SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND: THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK: ESCAPE FROM BUTCHER BAY
Today sees the release of Raven Software’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Watching a promotional interview with some of the Raven staff, one developer suggested that Wolverine might be “the movie game that finally, does not suck“.
Finally? What a tired argument. While there has been a swathe of lazy, rushed licensed tie-ins, there are still many precedents for the “decent movie game” – and somewhere near the top of that list should be Starbreeze’s The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay; a game, coincidentally, that’s forming the bulk of my gaming line-up this weekend.
Released for the original Xbox in 2004, it was long a source of annoyance to me that Riddick never made it onto the 360’s backwards compatibility list. The reason for its absence was, we were told, because there was a 360 remake impending. It’s taken a while, but the recently released Assault On Dark Athena combines an all-new single-player game with that hi-def Butcher Bay remake.
Rather than wrap a first-person stealth game around the confines of a movie plot, Starbreeze set out on the right foot by building a new installment of Riddick’s adventures, acting as a prequel to Pitch Black, and existing as a canon entry to the universe. The result was a game that managed to deliver a compelling narrative, but one that was ideally suited for a 12-hour videogame, rather than a two-hour movie: the tale of Riddick’s initial escape from prison, told as a first-person stealth game that erupts into bursts of frenetic violence.
Forget solidity of world: Starbreeze’s games are all about solidity of characterisation. From the measured, terse voice acting from Vin Diesel, to the omninpresent shadow on the floor – those distinctive, thickset shoulders, hunched and ready to strike – the game is all about delivering on a sensation of being a character. That solidity of characterisation extends to the supporting cast, too. Many games have hired spectacular voice casts, but the Riddick games managed to get great performances out of their actors, too.
It’s in the first-person combat that the full realisation of Vin Diesel’s character really emerges. First-person melee combat has always been a challenge for game developers, and so many attempts have ended up in complex interfaces or floaty, impact-less punching. Riddick’s melee is still one of the best examples, trumping even the Condemned games’ mannequin-beating and tramp-battering. It has a real heft to it, and despite the swiftness of the blows there’s a slow, inevitable rhythm to every fight.
Riddick’s hands aren’t just terrifying weapons for his foes; they’re deeply unsettling for the player as well. I’m always taken aback by the brutality contained in them. The ferocious counterattacks that end fights in a second are always a notch more than I’m expecting; as I watch the arms that extend from my viewpoint force a guard’s gun into his mouth, or drop an elbow into an inmate’s face, you’re constantly reminded that you’re not just any pair of disembodied hands, or another generic space marine; you really are Riddick. It achieves what every licensed game sets out to: placing you, the player, front-and-centre in an already-defined universe. It is, in every sense of the words, a genuine role-playing experience.
So that’s my weekend sorted: a return to Butcher Bay, along with a trip back to Azeroth, a digression into the wonderful Windosill (recently covered on Offworld) and perhaps a jaunt through a Left 4 Dead campaign. If a bit of first-person brawling isn’t up your street this weekend, perhaps you’ll be checking out this week’s big re-release – the Live Arcade port of stompy-mecha-beat-em-up Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram. Or, maybe, you’ll be doing something totally different.
What does this weekend have in store for you, Offworlders?
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
FOLDERS LEAGUE UNITED: TROGDORIANGREY’S TEAM FORTRESS PAPERCRAFT
‘trogdoriangrey’ has created a papercraft template for what might be the cutest Team Fortress 2 character set ever, which covers the full lineup outside the above, and accessories for each (not pictured: the Sniper and his trusty rifle, and the Scout with his slugger).
Trog’s even gone so far as to add supplementary items like the sentry turret, and, via the photobucket repository, has a long list of other comic book and game creations like Gordon Freeman, Samus Aran, Resident Evil, Metal Gear, and even the second Castle Crashers knight that’s cropped up this week.
trogdoriangrey > papercraft [photobucket, via hellforge]
Previously:
- Knight folds: Crzisme's Castle Crashers papercraft – Offworld
- Electroparchment: Tubbypaws' papercraft Toshio Iwai & Tenori-On …
- Welcome to violence: Horrorwood's papercraft arcade – Offworld
- My Virtual Memory: Harlancore's adorable Nintendo/RPG papercraft …
- Getting crafty: Hattori's Kid Icarus diorama papercraft – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
HARD HAT ARENA: FIRST CONCEPT ART FROM FLASHBANG’S CRANE WARS
One last Flashbang update before the big touchdown tomorrow: the last time we saw their Crane Wars it was in very early prototype form, but the studio tells me that the half that wasn’t working on bringing Paper Moon up to date has been nose down on Crane.
