Dark Sector is a third-person shooter from Canadian developers Digital Extremes, whose biggest claim to fame is that they helped Epic make the Unreal games. They?ve released a few titles on their own, but in all honesty, none of them were very good. Not exactly a great pedigree then, so how does Dark Sector hold up?
Well, I consider it a bad sign when the manual for a game makes no mention of the game?s plot, or even gives the main character?s name, so imagine my trepidation when I started to play. If I lived in a perfect world, all video games would be plot-heavy character pieces with sharp dialogue and gameplay that supports the story like a well-made bra; but I don?t have my perfect world so sometimes I have to make compromises. If a game is fun, then I can forgive weaknesses in the story. This works in Dark Sector?s favour as it seems to have as much use for a plot as Paris Hilton has for a Large Hadron Collider.
Actually, that?s not entirely fair, Dark Sector does have a plot, but it?s very much an excuse for the gameplay. Dark Sector casts you as Hayden Tenno, a reluctant CIA assassin with a murky past who is sent into a fictional Eastern European country to take down a maniac with a man-made biological weapon. Fairly early on, and somewhat predictably, Hayden gets infected and grows a Death-Frisbee out of his right arm, which he makes good use of as strives to complete his mission. Add in a double-cross and a woman from Hayden?s past and that?s pretty much all you need to know. As plots go, it?s no Bioshock, but as a vehicle to drive the game, it does ok.
On paper, Dark Sector sounds like one of the worst games in the world. It takes a dab of Resident 4, a few teaspoons of style from late-eighties anime hero The Guyver, the tiniest pinch of Heavenly Sword, the weapon out of Krull and a couple of massive handfuls of Gears of War and mixes them all together. It would be easy to dismiss the resulting soup as a derivative mess not worth your time, but it holds together surprisingly well.
Now, when I say that Dark Sector has a lot if Gears of War in it, I mean it in the same way that New York has a lot of Americans in it. I?m assuming that Digital Extremes realised that they did their best work with Epic, so they ?borrowed? bits of Epic?s recent hit. The resemblance to Gears of War is uncanny, to the point that even the sprinting animation has the same shaky camcorder look. It?s at its strongest in the combat as running headlong into a fight will get you killed very, very quickly, so you have to hide behind pillars, crates, low walls and other bits of stuff strewn about the levels and pop out from cover to fire, exposing yourself to harm with every shot. Luckily for Hayden, a few moments rest will restore him to full health. Sound familiar? I imagine it does to the millions of people who own Gears of War. Dark Sector certainly isn?t going to win many points for originality and that might put some people off, but the game isn?t entirely without new ideas.
Firstly, the Death-Frisbee, which I refuse to call a glaive, because a glaive is a sword on a long stick and not a razor-tipped boomerang, is like the Swiss-Army Knife of weapons, ignoring for the moment that the Swiss-Army Knife itself is a much better contender for the title. Aside from the fact that it?s an insanely sharp whirling instrument of death that can slice limbs off unfortunate foes, it can bust open locks, grab distant ammo caches or weapons and it?s instrumental in solving the assorted puzzles in the game. Utilising the after touch system borrowed from Heavenly Sword and the Death-Frisbee?s ability to store fire, electricity or ice for a short time, Hayden can open malfunctioning doors, burn away the infection lingering on architecture, create makeshift cover out of sprinkler systems or simply, really badly hurt his enemies. The puzzles are rarely difficult, and are often more about aiming properly than really figuring anything out, but it?s a nice break from shooting people or frisbeeing their legs off. The Death-Frisbee also lights up like an Indiglo watch, which is a useful, if odd, power as many of the levels in the game don?t have great natural lighting. Finally, the Death-Frisbee is Hayden?s primary melee weapon, but it seems oddly ineffective when used in this way.
