The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay - Xbox

The game is actually a prequel to the film Pitch Black, which means that Riddick is still a highly unpleasant serial killer and there’s none of the naff, sub-Dune style mumbo jumbo from the newer movie. The only problem with this is that pretty much the whole game is set in an extremely murky and often rather monotonous looking prison. Monotonous in the most attractive way possible though, as this is certainly the most graphically impressive Xbox game yet seen. The use of light and shade is superb and the models for the all the characters and monsters are some of the best ever seen in a video game.

Perhaps the biggest surprise though is that the now ubiquitous stealth sections are actually the best bit, with Riddick’s showpiece ability to see in the dark implemented extremely well. This more than makes up for the odd dull sub-quest, and the relative lack of gunplay, and adds further variety to what is easily one of the Xbox’s best games yet. --David Jenkins