To prove it, they’ve sent along this first teaser concept image, which, alongside the original (and still playable) prototype, is giving me even greater hopes for a more personified and arcade like Blast Corps than I’d had initially.
Previously:
- Swingers only: Flashbang's wrecking ball prototype Crane Wars …
- Star power: Infinite Ammo, Flashbang bringing Paper Moon to Blurst …
- Flashbang let loose a little Blush – Offworld
- Flashbang's Time Donkey proto mashes Cursor*10, WarioWare, Raving …
- Gimme Indie Game: the flails and flagellations of Flashbang's …
- Gimme Indie Game: Minotaur China Shop, happiness in shattery …
See more posts about: Blurst, Flashbang, Offworld Originals
THE CARDBOARD SEA: SEE INFINITE AMMO’S NEW PAPER MOON IN MOTION
With just a single short day to go before its new web-embedded release via Blurst, Infinite Ammo are showing off their updated Paper Moon in motion, giving you the full effect of how its various paper-cut planes will operate (if you’re one of the few that recall Wario’s foray onto the Virtual Boy, you should feel basically at home).
Designer Alec Holowka has said that like the short-burst arcade games that make up the majority of Flashbang’s own Blurst output, Paper Moon will have a time limit, but promises it’ll be “more flexible” than you might expect.
No word yet, though, whether it’ll retain an overt or hidden option for the original’s stereoscopic rendering.
New Paper Moon Trailer [Infinite Ammo]
Previously:
See more posts about: Infinite Ammo, Offworld Originals
ONE SHOT: MARIO’S PERSPECTIVE
Previously:
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, One Shot
DESTROY ALL MONSTERS: PLAY DEFENDER ON YOUR BANDCAMP STATS
Spotted by Tom and even more wicked than ESPN’s Konami code web-hack that made the rounds earlier in the week: flickr user (and apparent Second Life enthusiast? Second Life employee) Torley has just discovered that his Bandcamp stats page holds a secret — a playable version of Defender overlaid on his traffic graph.
The best part, notes Tom: “the more popular your band pages, the harder Defender gets.”
torley.bandcamp.com [flickr video, via Tom]
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
CORE RUSH: GAIJIN TEASE NEXT WIIWARE BIT.TRIP GAME
A low-bit rainbow-pixellated bird — the same one, obviously, as flew in to alert me to hidden envelopes being discovered around San Fransisco during GDC — has again dropped in with this new image, whispered something unintelligible about the next volume in Gaijin Games’ Bit.Trip series, touched a single wing-feather to the side of its beak, and flown off without a trace.
His appearance has reminded me, too, that I’ve still yet to make it through even the first challenge of the original Beat — so much for worries that the game would be all-show and no-play — though I did watch with no small amount of stupefied wonder as Flashbang’s Ben Ruiz quietly showed the rest of a small GDC party up by making his way through on his first attempt.
He remained stoic throughout: the only sign of weakness was a single bead of sweat slowly tracing a line down his forehead.
Bit.Trip: Beat [Aksys, Gaijin]
Previously:
See more posts about: Bit.Trip, Gaijin, Offworld Originals
ONE SHOT: NAMCO’S KATAMARI FOREVER
Katamari Tribute home [katamaridamacy.jp]
Previously:
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, One Shot
ONE SHOT: MOUSEVOMIT’S NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM MOUSE
Sadly, purely a design concept created in foam.
Nintendo Entertainment System Mouse [mousevomit, via Tom]
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, One Shot
MORE MEGGY MUSIC: DARIUS KAZEMI/JOSH BRANDT’S MEGGYSEQSYNTH
Every new video weakens my resolve: Darius Kazemi has uploaded new video of his previously mentioned MeggySynth, only now, he’s combined it with Josh Brandt’s sequencer MeggySeq for a standalone programmable/freestyle device.
More videos are available via his flickr, including a few of Everyday Shooter creator Jon Mak making his own Meggy music.
Previously:
See more posts about: Darius Kazemi, Offworld Originals