Digital Extremes have added a few more tricks to the combat to differentiate it from Gears. Hayden principally fights soldiers of the fictional country he?s stuck in, but the soldiers have come prepared to fight an outbreak of the bio-weapon, and all their guns are fitted with devices that render then useless after a few seconds when picked up by an infected creature. It adds an interesting dimension to the proceedings, especially in the later levels when ammo is scare. Firing at full auto, desperately trying to get off as many shots as possible before the weapon deactivates is actually quite exciting. This mechanic is supported by Hayden being limited to two guns, a rifle of some description, and a pistol. He has the Death-Frisbee as well, but he can only use it when wielding his pistol, and while it?s undeniably powerful, Hayden must wait for it to return to his hand before he can throw it again and it?s range is rather limited. The only way for Hayden to get a weapon that won?t burn out before he can even fire off a full clip is by buying off black-market arms dealers, who hang out in sewers. It?s also the only place Hayden can install weapon upgrades. The additional level of depth to the weapons stops the game from feeling too much like Gears of War, although admittedly, it does it by making it feel a bit like Resident Evil 4 as well.
The game is also full of nice little touches that show that the design process consisted of more than borrowing Epic?s homework twenty minutes before class. The game use the Havok physics engine, so objects not nailed down move in that pseudo-realistic way that always happens when Havok is involved. You can shoot grenades out of the air, or if you?re a good shot, hit them with the Death-Frisbee. When you burn away the goo that often blocks the way, it burns with a green flame. You can electrify water using stored lightning, killing anything that happens to be stood in it. Basically, it?s full of little things that make you go, ?oh that?s cool? in a pleasantly surprised tone. Digital Extremes have also managed to make a game that is simultaneously more and less violent than Gears of War. The curb stomp finisher in Gears was pretty grisly, but Dark Sector ups the ante with dismemberments, snapped spines and slit throats, and yet it somehow manages to feel less gratuitously gruesome. I?ll admit to being baffled as to how they managed it, but I?d be lying if I said I didn?t admire them for it.
It?s good news for all the graphics whores in the world too, as the game is simply gorgeous, if a little monochromatic in places. The game?s palette seems to consist of grey, dark grey, even darker grey and black, but every now and then it?ll surprise you with a vivid orange or a warm yellow. OK, it?s not really a big deal but it makes a nice change from the unrelenting ?grittiness? that seems to be omnipresent in modern games. Orange is good, I like orange. I like blue more, but I?ve already mentioned that I don?t get to have my perfect world, didn?t I? Anyway, back on topic, the game is dripping with high resolution textures, bloom effects, dynamic lighting and all the other aesthetic tricks that are almost a legal requirement these days. Hayden has quite a fat head, but that?s pretty much the only graphical gripe I have and it gets covered up with a cool helmet later on anyway.
The level design is essentially linear, but the developers have put in lots of little nooks and crannies to explore and secreted ammo, cash or weapon upgrades in many of these crevices. Aside from sounding like a custom official?s best day ever, it?s a nice little bonus for investigating. Sadly, I do have to knock off a few points for the lack of originality. Castle? Check. Abandoned Town? Check. Ruined Factory? Check. Sewers? Alas, check. I can say with some authority that they?re some of the prettiest sewers I?ve seen in a game, but that?s because I?ve seen a lot of them.
There are other problems in the game as well. There?s also no blind firing, so you have to come out of cover to attack. The black market arms sales, which are a great idea, are hampered by the fact that each weapon is really expensive. I might not have spent hours hunting down every handful of change in the game, but even if I had, I?m not sure I?d have been able to afford too many, certainly not enough to warrant the locker feature in the black market screen, and would it be too much ask for the arms dealers to sell those little metal things that you put in guns, you know, bullets? I said that ammo was scarce in the later levels, but that isn?t strictly true. I had plenty of ammo, just not for the weapon I had. The ammo caches that were so common in the early levels seem to dry up later on and I?m not sure if it?s by design or just an unhappy mistake, and I certainly can?t decide which would be worse. The combat can get fairly repetitive at times, although that is ameliorated by the fact that the game auto-saves after nearly every fight so the game can be played in bite-sized chunks. There are quick time events too, usually when Hayden is grappled by some mutated townsperson, and you have to hammer a button not to get chinned, but irritatingly, it?s a different button each time. It takes the patience of a saint not to propel the game disc into traffic when some stray tentacle kills you near the end of a long boss fight just because your thumb was tired.
