Here is an example of a game that in my opinion is worthy enough for a sequel but is not so good as the original (in this case The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay). Why? Let's find out shall we.
The one thing that attracted me to these games was the stealth element. And Escape From Butcher Bay really delivered on that one. Assault on Dark Athena (AODA) follows most of the gameplay elements established in the original but deviates from them as well where stealth is not really encouraged much. Sure you could approach most maps slowly and methodical and take your time progressing. Only that got very tedious at one point. Too many of the environments looked similar. You could predict when you had to be stealthy and when you would get a shooting sequence. The further you got into the game the more the emphasis was on giving you more and bigger action putting you against mechs and such. Even the inclusion of spider bots that came out of nowhere. Maybe this sounds appealing yes. But trust me it made the game a little repetitive. I think this could have been avoided had they given you more different things to do. There are two side quests which could have provided that but the game does not really make it worth your while so I skipped on the second one. To save more time I often went for shooting my way through (which is very untypical for me since I love to play stealthy) especially once you get the SCAR gun. This marvel does not require ammo and can blast enemies away very easily from long distances. It is insanely overpowered. In hindsight that was a good thing because I hate to think about how long it would take me to finish the game otherwise. But..............
I did feel compelled to keep playing the game since there was enough sci fi goodness in this game to keep me happy. As a cinematic adventure AODA holds up really good. It does manage to draw you into the little story and let's face it, it is always interesting to see Vin Diesel play a character taking on whoever gets in his path. The atmosphere and ambiance of the game certainly aids in making you feel like the badass that Riddick is.
A nice addition to the franchise and proof that it is possible to make good video games based on movies.
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