For as many years as can be remembered, video games based on movies have been the worst of the bunch. You pretty much know what to expect when you see them on the shelves. Leave it to Vin Diesel and a mediocre movie about a convict who can see in the dark to take that previous statement and ram it down our throats. Amazingly enough, with all the bad hype and rush job developments of games from movies in the past, Chronicles of Riddick is a diamond in the rough, a great big shiny diamond that will smack you in the face and yell "I don't suck!"

As the story goes in CoR, you play Richard B. Riddick, the anti-hero who is captured for unspecified crimes by the bounty hunter Johns and is taken to the slam, otherwise known as the Triple-Max security prison, Butcher Bay. Taking place before the events of the ho-hum movie Pitch Black, the game explains the appearance of Johns and the events which led up to Riddick’s unique visual talent during the first few segments of play. After you are brought in to the slam for a nice long stay, you must then work your way around the different levels of the prison looking for weapons, contacts and most importantly a way out.

CoR is, without a doubt, a game that will make your mouth drop when you start playing it. Using a technique called “normal mapping”, every needed surface is shiny, reflective, and 3-dimensional. It all looks like a realistic, breathing world. Lights and shadows react perfectly and enemies react to those lights and shadows just as well. Sneaking up on an enemy while he catches a glimpse of your shadow can put you in a world of hurt but that also leads to more of the interesting parts of game play. The hand to hand fighting found in CoR is phenomenal. Give a guard a punch in the face and his face will welt up and rock back. A guard has a gun? You can wrestle it away from him and have it turn against him while he is still holding it. Also, while you are weaponless and undetected, sneaking up on an opponent and snapping their necks is just as rewarding.

The bad rap of being a FPS game for a console is totally forgettable as other aspects of the game come in to play. When you climb a ladder, a crate, hide inside a vent shaft or any other of the multiple moves that Riddick is capable of, the view switches seamlessly to third person view and lets you control yourself much easier being able to see the surrounding areas. It seamlessly switches back to first person view when you are done with your acrobatics. Weapons are non-existent for the first part of the game, but when you finally do get your hands on them they are all well done. Shivs you can hide in your pocket so that rail defense systems don’t spot it and kill you. Shotguns and assault rifles that you remove from guards are all nicely done and sound like they mean business.

Riddick is best known for his unique “eyeshine” ability which allows him to see in total darkness as though it were daylight, and blinds him if he looks at regular light without protection. The lighting in hallways and flashlights on the end of some of the weapons add a clever element to this aspect of the game. As long as you have a weapon, you can destroy light bulbs to cover your approach and to keep your presence cloaked in darkness where you can see perfectly. Having a guard shine a light in your direction is blinding for you, but very good for them. It leaves you scrambling for cover to avoid the hail of bullets that will soon follow.

The voice acting is nothing less then flawless. Vin Diesel, being a gamer himself, would be ashamed if he allowed any game to have voiceover’s that was anything less. The animations are right up there at the top of the scale as well. The first person fighting animations are great as are the facial movements and expressions. Ragdoll physics are in place for deaths but thankfully they aren’t over done like some games where it just seems too floppy as the bodies never stop twitching and moving. The enemy A.I. is also spot on with enemies diving and rolling out of the way, although there were times where a guard would spot you through a closed door and even shoot at you through it. Thankfully it only happened once or twice and that was about the biggest glitch found.

Although Riddick may not be the longest game on the market and the replay value is pretty much non-existent with only Live Aware and no multiplayer to be had, for doubters and non-believers alike, Chronicles of Riddick is absolutely one of the best Xbox games ever released. Period.