Players find an enjoyable 'Escape'

The game is based on Vin Diesel's latest film.
By JOHN GAUDIOSI
WASHINGTON POST
THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK: ESCAPE FROM BUTCHER BAY,
Vivendi Universal Games/Tigon Studios/Starbreeze
It's been a while since this happened, but somebody has managed to crank out a movie-based game that's playable for more than 10 minutes. Although "Escape From Butcher Bay" was produced by actor Vin Diesel, the star and producer of this summer's "The Chronicles of Riddick" movie, the tie-in here is less direct than usual; "Escape" takes place before "Pitch Black," the 2000 flick that itself served as a prequel to this summer's release. In other words, the game's developers didn't have to follow or re-create the plot of any of these movies.
Good game
Perhaps as a result, "Escape" turns out to be one of the best-looking first-person shooters yet on the Xbox and one of the most enjoyable Hollywood-developed games since "Spider-Man 2" or "The Lord of the Rings." Its challenge -- getting Riddick out of Butcher Bay prison, a place that makes Alcatraz look like Sesame Street -- is made trickier by the requirement that you battle through the first part of the game without using any weapons.
During this period of hand-to-hand combat, the game's plot moves along through inmate interactions that make "Escape" feel a bit like a role-playing title. Once weapons enter the picture, however, the game transforms itself into an outstanding first-person shooter. And as an entertaining finish, the latter part of this title puts you behind the controls of a Mechanized Assault Vehicle, which inflicts monstrous damage on everybody and everything in its path. The lack of any multiplayer support here is puzzling, but it doesn't dent this game's appeal.
Details: Xbox, $50.