actually a little shocking, because of how substantial it all feels. The faces look so organic. Together with the way the heads snap to each side as you punch left and right, the blood streaking the walls around him, and the solid sound effects, I dunno, it left me little shaky! Then you get a shiv, and you're basically punching a guy in the face but holding a blade. They bleed on the walls and floor, get blood on their clothes and face, bruises even.

I have found plenty of glitches, which is a shame. Holding the shotgun, I press X to grab a dead body that needs to be hidden, and sure enough I can move the body but Riddick's hands remain in front of his face in shotgun pose; empty, but raised in the firing position like an action figure. Switch to fists and it goes away, but still. Additionally, it's very easy to plunge a weapon into the wall. And if you crouch, holding a weapon, and rotate your view, you can sink your whole gun and forearm into Riddick's knee! Right through and out the other side, like it wasn't there.

I also find this annoying: you can peek around corners, using the D-pad, Rainbow Six style, but you can't shoot while peeking. Why?

Nevertheless, it's been forking brilliant fun so far. Come on, it has *two* neck-breaks (one quick but noisy, one slow but quiet) and I've been cutting people's throats with a scalpel I found in the infirmary. The first time I countered a guard trying to strike me with the butt of his rifle, I couldn't believe the outcome (POSSIBLE SPOILER IF YOU'VE READ NO REVIEWS -- Riddick forces the barrel under the guard's chin, makes him squeeze the trigger, sending head juice onto the wall, all from first person, no cutaways.)

Last night I got my EyeShine before I quit, so I'm off now to see what I can... see!

[Prine]

ffs Shape. You ****


I soooooooooooooooo want this game

[the shape]

You, sir, are a poet.

God bless you.

[PeteJ]

How does the fighting compare to Breakdown on the Xbox? I found it quite weighty in the Riddick demo, but wasn't really given a chance to test it fully. Does the whole mechanic fall to pieces when being attacked by more than one person?

I really hope not, because this sounds like a very good game.

[the shape]

Because Breakdown's bubble burst so quickly (0900 PST: Breakdown hailed as brilliant, original! 1300 PST: Actually, scratch that, it's a bit ****) I never played it in the end. Can't compare. I like that the fighting is simple in Riddick. FPS punching is risky enough, I don't want 60 moves. Combining the four directions of the left stick with the right trigger you get left hook, right hook, elbow (up) and uppercut (down). Combos happen naturally, and it's very easy to get into a satisfying left-right-left-right beasting that knocks human enemies senseless. And then dead. The countering is simple too: throw a punch just as they are swinging for you and you counter them, easy. This is great if you've got some kind of shiv: you actually see Riddick's left arm grab the opponent's wrist to block the punch then, for example, stick him with a screwdriver with his right. Brutal.

As for multiple opponents, you just react naturally, maneuver to get your back against a wall or something, and it seems to work out. It's not like they overwhelm you, hacking away at all sides (the humans at least...) But then I haven't fought the prisoners in Triple Security yet.

This morning I've been having fun with the EyeShine. Shooting out lights with the pistol (which is teh r00ls for accurate headshots too) while the guards run around in, ahem, pitch black, panicking and sweeping their torches this way and that. I bung on Riddick's lovely polished eyes and make the goons pay.

Back to it...

[Spatial]

F*cking DVD Box Office are messing me around again, meaning my copy of Riddick still hasn't been sent ( they took well over a week after Wario Ware for GC was released to send it to me ).

I've now cancelled my order and gone elsewhere.

Soon my pretty...... soon......

[jim g]

More play now

So left the office early to get more Riddick before her indoors gets home.

Have to say it is really good. The controls, fighting and atmos all still great. I played Breakdown andthe fighting in Riddick is better IMO.

It is a dark game so get the curtains drawn (what a day for good weather, it should be raining when games like this comeout!). The guards are twats as well very good at dodging bullets!

Anyway I am off back to it.

Incedently mine was posted on Wednesday from New York (Tronix) and arrived within 2 days, the extra $5 on Fedex is well worth it.

[Spatial]

I thought FedEx were buggers for declaring things at customs ?

[the shape]

Found some massive graphics glitches.

Pete knows how much I like to toy with dead bodies when ragdoll is involved. Well, I grabbed one body that was on the opposite side of a railing and it just freaked out, shaking the body all over the place. When I pulled away from the railing I stretched the guard's body to an estimated 40 feet long because it kept one end of him attached to the railing. I did this over and over. I could even stretch his body way out, then release it and he'd ping away like a rubber band!

A lot of the time when I go to chuck a body off a balcony (to hide it in the dark) they'll wind up glitching through the ground, leaving his feet sticking through the balcony floor, where I am, and the rest of him dangling underneath. Which doesn't hide him so much as say, hey assholes, I killed one of your mates! Come get me!

It seems that one of the most stunning game engines ever seen is perhaps not the most robust.

That said, I did just beat a fat topless man to death with a giant steel wrench and got a pack o' smokes for my trouble. This made me feel good.

[Spatial]

Even the glitches sound pretty cool - elasticated bodies ? Not even Half Life 2 promises that.

Maybe they're in there on purpose to lighten the game up a little bit

[Big Al]

Awesome game so far though I have just had my ass handed to me by some dude in an ED209 suit.

Some of the best graphics I've seen on a console, Vin Diesel really looks like, well, Vin Diesel.

Good level structures too so far with loads of mini missions to keep it interesting.

Easily the best console FPS since Halo.

[Ish]

I want to buy it just to play with the dead bodies now !