Digital Nightfall on 19/1/2010 at 20:40
Weird. I really enjoyed Dark Athena, and felt that it was in many ways (but not all) better than Butcher Bay.
But then again, I never played the original Butcher Bay - only the version bundled with Athena. Maybe playing them both back to back allows one to enjoy the second installment.
gunsmoke on 23/1/2010 at 13:17
I am kinda curious why they had to remake Butcher Bay. I mean, the PC version was cutting edge, and today you can play it with a ridiculously high resolution with full AA/AF to clean it up even more. The textures and bump/normal maps are pumped up tons higher than the Xbox version, too.
So, what sort of things did they add or change in the Dark Athena version? Is it noticeably better looking, and most important...is it still as well optimized and scalable as the original ver. was?
EvaUnit02 on 23/1/2010 at 13:50
The remake project came about from not being able to get the game going through the 360 backwards compatibility. They optimised the game specifically for the Xbox 1 platform, squeezing every ounce of power from it, to the point where it just couldn't be emulated on 360. It was one of the most asked for games that people wanted emulated on 360, so instead of leaving them hanging they pitched this project to the powers-that-be of the time.
The "Assault on Dark Athena" addon was originally going to be just a tiny side mission but after the game was dropped by Activision in the Vivendi buy out and picked up Atari, it ballooned into a fully blown campaign. Atari gave them more time and money to develop it.
Fragony on 23/1/2010 at 14:43
Quote Posted by Digital Nightfall
But then again, I never played the original Butcher Bay
When it was released it was really something special, time caught up so Arena might seem better, but it's hardly impressive.
Digital Nightfall on 23/1/2010 at 17:00
I don't follow your argument, Fragony. How does time catching up make Arena [sic] seem better but be hardly impressive? From my point of view Athena did seem better, and was impressive.
Is there some type of temporal anomaly that is effecting my brain patterns allowing me to be impressed by something that is not as impressive as it should be? ;)
Jashin on 23/1/2010 at 19:53
Athena's more of the same and a bit worse and more predictable.
The biggest reason the original was so taken is cus of its "prison break" premise, which not only fascinated a lot of people, it afforded the game the opportunity of a few mini games, a bit of free-roaming, etc, making it a kind of a pseudo-rpg for a bit.
EvaUnit02 on 24/1/2010 at 09:07
What the fuck is Arena? If you're talking about The Elder Scrolls 1, what relevance at all does it have to either version of Riddick?
june gloom on 24/1/2010 at 10:02
I think Fragony just pulled an English!Fail and meant to say Athena.
oh shit he's going to correct my English now oh no
Fragony on 25/1/2010 at 09:55
Quote Posted by dethtoll
I think Fragony just pulled an English!Fail and meant to say Athena.
oh shit he's going to correct my English now oh no
Actually it's a dork-fail, yeah guilty. :thumb:
Bjossi on 25/1/2010 at 20:20
Quote Posted by gunsmoke
So, what sort of things did they add or change in the Dark Athena version?
Let's see...
* Ammo system destroyed.
* Quick saving is gone.
* Gun sounds degraded.
* Graphics turned into a blurry mess (Why the fuck do people think good graphics emulate nearsightedness?).
* The menu system both looks and feels far less interesting.
* Graphics options are minimal at best (For example forget about playing this with a 4:3 or 5:4 monitor without letterboxing, unless you like messing around with config files).
I may be forgetting some. :)
