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The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is a video game developed by the Swedish developers Starbreeze Studios set before the events of the movies Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick. The Xbox version was released at the same time as the movie in June 2004 and a Windows version was released in December. The likeness and voice of the movie's star, Vin Diesel, are also used for the game's main character, Richard B. Riddick. The game surprised many gamers, as most movie-to-game translations are poorly received by reviewers and fans alike, relying on their license to sell. Escape from Butcher Bay, on the other hand, received a good deal of critical acclaim, and was generally viewed as a very accomplished and innovative experience. Reviewers often commented that Butcher Bay was actually better than the accompanying movie.[citation needed] There is a special x64 version of the game available.
A sequel was announced in 2004, but nothing has been heard of it since.[1][2]
GraphicsChronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay was one of the first games to use normal mapping (preceding Doom 3 by a few months), giving the textures a rougher, more in-depth appearance and making the game characters and environments appear more photo-realistic. Riddick was also recognized for its option to use soft shadows, which gave shadows a much smoother look as opposed to the clean-edged shadows found in games such as Doom 3 and Quake 4 GameplayThe game functions as a prequel to Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick movies, with combat sequences featuring first-person fighting and gunplay. The game also mixes stealth with combat, restricting the supply of ranged weapons and forcing the player to rely on makeshift knives (also called a shiv) and clubs.
Stealth is also approached in a unique way. To let the player know that Riddick is concealed, the screen will tint blue. Another innovative feature is the total lack of heads up display and crosshairs (Minus a small health display that appears when damage is taken and a red dot-like crosshair). StorySpoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The story begins with Riddick on an ice-ridden planet, running from a vicious creature. His appearance is somewhat different than that of the Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick: he has long, unkempt hair and a thick beard. Riddick escapes into a cave and eventually takes down the creature. Upon doing this, a strange woman's voice, who is apparently named Shirah, begins to ask about his "shined" eyes (that allow him to see in the dark), or his "gift," as she refers to them. He reveals that he received them on a "stop" he took at Butcher Bay... He begins to recall a memory in which he was in the custody of William Johns, a bounty hunter. He and Johns were en route to Butcher Bay, a triple maximum security prison, one of the few in existence in the galaxy, where Johns was going to sell Riddick. Upon arrival, the warden and proprietor of Butcher Bay, Hoxie, gives Johns a not-so-pleasant greeting. Apparently, Johns owes Hoxie a debt, and Hoxie wishes to take in Riddick in place for his debt, without paying Johns anything, but Johns wants pay instead. They agree to negotiate further inside, but, for the meantime, Riddick is imprisoned in the single max area of the prison. After given the "rundown" on Butcher Bay by Abbott, a corrupt high-ranking guard in Butcher Bay, Riddick is put into his cell and promptly deloused, or sprayed for body lice. Shortly after, a fellow inmate named Barber informs Riddick that another prisoner, Mattson, is "talking as if he knows him." Riddick doesn't appreciate this and confronts him. This, naturally, scares Mattson, so he then agrees to give him a shiv stashed in his cell to "make things right." When Riddick discovers there is no shiv in Mattson's cell, he is immediately ambushed by two other prisoners. After confronting Mattson again, he says that Rust, leader of the Aquila Majors gang (and whom Abbott uses to keep the prisoners in line), made him do so, but, to prevent Riddick from attacking him, Mattson agrees to give him a shiv personally and tells Riddick to wait for him in his cell. When Mattson reaches Riddick's cell to give it to him, Rust has apparently followed him. He demands the shiv back, stating that "if he wanted a blade, he [should go to Rust]." Riddick refuses, angering Rust to the point of attacking. Riddick easily parries his attack and puts Rust into a headlock, threatening him with the shiv. Abbott shortly arrives thereafter, making Riddick unhand Rust. After the debacle, there begins talk among the inmates of Rust seeking revenge on