Off the Map

The game knows your real-life name, date of birth and blood type because you entered them all when you started the game, though you've long since forgotten that (a.k.a. The Earthbound Magic Trick).

I love Arsenal Gear because it stands as a monument to something games do not do. It gets a lot of hate, but that doesn't seem entirely fair. Every time the original MGS did something gamers didn't expect, like the Psycho Mantis battle or getting Meryl's codec number from the back of the CD case, it was praised. So Kojima goes on to make an entire section of the sequel post-modern on a scale we haven't seen before or since, but it doesn't work. Fans are confused, or at worst outraged. And that's really sad. MGS2 is before its time like no other game, and it's an awful lot easier to enjoy it in retrospect.

The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay: These Subheads Are Getting Ridiculous Now - Cryo Facility

Now we're talking.

This game has such a phenomenal structure. Following the tutorial you're led, shackled, into a gargantuan prison on a barren planet. You don't know why you're being locked up and it doesn't matter. As you're led in through the walls you're told We Have You At Last, and Nobody Escapes From Butcher Bay, Not Even You and Don't Even Think About Escaping.

Everyone's so concerned about the whole you-escaping thing that you begin to wonder if you got arrested for possessing illegal quantities of badassitude. As you look upon the sky-puncturing towers, bars and reinforced security doors of the prison your goal is crystal clear. Your enemy is right there. You have to escape Butcher Bay.

So they put you in maximum security, and over the first third of the game you study your surroundings, escape them, get caught, and get put into double-max. It's deep underground, crueler, darker, dingier and even more restricted. Over the next few hours you search for a way out, escape through it, get caught, and get put into triple-max.

You grip the pad. You turn and tilt your head as far as it'll go to stretch your neck. You are Riddick. Nothing can contain you. What's next?

What's next is instead of being buried somewhere even deeper, danker and more dangerous, you wake up heavily sedated and in a space-age white room with other triple-max inmates wandering around in a daze. You're so dangerous they're keeping you asleep in a locked pod with only two minutes a day for exercise. Monday turns to Tuesday turns to Wednesday. There is no way out.

In the case of triple-max, this twist in level design is there as both a fun surprise and an added challenge. Triple-max is actually an interesting case study as to how developers can employ player deceit and confusion safely. The sedation of the player doesn't feel at all cheap or annoying because the game's taken pains to make you feel like a badass for so long, and has taught you that there are ways out of every stage which are very satisfying to find. Cryo Storage simply makes escaping from Butcher Bay more varied and satisfying experience, as you've proved yourself in a greater breadth of challenges.

There are going to be some people out there who dislike the previous three levels we looked at, but Riddick's triple-max section is inarguably good with the single flaw of being a touch short. It's a shame Assault on Dark Athena couldn't muster up anything similar.

In closing, and because I'm pretty sure it's coming - no, Arkham Asylum's scarecrow levels don't count. Cute as they are, it'd take a very special boy or girl to not realise Batman's been gassed (again!) and besides, the game tugs you through those sections like a child keen to get home. Besides, it's too early to take a trip to that particular district of spoilertown just yet. Let's let all the would-be Batmen out there have their fun first.