Dark Sector

"Worth the price of admission, as long as the price is low."

I recently picked up Dark Sector out of a bargain bin at my local blockbuster for $10. It had looked like a decent game during its development, but it got fairly negative reviews upon its release. Ever curious, I decided to give it a whirl. While I can safely say that the game was worth what I paid for it, I'm glad I didn't pay any more money than what I did. By no means is Dark Sector a terrible game, but it has some serious faults that prevent it from reaching the level of the games it attempts to imitate.

The story of Dark Sector is certainly nothing to write home about. You play as Hayden Tenno, a CIA operative. (To give you an idea of how good the story was, I actually had to look up his name while I'm writing this.) You attempt to infiltrate a small, fictional eastern European nation to kill its dictator. This dictator is going to use some loosely described doomsday weapon that somehow involves a freaky viral infection in a plot to destroy the world. You screw up early on and get infected, and then spend the rest of the game huffing it between brief cut-scenes that explain little and aren't that satisfying.

If it wasn't obvious from the above, the plot isn't anything special. It would be typical of a bad summer blockbuster at best, and a made for TV movie at the worst. It's not totally worthless: it features some good voice acting and a couple cool cut-scenes, and the transformation of Hayden from a weenie into a mutated badass is cool to bear witness to. However, everything else is just there as a frame for why you're killing what you're killing.

The technical aspects of the game are serviceable, but nothing amazing. The music isn't anything that'll stick in your ear, but there are some great sound effects during combat. There are some really memorable sounds: the sound of the Glaive whirring through the air, the yells of your enemies, the amazingly brutal bone-cracking snaps, and many more. The graphics function similarly: nothing special but nothing bad. My only real complaint is that too many enemies have a “shine” to them so common of next gen games that just looks terrible. It seems like they're trying to make the enemies look slime covered, but they just look shiny.

Dark Sector attempts to play as hybrid between Gears of War and Resident Evil 4. Gameplay is primarily focused around combat with the game's numerous enemy types, both with guns and Hayden's signature Glaive. The Glaive is the main focus of the game, and it has numerous uses in combat. Initially, it acts like a projectile that stuns enemies. As the game progresses, you'll gain more abilities for it that allow to steer it mid-flight or charge it with elemental powers to solve puzzles (like charging it with electricity and charging broken locks). The Glaive is fun to use and is truly unique among shooters, and is perhaps the game's best feature. The only bad thing about the Glaive is its melee ability: the hit detection is terrible for melee attacks, and the damage it deals is inconsistent. Sometimes an enemy can be downed with a single strike, other times it took upwards of ten for no real reason. There are a few really brutal up-close kills that look fantastic, but their limited number means you'll be seeing each one a lot.

The game also allows you to use guns. For the most part, the guns are unimpressive. This is mostly due to the “black market” system that is lifted straight from Resident Evil 4. During the game, you'll come across man-hole covers. Upon entering them, you can buy new guns and upgrade your current ones. However, there are very few different guns, and they're mostly just upgraded versions of the same weapons—there's the assault rifle, and the better assault rifle, etc. The system is inherently flawed due to the fact that you need to find upgrades in the field, along with money to buy guns. The upgrades are limited, and money is scarce. This makes experimentation with gun combinations much too costly, and I ended up sticking with the first guns I bought for most of the game. Pistols are fun to mix and match with the Glaive, but other than that guns are relatively useless.

Other than combat, the game presents some simple puzzle solving elements and key hunt type events. These are never difficult, and almost always involve charging the Glaive with one element or another to light something on fire, or freeze some water, etc. There are also a few bosses and vehicle sequences to mix up the rest of the action, there typically being one per level. Hayden will also gain new abilities throughout the game to make combat more interesting, but these aren't used enough to be that interesting. The biggest problem with Dark Sector is in its pacing. The game has ten chapters in all, and the game goes pretty slow until chapter five. It seems that as soon as the game picks up pace to this point it's over, leaving you disappointed at what could have been.

The game has multiplayer, but good luck trying to find anyone to play with. The main game is really only worth a single play through: the only thing you'll unlock is a harder mode, and you can't carry over weapons or upgrades. Ultimately, Dark Sector manages to be stunningly average in just about every respect. The Glaive is really the only thing that makes the game stand out, but it can't save the crushing average-ness of the rest of the game. It's worth a rental if you're bored, and I'm happy with buying it new for $10, but don't pay anymore than that for it unless you're hard up for a third person shooter.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/22/09

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