Great graphics, proper camera positions, great gameplay, great sound quality, but ehmm.. nogirl???
The story of CoR:EFBB starts with a cinematic of Riddick (the main character) fighting a beast in a cave on a planet covered in snow where Riddick is in hiding. (this is also the same place where the movie Chronicles of Riddick begins). After the beast is slain a voice begins to speak with Riddick, the voice tells him that he cannot escape his destiny, he then says "I can escape anything" and then the voice says "Like Butcher Bay?". Riddick then repeats "Butcher Bay" to himself and so our story begins. The story is pretty much a flashback of what happened and how the movie lead to the events of Pitch Black. You start out in a dream level which is a tutorial that teaches you how to play, after this is over you are told to wake up by your captor Johns. Johns is bringing you to the triple max security prison Butcher Bay, that apparently no one has ever been able to escape from, until now...
Gameplay:
This game blends very unique elements into one solid game, everything this game tries to do it achieves. The game is a blend of FPS, Stealth, Action and Role-Playing. At the beginning of the game you start out in a cell with a small prison yard, you must begin the game by fighting other cellmates using your fists, shivs, screwdrivers, et cetera. The cool thing about this is it all takes place in first person view. The punching is also very realistic, instead of just clicking the mouse button to rapidly punch someone you actually can push certain buttons to punch in different directions and do stronger or weaker punches. You can do this with any melee weapon you come across. There are also guns, obviously, and thats probably the part you care about the most. Well you won't be disappointed you won't be super thrilled, because the game isn't all about the guns. However the guns you can get is a Pistol, Shotgun, Rifle, Grenade, Minigun and a Stungun. Although it may not seem like alot of weapons the weapons are incredibly fun to use, especially the stungun which is a large portion of the game. The most common gun you will have is the shotgun. The minigun is also a very exciting experience, although you walk very slow while carrying it it does substantial damage and holds a whopping 4000 shots. The cool thing is that you can just drop it on the ground and pick it up again and your back at 4000 shots! You also get to use a Riot Guard suit which is a mech like armor suit with 2 big rotating machine guns, one on each arm. This is incredibly fun to use and is actually unique to the PC version of the game. Sadly this part of the game is fairly short. However you eventually towards the complete end of the game get to use a Heavy Guard which is a real mech that has a minigun on the left arm and a on-contact grenade launcher on the right arm. This is probably the more fun of the two since you walk around mowing down everyone, however there are other robotic enemies who do pose a threat to you. Another large portion of this game is stealth, you will have to do alot of sneaking and silently killing guards and occasionally hiding their bodies. So don't go thinking this is all just a runa nd gun game. There is also alot of missions where you have to run from location to location finding items and retriving things and giving them to other characters, which involves alot of talking to NPC's and running around. But overall this is a very fun and engaging game, sadly there is no multiplayer.
Graphics:
The graphics in this game are amazing, as long as your computer is decent enough to run the game obviously, a low framerate can cause problems, and you wouldn't be able to get the most out of the game. I would personally recommend that you have a better system then the requirements on the box, since those requirements are for minimal performance, and unless you want the game to look like a slideshow you will want to make sure you have a pretty good computer. Anyways the game uses normal mapping technology to create vivid and intense environments, and although most of the game takes place indoors in crowded hallways the game is very nice to look at. There are the odd issues here and there but not really worth mentioning since they are hardly noticeable.
Sound:
The music in the game does a good job of making a movie type feel to the game, but not in a bad way, it really makes you feel like your there experiencing this for yourself. The music gets very exciting when your fighting guards or when you have been spotted, but otherwise remains very calm or silent when your roaming by yourself. But when there is music going on it's very exciting and sounds greats. The weapons also all sound terrific and the voice acting is amazingly well. Even if your not a big fan of Vin Diesel he does an excellent job of maintaining his character and does and excellent voice over, along with the other characters who all have excellent voice acting. The guns all sound realistic and sound how they should sound, everything is up to snuff.
Value:
This may be the only part where the game falls short, because the game is only a single player experience once you've completed it theres nothing really left to do, since it has no multiplayer. However, the game has a load of bonus content for you to unlock, and also after you complete the game you unlock the commentary mode where you can listen to what the developers have to say about all the parts of the game while you play through it. It's like the exact same thing as a commentary on a movie, or if the developer was sitting right next to you telling you everything you need to know. However the single player portion of the game is worth it along and since the games starting price was very low your getting a very good deal.