Making a mockery out of the notion that translating movies into videogames generally results in cheap cash-ins and forgettable titles, Chronicles Of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay worked the other way round. While not directly based on either of the Riddick films, it proved to be one of the finest games of its year, while the cinematic franchise concurrently managed to nosedive.

It was unsurprising, therefore, that news of a follow-up emerged, although Assault On Dark Athena isn't really a full sequel in the usual sense of the word. In a way it's a little better than that, and also a little worse.

For this is a package of two halves. On the one hand, you have a remastered version of the original game, re-engineered to take advantage of the power of modern games consoles. And then you also have a brand new chapter, Assault On Dark Athena, which proves to be the weaker but still enjoyable half.

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The game kicks off with Butcher Bay anyway, and it doesn't take long to remember why it was so good. A very atmospheric first person shooter at its base, the game also demands clever and regular use of stealth (which for the most part works exceptionally well, with a couple of odd glitches). The idea, as the title hints, is to escape from the Butcher Bay prison.

As you'd expect, it's not an easy place to get out of, and as such it's a fairly tough mission you have to undertake. But heck, it's excellent fun. The combat works well, the tension ratchets up to fever pitch at times, and while there are a few niggles that have remained untouched as part of the spring-clean the game has enjoyed, it's still hard not to conclude that the game remains very strong indeed. And with its new clothes on it looks superb.

The second and new chapter, Assault On Dark Athena, isn't quite as good. The Dark Athena is a merc ship, and again the idea here is that you have to escape. The problem, though, is that there's been little desire on the part of the developers to do anything other than give you more of the same.

There's less demand on stealth, and thus the new chapter is more action-packed than the first. But it's best to temper expectations and think of it simply as further adventures of Riddick, rather than any attempt to rip up the template or build substantially on what's gone before.

That said, considered together it's hard to knock what you get here on a sheer value for money level, particularly if you've never tried Butcher Bay before. Dark Athena may be unambitious, but we still enjoyed it. It's just that we were expecting something a little more after so many years.

In short, you get effectively two good single player games here, but you don't get the proper Riddick sequel that we're still left waiting for. Time, hopefully, will remedy that.

A real bargain, with effectively two games for the price of one. But the wait for a full-on Butcher Bay sequel continues.