The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (2004) (VG)

Director:

Tom Keegan

Writers:

Mikael Säker (head writer) and
John Zuur Platten (writer) ...

Release Date:

1 June 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Plot:

Set before the events of "Pitch Black", this game tells the story of how Richard B. Riddick obtained his ability to see in the dark...

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Warrior | Prequel | Set In Future | Blood

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Vin Diesel	...	Richard B. Riddick (voice)
Cole Hauser	...	William J. Johns (voice)
Kristin Lehman	...	Shirah (voice)
Xzibit	...	Abbott (voice)
Willis Burks II	...	Pope Joe (voice)
Ron Perlman	...	Jagger Valance (voice)
Michael Rooker	...	Centurion / Jack (voice)
Arnell Powell	...	Jupiter (voice)
Dwight Schultz	...	Hoxie (voice)
Steve Blum	...	Rust (voice) (as Steven Jay Blum)
Joshua Leonard	...	Coyne / Two Tongue (voice)
Joaquim de Almeida	...	Mattsson / Silencio / Zuni / Fateen (voice) (as Joaquim de Alemeida)
Arthur Burghardt	...	Booger / Haamid / Thunder / Wilkins (voice)
Lombardo Boyar	...	Theo / Zlonzo / Barassa (voice)
Michael Chinyamurindi	...	Jamel-Udeen / Lambert / Barney (voice)

Country:

USA | Sweden

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Uppsala, Uppsala län, Sweden

Company:

Starbreeze Studios

Trivia:

First game to have a commentary mode. (PC Version only)

Quotes:

Hoxie: I should just have them put slugs in both your heads right now!
Richard B. Riddick: Why ruin a nice carpet?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Game One: (#1.1)" (2006)

Unusually Good Movie Tie-in Game

Games based on movies have a history of being poorly designed and made within a short space of time to cash in on the buzz surrounding a popular current movie release. Escape from Butcher Bay isn't based on a specific movie but the Chronicles of Riddick franchise instead and fills in a gap in the storyline that a novel would ordinarily fill.

With Escape from Butcher Bay things look good from the beginning, as we have Vin Diesel doing all of Riddick's dialogue and a surprisingly realistic computerised representation of the character, Vin Diesel put in the time being scanned, motion captured etc. which is rare for any game featuring the actual actor out of a film or TV series. Another credit to Diesel is that he created his own game company, Tigon (a Tigon is a Tiger-Lion hybrid) which I assume made this game happen in the first place. Diesel's voice acting is of a high standard and the storyline is well thought out and keeps up interest the whole way. As far as first-person-shooters go Escape from Butcher Bay is among the best I've played and anyone who owns or has access to an Xbox should give it a go.