Riddick. Riddick heeds this, then travels to Cell Block A, the Aquilans' territory, to confront Rust. After dealing with Rust's lackeys, he and Riddick have a showdown, with Riddick coming out as the victor. Abbott shows up, asking Riddick if he wishes to be his new "rooster," which would make him "king" of the single max area as a result; Riddick declines. The defeat of Rust brings him praise (and perhaps, a small bit of resentment along with it) for giving the prisoners some peace, if not for a few days. After Riddick defeats Rust, Haley, a prisoner and former guard of Butcher Bay, informs him of "the Pit," a chasm in which unruly, troublemaking inmates are thrown down. He then reveals that Riddick should get his hands on an Assault Rifle, which are all DNA-encoded, preventing unauthorized people that touch them to be electrocuted by a safety mechanism inside the rifle; Riddick must then get to the DNA Encoding mainframe, which can be entered through a path from the infirmary. Haley states that the gate guard to the infirmary, Bulder, owes him a debt, so Riddick uses this to coerce Bulder into letting him into the infirmary. While there, Riddick defeats both of the guards stationed there, treks to the mainframe, enters his DNA, retrieves a rifle, then battles back into the courtyard. Apparently (mostly due to Riddick's escape to the mainframe, and him killing Rust), riots have been breaking out all over the single max area, which causes the guards to open the Pit, which will also allow Riddick to escape down it. Battling through legions of guards, Riddick reaches the Pit, but is shot in the arm by a guard with a shotgun, causing him to drop his rifle. He lunges at the guard, taking both of them down into the chasm; Riddick survives by breaking his fall with the guard. Armed with the dead guard's shotgun, which has a failing flashlight, he begins his travel towards "Narc-Land," the guards' quarters and, more importantly, the location of Abbott. Upon beginning his path to Narc-Land, Riddick confronts creatures later referred to as Dwellers. Dwellers, apparently, are prisoners who were thrown into the Pit and were mutated by the toxic waste also thrown into the Pit. After locating an exit, he reaches an odd gentleman named Pope Joe, an escaped prisoner who resides at the bottom of the Pit. Pope Joe agrees to stich up Riddick's arm, the blood from which is attracting the Dwellers, and show him a passage to Narc-Land if he can retrieve his "Blessed Voicebox," a tye-dye colored radio that picks up religious programming. Riddick does this, and Pope Joe holds up his end of the bargain. What happends next is one of the most important moments, not only in the game, but in the entire "Riddick" series. Upon receiving stitches on his arm, Riddick demands how to get to the guards' quarters; Pope Joe obliges him, but before Riddick enters the passage, time stops, and a woman's voice, Shirah's, explains to him that she is "going to give [him] a gift," because he "has been blind for far too long." It is at this moment that Riddick receives his trademark Eyeshine, which allows him to see in the dark. Bewildered, confused, and blinded, Riddick immediately grabs Joe by the throat, demanding to know what he did to him. Pope Joe replies he merely repaired his arm, but, after noticing his newly "shined" eyes, he asks Riddick, "what do you see?" Riddick simply replies, "everything....". After entering the guards' quarters' showers, Riddick dons a Civil Guard uniform, allowing him to walk among the guards without being detected. He reaches the entrance to the Spaceport Hangar, only to realize it is locked by a retinal scanner; Riddick then deduces that he'll need Abbott to enter the hangar, so he begins his search for Abbott's quarters. He gains entry into them by tricking Abbott into thinking he is simply delivering a package to him, but Riddick quickly learns that Abbott is expecting him; Abbott immediately opens fire upon him as Riddick enters. He manages to defeat, but not kill, Abbott, due to Johns interloping before Riddick could deliver a kill shot; Johns then informs him that he and Riddick are leaving Butcher Bay, so that Johns can sell Riddick to another prison. However, Hoxie quickly intervenes to prevent either from doing so. After some somewhat violent "negotiating" in Hoxie's office, Johns is coerced into selling Riddick for a lower price. Riddick is then promptly sent to the Double Maximum security area near the mines under Butcher Bay. Upon arrival, Riddick finds out that the only person who knows how to get back to the Spaceport Hangar is a man named Jagger Valance, who happens to control everything in the mines, but the only way for Riddick to even get into the mines is with a pass, a pass that