Metascore
80 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 26 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 26
  2. Negative: 0 out of 26
  1. One of the year's best deals in gaming. [May 2009, p.78]
  2. 90
    Players looking for a pure stealth game will be disappointed, but everyone else will find in Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena a healthy mix of action, stealth and heavy weapon gameplay.
  3. The new contents are not as good as the original games, and the enemy AI could have been improved, but without doubt this is one of the most interesting launches of recent months.
  4. Solid mechanics, lavish presentation, and strong audio all combine for one great gaming value.
  5. An excellent game that would have breached the 90% barrier had it been a little bit more substantial and erred less on the combat side of things. [June 2009, p.62]
  6. With the economy on the ropes and gamers finding it harder to purchase game, you will not find a better deal than Assault on Dark Athena, which gives you two single player campaigns and a multiplayer component for one price.
  7. For fans of the Original (TCoR:EfBB), this is nothing but a "must have". But everybody else, who's simply looking for a good, brutal shooter with stealth-elements and a cool main character, should definitely have a look too! Personally, I'm sure you won't regret it.
  8. While all of the work that went into Dark Athena is appreciated it doesn't change the fact that the pacing and level design in the original game far outshines that of anything that the expansion really brings to the table.
  9. With two great games that will take somewhere in the region of 15-20 hours to complete, superb presentation and a sense that you're playing something different to the norm, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena comes highly recommended. If it weren't for a few unfortunate bugs and the odd strange design decision that score below this paragraph might even have been a notch higher.
  10. The news of Riddick's comeback made my subwoofer purr with delight. The rough Vin Diesel adds a truckload of mood to this excellent and diverse game. And when I finally reclined in my armchair after five solid hours of action, I was in for a surprise - the end was not yet in sight! [May 2009]
  11. Not in any way groundbreaking, but two games in one and hugely entertaining nonetheless. [Issue#18, p.52]
  12. Unfortunately Riddick hasn't evolved much in the years since Escape from Butcher Bay, while the genre definitely has. Five year old gameplay doesn't compete well with next gen games, though Riddick still copes well.
  13. Pain needs a mate and finds it in two grim dark tales of outlandish brutality. Escape from Butcher Bay gets a facelift and expands with the more versatile Assault on Dark Athena. The devil is in the details, and this devil is named Riddick.
  14. A brutally enjoyable stealth shooter that revisits and builds on the success of the original Escape from Butcher Bay. [May 2009, p.84]
  15. There are many reasons to dislike Diesel, this isn't one of them. [May 2009, p.92]
  16. The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena has a lot of content to shuffle through, especially if you've never played Escape, so it's totally worth getting.
  17. It may not be as good as the predecessor, but it's still a good game that can glue you to your chair for more than 10 hours. Vin Diesels voice is a bit over the top this time, there's only so much coolness one can bear.
  18. The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault On Dark Athena is a well made action title.
  19. The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena gets stuck in one gear for too long. Even though the game has many same aspects as the great Escape from Butcher Bay, the pacing is bad and the action forces you to run through the same corridors over and over again. The included Escape from Butcher Bay is still a masterpiece, however. [Mar 2009]
  20. The experiences of "Butcher Bay" are superior to the new chapter in playability, level designs and possibilities of game.
  21. The Chronicles of Riddick: AODA tries to combine several genres into one single game. The result: an average game with nothing but mediocre aspects. Vin Diesel's presence and the Riddick-license make the game enjoyable nonetheless and additional to the Assault on Dark Athena campaign, there is a full next-gen version of the original Escape from Butcher Bay game. Sadly though, this remake does not live up to modern day standards.
  22. 74
    The first half of the game, Escape from Butcher Bay, certain shows its age, but is still an innovative game. The sequel, however, comes off as a poor imitation. It's far more frustrating and seems more shooter than anything else. It's not a terrible game for a sequel, but it's inferior to Butcher Bay.
  23. At the end of the day Dark Athena doesn't stand next to the original title. It lacks the innovation, and on top of that, the new campaign missed much of what made Escape from Butcher Bay so grand.
  24. New revelation of "sighted" hero brings more action and less stealth than its predecessor but keeps gameplay still enjoyable. When the dark atmosphere is gone we are thankful for multiplayer. [Apr 2009]
  25. A remade classic and a passable sequel meet in this fun but inconsistent package.
  26. Akella, Russian distributor of the game, pulled a crazy marketing stunt. In addition to the regular PC release, it sells the game as two independent halves – Escape from Butcher Bay and Assault on Dark Athena. My gut reaction was to scold Akella for greediness, but now I see that this is an unintentional benefit. You buy the remake of one of the best action games of 2004, and forget about its defective 6-hour appendage.
User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 58 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 18
  2. Negative: 2 out of 18
  1. DejanN
    3
    Game without option to assign weapons to keyboard!!!!! and it is rated 8? How easy it is to please people! Good physx? Constant sliding, whole game is like "gravity generator" level. This game is a joke. Full Review »
  2. MrA
    8
    Great game overall. Great story, graphics, and gameplay. Escape from Butcher Bay is a classic and deserves to be played by everyone However, Dark Athena leaves you wanting more as it starts off great but goes downhill from there. Also the graphics create a very lit effect which can hurt your eyes if you play too long. Also its said that after being upgraded to next gen there is no save function only checkpoints. This is somewhat annoying since some parts of the game are free roaming and you have to pass a checkpoint in order to save. Full Review »
  3. martint
    3
    I am voting for the whole product. The game itself is great, the remake is better then the athena part but you will enjoy both if you like this kind of fps. The product is totally overpriced. You can only install it on 3 PCs because of drm. A hardware change, e.g. a new vga card or an os re-installation will use up one installation. There is no revoke tool available. You have to phone a support hotline to get more and you have to state a legitimate reason before you get one - try this in the middle of the night. This game is a rental at full-price, it has no resell value. Do yourself a favor and wait until this game is available in the bargain bin for 10 bucks without drm in a year or so. The game is great, the product is horrible. Full Review »