Five years ago a little known game studio called Starbreeze released a game for the Xbox based on the Vin Diesel starring Sci-Fi actioner Chronicles of Riddick, itself a sequel to the little known low budget Sci- Fi horror Pitch Black, also starring Diesel, Escape from Butcher Bay.

In the process they managed to produce one of the best games of the last console generation. The Chronicles film reviewed badly and bombed at cinema's, failing to generate a sequel in what was a planned trilogy of films. The game, much like Riddick himself, appeared from the shadows with little hype and with both it's visuals and its playability, as well as the brilliant realisation of Riddick's dark, grungy, Sci-Fi universe, took everybody by surprise.

Unlike the film, the game has spawned a sequel of sorts: The Chronicles of Riddick, Assault on Dark Athena, is a retread of the original game (with the obligatory new-gen lick of paint) and is releasing soon on both P.S.3 and 360. The demo is up on X.B.Live now and is due to appear on P.S.N. next week.

So what do you get? The original game, a new single player campaign and multiplayer modes. I've played the demo. It is starting to show its age, but the quality of the original still shines through all of that darkness and the Heavy Metal Sci-Fi looks are present and correct, resulting in a game that, even during the short time that I spent with the demo, dripped as much atmosphere as it did the obligatory blood and bullets.

The multiplayer portion of Starbreeze's follow up game to Butcher Bay, another adaptation, this time of wildly popular and wildly violent comic The Darkness was utterly borked from the start, crippling lag ruined an innovative and potentially very enjoyable multiplayer experience. Hopes are not exactly high, therefore, for the online component of this new edition but early buzz seems to be quite positive.

Vin Diesel, a well known fan-boy himself who is rumoured to have spent hundreds of hours with, amongst other games, World of Warcraft, seems to be a person who instinctively understands games as an emerging medium with the potential to render a certain type of Hollywood film redundant. Certainly, he seems committed to continuing the existence of the Riddick universe and character via a series of triple 'A' games.

Did you like the original game? Are you going to buy this one? Let me know.