Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Dark Athena - Atari publishing, PC ver confirmed - by EvaUnit02
Volitions Advocate on 13/4/2009 at 00:53
Quote Posted by sh0ck3r
For thems that knows, is this worth picking up if only for the original game and are the graphics substantially better?
No. [EDIT] make that: no if you already own efbb. but yes if you don't.
the EFBB part is basically exactly the same.. except with better lighting.. i suppose.
The lighting is messed up because its supposed to be artsy I guess. I found the original efbb to be a little foggy to see but it was supposed to help with the grimy atmosphere.
The only thing you gain is post processing effects like motion blur and depth of field. I personally find the melee fighting to be harder for some reason. I can't win in a hand to hand fight because my old combo's dont work.
Substantial differences:
The Prototype Rifle is... different somehow. I dont understand how it's suppoosed to be used but it doesn't really make any sense.
The Dweller section is a great deal shorter
the shotgun flashlight lifetime is extended to 6 minutes over the previous 2 (i think) and you dont even have to go find the valve to open the gate to talk to pope joe. as well the part afterward where you find the radio was shortened. Or at least it sure felt much shorter and less difficult, the flashlight didn't go out before I managed to get my eyeshine.
The Minigun has infinite ammo when you pick it up. or at least it has no ammo readout.
The ammo system is completely gone. Instead of keeping track of how many clips you have, it shows how many bullets you have. which has a much smaller cap. (64 for shotgun, 156 for AR) and rather than losing whats left in your clip when you swap, it gets recycled like most traditional FPS's, this personally I found disappointing, i really liked the old ammo system. Also your expended clips actually have physical presense in the world and bounce around rather than just being a HUD animation.
They obviously didn't update a lot of the lip syncing problems because in EFBB they are exactly the same as the original, whereas in Dark Athena they're practically spot on, and the characters have really great facial expressions.
It has only been about a Year since I played efbb last so I think my memory is pretty accurate, but I could have remembered a couple of facts wrong.
Bjossi on 13/4/2009 at 01:59
The minigun had infinite ammo in the original as far as I can remember. And the flashlight of the broken shotgun in the dweller section of the game definitely lasted longer than 2 minutes (4 - 6 would be more like it, can't remember the correct number though).
But why, why did they have to ruin a perfectly good ammo system that actually made more sense than ones in most other shooters? :(
Volitions Advocate on 13/4/2009 at 06:31
The minigun had 5000 rounds. iirc
Also.. the Shotgun sucks...
And theres a really great leaning feature built in now. Its a hold button and you wasd the direction you want to lean. Including UP if you're crouched. Cool mechanic.
The position riddick holds his gun is also context sensitive based on where you're standing. he will actually poke the gun around the corner for you to give you a little more space to hide while shooting.
michaelg on 15/4/2009 at 02:53
But is Dark Athena worth the extra bucks? Seeing as I've played EFBB a couple of times now, I'd like to know if the new content is worthwhile, or as Gamespot says, missing some of the things that made the first game so unique.
EvaUnit02 on 15/4/2009 at 03:32
Quote Posted by Volitions Advocate
And theres a really great leaning feature built in now. Its a hold button and you wasd the direction you want to lean. Including UP if you're crouched. Cool mechanic.
That mechanic is in the original EfBB as well.
Phatose on 15/4/2009 at 04:32
Quote Posted by michaelg
But is Dark Athena worth the extra bucks? Seeing as I've played EFBB a couple of times now, I'd like to know if the new content is worthwhile, or as Gamespot says, missing some of the things that made the first game so unique.
Not at the current price. It's not bad, but it's not quite as good as EfBB was, and it's fairly short.
Thirith on 15/4/2009 at 06:45
Sounds like I'll wait until it's budget. After all, I recently replayed EfBB and I've got more than enough other games on my plate right now.
I watched a video comparing the visuals of the original game on the XBox and the X360 remake. Perhaps it's just my memory playing tricks on me, but I thought that the original on PC (with everything turned up all the way) looked closer to the remake than it did to the XBox original.
mothra on 15/4/2009 at 09:21
the pc version was insanely good when it came out (regarding visuals). the xbox version was worse and had half or 1/3 the resolution of the PC version (and worse shadows and textures). so yeah, to me the video didn't look that improved for EfBB either. I just hate the ludicrous installation limit on PC. I'll wait for a crack first so I can play order a legal copy and then disable the limits/online activation.
gunsmoke on 15/4/2009 at 14:19
Dude, Butcher Bay was when it shipped, and possibly still is, the best looking Xbox game ever. DooM 3 and FarCry are the only close contenders.
It also brought non-standard gameplay to consoles. Stuff like no H.U.D., no reticle, ammo counters on the actual weapon itself, stealth that felt good, 1st-person fighting that honestly felt like you were in the fight...I could go on. Revolutionary. I fired it up last week, and yeah, the resolution is lower, but it is nonetheless GORGEOUS despite it.
Bjossi on 29/4/2009 at 16:41
I just bought the game today and I'm not too happy with the remaster of EfBB.
Here are a few things I noticed:
1. It may just be my memory playing tricks on me, but I don't remember the original to be so damn shiny, and it is like they ramped up the contrast to ridiculous numbers in addition.
2. What the fuck did they do to the shotgun and assault rifle? They make wet farts sound like gunfire now. What could possibly be the reason why someone would voluntarily wash out gunsounds and make them much worse than the originals? It is seriously puzzling me. And what is worse is that this is a growing trend in today's shooters.
3. The game feels more fast paced and smaller in scale. Again, it may just be my memory (haven't played the original in a long time). I felt the same way about FEAR 2; it is like the game world is more distant from the first person view, for example in the first fist fight in the EfBB remaster it feels like Riddick can throw punches much farther than before.
I got the original EfBB handy somewhere on my ext. hard drive, it'll be interesting to see if I'm right about 1 and 3.
Aaaanyway, I'll be starting Assault on Dark Athena later tonight, hopefully I'll enjoy that more since it doesn't have a superior, older brother like the new EfBB does.