Abbott possesses; the best way Riddick figures to get to Abbott is to cause a little trouble in Tower 17, where Riddick is currently located in the Double Max area (in game, he can either do this by defeating all of the ring fighters or getting caught with drugs by the guards). After he is apprehended, he is taken to an area where there is no surveillance, so the guards, including Abbott, can have their way with Riddick. He warns the guards that "[they] don't know what they're fucking with;" strangely enough, Shirah, the mysterious voice, begins speaking to Riddick again, telling Riddick that he possesses "a fury within [him, and] set it free." All we witness is Riddick letting out a vicious howl and guards being flung in all directions. All of the guards are dead, with the exception of Abbott, who immediately begins to fight with Riddick. After a particularly difficult battle, Riddick obtains Abbott's keycard and uses it to enter the mines, and, due to no surveillance, the prior battle "never happened." Riddick immediately seeks out Jagger Valance after entering the mines, who gives him a task before he'll will help him get to the Spaceport Hangar: Riddick must enter a gas-filled cave and retrieve a package that belongs to Jagger; he can't do this himself because his lungs aren't what they used to be (he constantly and laboriously coughs through the conversation). Riddick retrieves it and returns it to Jagger, who then informs him that the gas filled cave is above a den of alien creatures that can be released with a well-placed bomb, a bomb that Jagger knows how, and where, to get. He gives Riddick a keycode to travel through the vents of the Feed Ward to Tower 19, where a man named Jupiter supplies him with a beer can bomb. But, as soon as the exchange takes place, two guards open fire on both of them; Jupiter dies, but Riddick leaps onto a home box being transported through the mines. After an eventful journey back to Jagger Valance, Riddick returns to the gas filled room and plants the bomb. After exiting the cave, a Riot Guard captures him, and then he is taken to a home box to be transported out of the mines, but the bomb explodes, derailing the home box and dropping Riddick and the two guards with him down into the unexplored parts of the mines. All three recover from the crash, and Riddick is released from his restraints, then a guard begins to scout for a way back to civilization, while the other keeps an eye on Riddick. After the scouting guard leaves sight, Riddick makes short work of the guard and begins to travel back to civilization as well, but something begins to stir in the darkness as Riddick walks the "abandoned" mines. The alien creatures, called Xenos by Butcher Bay denizens, begin to surface and attack everyone. Riddick slaughters through the Xenos to reach an abandoned guard equipment center. To exit the center, Riddick uses a large drill to create a hole through an iron gate. Finally, Riddick traverses the Xeno catacombs back to the Spaceport, where Jagger Valance is waiting for him, but before they can escape, once again, Johns appears and prevents both from doing so. After a short scuffle, Riddick stabs Johns in the ribs and manages to relieve him of his pistol, allowing Jagger to shoot Johns; he accidentally shoots Riddick instead. Guards show up and shoot the armed Jagger Valance and, again, capture Johns and Riddick. Back in Hoxie's office, Hoxie has Riddick taken to the Triple Maximum security area, the CryoSleep Pyramids. Riddick is then placed in a cryonic sleep and is awoken every day for approximately two minutes in the Exercise Room, a futuristic-looking area that has such words as "sunset" and other pleasant words placed on the walls of the room, apparently as part of rehabilitation. Here, he gets two minutes of exercise every day, after which, he is artificially incapacitated and placed back into his respective sleep box. As the days go by, Riddick's exercise time slowly begins to overlap with another inmate's exercise time, and, eventually they both enter the Exercise Room at the same time. Riddick uses this to his advantage, who enters the other inmate's sleep box and is taken to the Pyramids. After returning to the Pyramids, Riddick kicks out his sleep box from them, breaking it open. He grabs an iron bar broken off from the box and, just as he is about to escape, his sleep mask kicks in and, since two minutes are up, knocks Riddick out. Riddick awakens to an alarm and attacking bots. Along with the use of stealth and subterfuge, he fights his way to a Heavy Guard bot. Riddick pilots it and rampages his way back to the Spaceport. When it appears that Riddick is cornered, Johns shows up with a ship and "rescues" Riddick. Perhaps being either naive or just too