Riddick

Okay, I finally got around to playing Escape from Butcher Bay (for the PC). A good game - some parts of it I wasn't much fond of (the excessive sidequests in the prison area, for example), but by and large it was great.

Great, but easy. Only two events caused me to die - very mild spoilers follow.

The first event was fighting the head guard - the guy with dreads. I didn't have a weapon, so that took a death. The second event was fighting the heavy guard robot. I spent literally an hour and a half unloading every bullet I had into his backside. He was the most irritating boss ever. He had this neat trick of stomping on you - even though his foot landed on the ground six feet away on the other side of a pillar. A lot of sudden, inexplicable deaths until I figured out that you weren't supposed to shoot him.

For most of the game, my favorite part of the game was the way you could attack someone who was armed and kill them with their own weapon. Slick stuff, there!

However, now that I've beaten it, my favorite part of the game was the audio associated with driving the heavy guard. It was a great touch to hear the soldiers: "We're DOOMED!" "Oh my god, someone stole a heavy guard!" "It's a fucking tank!"

Even better touch was the Heavy Guard's AI, with snarky commentary like "Battle analysis suggests: don't walk into things." "Battle analysis indicates: please read the instruction manual before operating unit." "Tactical analysis shows: for most effective use of unit, replace pilot." However, the level itself was pretty dull. Just blow things up, turn the corner, blow things up.

Overall, a fun romp. Well worth paying for. A few weaknesses in the plot and level design, but that's acceptable because there were a lot of strengths.

I haven't tried the director's commentary mode, but I think it'll be fun.