Dark Sector

"Fun glaive action is worth at least a rental."

A Review by Bill Lange

BOTTOM LINE: Innovative, fun glaive gameplay barely makes up for the derivative presentation, nonsense story and wooden characters.

While playing through Gears of War, at any point did you think, "This game is great, but needs more gimmicks! I'd love to be able to chop a Locust Drone's head off at long range!" Dark Sector is little more than a GoW rip-off that focuses to a fault on the fun of lopping off limbs and heads with a bladed boomerang.

Our hero is Hayden Tenno, emo assasin extraordinaire. With his hyper-brooding attitude and perfectly coiffed hair, this guy's name could easily have been Sigh Darkdemeanor. After whining his way through some badly presented backstory and exposition, Sigh is sent into the fictional country of Lasria to track down Mezner, the Russian stereotype du jour.

It's never explained exactly who Mezner is and why he is spreading a virus that turns its victims into sweet-looking metallic badasses. At any rate, he is overshadowed by his intimidating silent sidekick, a seven foot tall metal man that will make the creators of the Japanese manga/anime series The Guyver either blush or call their lawyers.

The opening stages of Dark Sector bring on a very familiar Gears of War vibe; your gun-toting, gruff hero can get into cover with a button press, ready to spring out to unleash one of your two weapons that can be carried at any time. It's very generic and very boring until Hayden is infected, at which point his arm starts to turn into metal and an awesome razor-sharp throwing disc sprouts from his hand for no adequately-explained reason.

At this point, the glaive becomes the main focus, and is obviously the centerpiece of the game. A toss of the glaive can maim and decapitate the various nasties wandering around Lasria. As the player progresses, various other powers are unlocked, making it even more fun to chop up bad guys. Hayden eventually becomes a near-invincible engine of destruction, slicing through screaming soldiers with ease.

Compared to the glaive, the gunplay feels dated and dull. You'll likely only fall back on your guns when presented with an overwhelming number of enemies at once, and since the cash necessary to purchase weapons is at such a premium, you won't be able to buy every gun available.

Since enemy weapons have been tagged with infection sensors that self destruct after a few seconds, a trip to Lasria's thriving black market is essential, but before you go shopping you'll need to track down some Lasrian rubles. While visiting a black market, various upgrades can be added to guns, upgrading firepower, accuracy and clip size, among other attributes.

Dark Sector looks gorgeous, the one benefit of a lengthy production time. Enemies are diverse and colorful, and the ruined, depressed backdrop of a run-down country is always amazing. Extra attention was paid to the main character's animations and appearance, making him come alive on the screen.

After enduring the tedious final boss fight and confusing ending, don't bother getting too excited. You unlock a harder difficulty setting, but you can't carry over your powers, weapons and rubles into a new playthrough. It would have been nice to run through the game again, this time with every gun and power unlocked from the start. Since Dark Sector is a 10-15 hour game at most, the lack of extra content doesn't make much sense.

You could try taking a stab at online multiplayer, but it's clear that it was tacked on at the last minute as a bullet point for the back of the package. Glitchy and filled with bugs, the simplistic head to head modes offer a temporary distraction at best.

Dark Sector leans too hard on its blade-tossing gimmick, neglecting control issues and AI problems. It's also very hard to care about the story and characters, meaning the fast and furious action is the only anchor keeping you in front of your television. It could be worse, but Dark Sector could have been so much better.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/18/08

Game Release: Dark Sector (US, 03/25/08)