A great shooter, its a breath of fresh air in a genre thats packed with stale shooters.
Good news is that straight from the off you know this game is special. It is one of the few games that opts for HUDless first person perspective and this really add to the whole movie feel of the game. The story is good enough to keep you playing. You are Riddick, a much sought after criminal for reasons we do not know. He's sent to butcher bay, the inter-galactic Alkatraz, nobody has ever escaped from it. The best thing about this game is undoubtedly the atmosphere. The prison seems like a living breathing character all by itself with unwelcoming, murky, damp corridors. This is the perfect place to house the most cynical physcos out there. Which brings us to the inmates. They all have their own agendas, voices, names, behaviour. You truly feel like you're a minute figure is an altogether massive complex. The beginning of the game sees you as trying to find a way out of this place whilst helping the other inmates in return for information in how to do that. But not all inmates are friendly and you qucikly find yourself making enemies. Its nothing ground-breaking but nontheless it does have to be experienced.
The graphics are sublime. The developers have explored every nook and cranny of the Xbox and have pushed it to its limits. Some of the modelling and textures look next generation they are that good. The HUDless display gives the game a fresh of breath air. Unique touches have overcome the problems of a HUDless display. Remaining bullets are shows on a little screen on the guns themselves and perhaps the greatest feature of this game is stealth. Click the left thumbstick and you'll crouch down, find a dark area to hide in and you vision widens and has a slight blue tint to it. This exemplfies the fact that you are in the darkness, then its a simple case of sneaking behind a guard and snapping their neck. This becomes a major part in this game: hand to hand combat. Being an inmate you don't get access to guns all throughout the game as all guard weaponry is activated by DNA, so each gun is specific to each guard, try to pick one up and you get a nasty shock. You can feel a little helpless at times but unarmed combat is a real treat in this game. For a first person shooter its surprisingly good, pull the right trigger to punch, left trigger to block. Press up, down, left or right before you punch and you can perform a lunge punch, uppercut or left and right jabs. Sounds simple but can produce effect combos like: left,right, uppercut. If you get your timing right you can really lay into an opponent without taking any damage, who needs guns?
The sound is fantastic. Background construction noise can be heard from time to time which add to the atmosphere. Guards will yell and taunt you during firefights. Inmates will call you names. Punching people in the face and shooting guns all make very satisfying sounds.
Gameplay is where i feel the game is a little let down. The game picks up pace really well with all the interaction that takes place between inmates but then as quickly as it happened it disappears and you find yourself clinging to the shadows wherever you go. And generally its good old doom formula find big door to get to the next bit, big door needs keycard, find keycard, backtrack a lot, get keycard, go all the way back, open door go to next bit. But to be fair this mainly happens towards the end of the game.
Taking the game as a whole it really is fantastic. Get yourself surround sound and a widescreen and this is an experience to stay with you for a long time. Its very atmospheric, the graphics are without doubt the best this generation can offer, the sound is great, the gameplay is decent. If you're looking for a good shooter other than Halo you've definately come to the right place.