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 gaming: the chronicles of riddick
 to access audio and video on collective you need real player.The Chronicles Of Riddick. All of them. In 2000, a small but compelling sci-fi horror film seemingly came out of nowhere. A refreshing exercise in low-budget genre filmmaking, Pitch Black hybridized motifs familiar from Alien and stranded-in-space movies like 1964's Robinson Crusoe On Mars. Fast forward four years and we have a big studio and several collaborating production companies attempting to build an instant franchise, offering us a cross-medium selection of cultural items: a movie, a game, an anime, a novel and a bumper new DVD edition of Pitch Black (rebranded The Chronicles Of Riddick: Pitch Black). Oh, and some action figures are lurking out there too.My suspicions about franchise culture regularly surface in these columns, as I wonder about the quality controls in place for creativity that's so much the product of extreme business contrivance. But then you have to remind yourself, almost all cultural items are made in a commercial context, despite how much we relish myths of creativity. (Hell, even Michelangelo's work for the papacy could be considered a kind of franchise – Sistine II: The Last Judgement). Of course, videogames and mainstream movies aren't so readily considered as art in many quarters, but we still idealize their status. Just think of how upset thirtysomethings feel about the direction the Star Wars franchise has taken. The irony is that Lucas, despite creating films beloved of us as kids in the 70s, is one of the key figures in the development and consolidation of modern franchise culture, pushed to its money-milking extremes.  The Chronicles Of Riddick franchise can be seen as the bastard offspring of the Lucas cultural model. Interestingly, the whole franchise is very mixed in terms of success and quality. When Pitch Black was made, on a budget of $20m, sequels and spin-offs weren't the intention. However, the film was so profitable that it became inevitable. Now we have a slew of new stories, interconnecting and expanding the Richard B Riddick character. One problem, however, is that Riddick worked so well in Pitch Black because he was mysterious, but still of credible proportions. For the 2004 feature film, Riddick is suddenly a superhuman of mythic dimensions – he's not just a (dark) hero, he's expected to be the saviour of the universe. The film is spectacular and not half as "Riddick-ulous" as the US press seemed to think, but it's also bloated with delusions of grandeur. But then, how could it not appeal to David Twohy's and Vin Diesel's egos to create a $100m-plus film wherein their boy saves the universe? Elsewhere in the franchise is Dark Fury, a 45-minute anime by Peter Chung (Aeon Flux, Animatrix: Matriculated). This film essentially picks up where Pitch Black left off. It's stylish stuff, and helps give more detail to the wider universe of the 2004 feature, but it's not revelatory. Which brings me to the game. Considering the critical mauling received by the film, the game has fared very well, with the reception being entirely positive. Gamespot.com gave it a “9.3 Superb” rating, with even the frequently reticent Edge magazine granting it an above average 7/10 (5/10 being average). Rottentomatoes.com's “Tomatometer” has the film at 30 per cent, while the game's reviews average out at 96 per cent.  The game adds backstory to the Riddick character, revealing the truth about his see-in-the-dark eyes, as well as stylistically bridging the gap between Pitch Black (defined more by its lower budget and use of photographic techniques and miniatures) and The Chronicles Of Riddick (defined more by ambitious, expansive CG and blue/green-screen work). It also shakes off the perennial problems of games related to films: it doesn't try to repeat a film's narrative or offer a poor cousin to the parent film's imagery or action. Instead, it provides stealth with a twist, thanks to Riddick's special vision. But the real reason Escape From Butcher Bay works is that it suits the Riddick character – he's not saving the universe, he's serving himself. The character we met in Pitch Black was robust, cryptic and selfish, which so very much fits the medium of a single player, narrative-based game.
Daniel Etherington
The Chronicles Of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay is available now on Xbox. The Chronicles Of Riddick, on national release 27 August 04.
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