trusting, Johns gets knocked out by Riddick, who then precedes to escape Butcher Bay; a guard then blasts a rocket which hits the wing of the ship, sending it out of control. Riddick manages to crash the ship into Hoxie's office, demanding the codes to his private ship. Hoxie refuses, activating a security feature that sets off an alarm and sends Hoxie into a sort of armored shell impervious to firepower. This also releases his personal robotic guards. Riddick, with the help of a shotgun and more so from a minigun, defeats Hoxie's personal guards and uses their rocket launchers to blast open Hoxie's "shell." After acquiring his codes, Riddick dons a guard uniform and, along with Johns, escape to Hoxie's private ship. The guards, which pay no attention to the disguised Riddick, rush to Hoxie's office. Here, they immediately open fire on "Riddick," who is really Hoxie bound to a chair wearing Riddick's goggles and wielding a Assault Rifle. The warden, and owner, of Butcher Bay is now dead. After witnessing Johns and Riddick's escape, we are returned to the present on U.V. 6, where Riddick recalls his recent visions of the Necromongers that we see in The Chronicles of Riddick, which comprises Necromonger ships and other symbolic icons. This scene chronologically leads up to the introduction into the Chronicles of Riddick film. Major CharactersSpoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Richard B. Riddick - the fictional anti-hero and protagonist of TCoR: Butcher Bay. Riddick possesses many physical and mental abilities much higher than normal humans. He has been taken to Butcher Bay by bounty hunter Johns to be sold. Riddick creates many problems and causes much havoc during his stay in Butcher Bay. Due to this, he is captured and relocated multiple times, from the Single Maximum security area all the way to the CryoSleep Pyramids. He even creates what could be consired "hierarchial" and "systematic" fiascos for Butcher Bay, along with other disasters: he kills Rust, who was Abbott's "puppet," whom Abbott uses to control Single Max, which, in turn, causes prison-wide riots, then kills Abbott, second-in-command to the warden, Hoxie, releases vicious aliens that rampage through the prison mines, and even kills Hoxie. At the end, he eventually escapes with Johns, the event that which leads up to The Chronicles of Riddick. William J. Johns - the bounty hunter that captures Riddick and takes him to Butcher Bay. Mostly simply called "Johns." After capturing Riddick (before the beginning of the game, by undisclosed means), he precedes to take Riddick to Butcher Bay prison, where, apparently, he got into a sort of altercation with Hoxie, the warden, that was possibly financially charged. Johns and Hoxie has constant problems trying to get Hoxie agree to his demands for Riddick's bounty and also, after deciding that he wishes to sell Riddick to another prison, retrieving Riddick out of Butcher Bay. After Riddick defeats Hoxie's personal guard, Johns escapes with Riddick. Hoxie - the proprietor and warden of Butcher Bay. He apparently has a preexisting relationship with Johns, and, due to this, they have difficulties agreeing on a price for Riddick. At the end of the game, Riddick tricks the guards into thinking Hoxie is really Riddick, causing them to kill the warden. Abbott - a corrupt, high-ranking prison guard and second-in-command to Hoxie, the warden. Abbott has enormous pull in Butcher Bay. A squad leader, he wears red armor, and, instead of the signature hat, wears dark, black shades. He immediately gets involved within a feud between he and Riddick early on after he begins to create trouble with Rust, a pawn Abbott uses to control the inmates. He meets his fate at the hands of Riddick. Pope Joe - an inmate who somehow got into the Pit and currently resides there. He claims to have prophetic visions, making such claims as he was expecting Riddick to find him in the pit. Only after retrieving his "Blessed Voice Box" will he allow Riddick to proceed to the guards' quarters. Spoilers end here.
PC VersionThe PC version of the game also featured a "Director's Commentary" setting that allowed the player to interact with speech bubbles that appeared in-game in certain areas. By doing so, players were treated to various observations and decision making processes that the developers had gone through for those sections that the bubbles are found in, providing insight into what went into the design of the title. In addition to the "Director's Commentary", the player can now use a Riot Guard (which was cut in the Xbox version) and there are three more cigarette packs for the player to collect, making a total of 62 packs in the PC version. Cast
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