'The Chronicles of Riddick' video game Q&A

What happens when the game is better than the movie? Sequel time!

By Paul Semel

Posted February 9, 2009

Special to Metromix

The movie may have gone down in flames a few years back, but when Starbreeze Studios announced that they were working on a remake of “The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay,” it was actually considered a good thing.

The original was one of those rare instances when a video game was better—and better received—than the movie that inspired it, and went on to become an influential title on its own with its fisticuffs and first-person perspective.

Now called “The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena” (and coming this spring for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC), the game boasts not only an all-new “Riddick” game and an update of “Butcher Bay” but multiplayer modes as well.

To get the lowdown we spoke to Ian Stevens, the head of game production for “Riddick” star Vin Diesel’s Tigon Studios. He began working on “Dark Athena” as the game’s lead designer at Starbreeze.

Originally this was just going to be an upgraded remake, but a merger led to a change of publishers to Atari, and you ended up with enough time to conceive what amounts to a whole new game. What exactly got added?
The depth of the “Butcher Bay” remake increased considerably. We literally went back and recreated every bit of sound, every character model, every texture and every environment. We added weapons, did better animation, created new AI—everything that could reasonably be done, we did.

[The game] was originally going to be a remake with some added content. But the merger took nearly a year…and we worked on it the whole time. The scope had grown to more than ten times its original design, and then we were given more time on top of that. As a result, “Dark Athena” grew into its own game, and we were also able to do a lot more with multiplayer than we originally intended.

Will the “Butcher Bay” part be relatively the same as it was?
All of the improvements we’ve made to the core gameplay elements of “Dark Athena” retroactively become a part of the “Butcher Bay” remake. We also, based on feedback, made some tweaks to some areas of the original game. For example, it’ll be a lot harder to get lost in the mines now.

Besides recording new voiceovers for the game, how else has Vin been involved in “Dark Athena”?
Vin has always been heavily involved in shaping the “Riddick” universe. He’s particularly passionate about multiplayer gaming. But we also have a great new cast for “Dark Athena,” including Lance Henriksen and Michelle Forbes.

What can we expect from those new multiplayer modes?
It’s the first time we’ve brought multiplayer to the “Riddick” universe, so we really tried to focus on gameplay that’s unique to that world and its characters. We have two unique modes: Pitch Black and Butcher Bay Riot.

What happens in Pitch Black?
It’s this really intense experience that pits Riddick against as many as six Mercs. The entire map is black, absolutely no lighting at all, but Riddick can see in the dark and each Merc has a flashlight. Riddick can also run faster than anyone else and has more health, though he’s only armed with Ulaks [curved blades]. As a Merc, you can arm yourself with one of many different weapons, and if you manage to kill Riddick you’ll play as him in the next round.

And Butcher Bay?
It’s a team-based game that pits prisoners, guards and Mercs against each other. Each side tries to push a power cell into an enemy’s base. Success gives you credits toward better weapons, armor, etc. in subsequent rounds. That weapon economy can do a lot to change the dynamics in each round.