Chronicles of Riddick is a breakout success
Believe it or not, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay (above), an Xbox game starring Vin Diesel, is one of the best of the year. Which is all the more amazing considering that it's tied to a film by Hollywood -- notorious for spawning mediocre games. Diesel -- who still manages to look like a bald raver here -- delivers surprisingly strong voice-overs, mainly because his comments are minimized. Players guide his character, Riddick, through an escape from the dark and futuristic Butcher Bay prison. Players experience the action from a first-person camera angle, but don't call it a shooter game. This game is a stealth action game played in tight, shadowy corners akin to Splinter Cell. And when Riddick fights -- with a wealth of punches, kicks, combos, and increasingly powerful weapons -- he rampages with Doom-like havoc. It's M for Mature and reached stores in early June.
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN Who are these 3-D simulations presuming to be Daniel Radcliffe and crew? They look a little rough and certainly don't resemble the H. P., Ron, and Hermione from the third Potter movie installment. This game plays loose with the book's plot, too, challenging players to fights neither in the book nor movie. Its best features are its role-playing elements, which allow players to toggle between Harry, Ron, and Hermione and to manage their unique skills and possessions. 