To sum up, Dark Sector is a pretty solid game with enough personality to set it apart from the titles that inspired a lot of its gameplay. It looks great and it?s fun to play, and while it?s hurt by its lack of originality in places, it?s certainly worth a look.
Well, I consider it a bad sign when the manual for a game makes no mention of the game?s plot, or even gives the main character?s name, so imagine my trepidation when I started to play. If I lived in a perfect world, all video games would be plot-heavy character pieces with sharp dialogue and gameplay that supports the story like a well-made bra; but I don?t have my perfect world so sometimes I have to make compromises. If a game is fun, then I can forgive weaknesses in the story. This works in Dark Sector?s favour as it seems to have as much use for a plot as Paris Hilton has for a Large Hadron Collider.
Actually, that?s not entirely fair, Dark Sector does have a plot, but it?s very much an excuse for the gameplay. Dark Sector casts you as Hayden Tenno, a reluctant CIA assassin with a murky past who is sent into a fictional Eastern European country to take down a maniac with a man-made biological weapon. Fairly early on, and somewhat predictably, Hayden gets infected and grows a Death-Frisbee out of his right arm, which he makes good use of as strives to complete his mission. Add in a double-cross and a woman from Hayden?s past and that?s pretty much all you need to know. As plots go, it?s no Bioshock, but as a vehicle to drive the game, it does ok.
On paper, Dark Sector sounds like one of the worst games in the world. It takes a dab of Resident 4, a few teaspoons of style from late-eighties anime hero The Guyver, the tiniest pinch of Heavenly Sword, the weapon out of Krull and a couple of massive handfuls of Gears of War and mixes them all together. It would be easy to dismiss the resulting soup as a derivative mess not worth your time, but it holds together surprisingly well.
Now, when I say that Dark Sector has a lot if Gears of War in it, I mean it in the same way that New York has a lot of Americans in it. I?m assuming that Digital Extremes realised that they did their best work with Epic, so they ?borrowed? bits of Epic?s recent hit. The resemblance to Gears of War is uncanny, to the point that even the sprinting animation has the same shaky camcorder look. It?s at its strongest in the combat as running headlong into a fight will get you killed very, very quickly, so you have to hide behind pillars, crates, low walls and other bits of stuff strewn about the levels and pop out from cover to fire, exposing yourself to harm with every shot. Luckily for Hayden, a few moments rest will restore him to full health. Sound familiar? I imagine it does to the millions of people who own Gears of War. Dark Sector certainly isn?t going to win many points for originality and that might put some people off, but the game isn?t entirely without new ideas.
Firstly, the Death-Frisbee, which I refuse to call a glaive, because a glaive is a sword on a long stick and not a razor-tipped boomerang, is like the Swiss-Army Knife of weapons, ignoring for the moment that the Swiss-Army Knife itself is a much better contender for the title. Aside from the fact that it?s an insanely sharp whirling instrument of death that can slice limbs off unfortunate foes, it can bust open locks, grab distant ammo caches or weapons and it?s instrumental in solving the assorted puzzles in the game. Utilising the after touch system borrowed from Heavenly Sword and the Death-Frisbee?s ability to store fire, electricity or ice for a short time, Hayden can open malfunctioning doors, burn away the infection lingering on architecture, create makeshift cover out of sprinkler systems or simply, really badly hurt his enemies. The puzzles are rarely difficult, and are often more about aiming properly than really figuring anything out, but it?s a nice break from shooting people or frisbeeing their legs off. The Death-Frisbee also lights up like an Indiglo watch, which is a useful, if odd, power as many of the levels in the game don?t have great natural lighting. Finally, the Death-Frisbee is Hayden?s primary melee weapon, but it seems oddly ineffective when used in this way.
Digital Extremes have added a few more tricks to the combat to differentiate it from Gears. Hayden principally fights soldiers of the fictional country he?s stuck in, but the soldiers have come prepared to fight an outbreak of the bio-weapon, and all their guns are fitted with devices that render then useless after a few seconds when picked up by an infected creature. It adds an interesting dimension to the proceedings, especially in the later levels when ammo is scare. Firing at full auto, desperately trying to get off as many shots as possible before the weapon deactivates is actually quite exciting. This mechanic is supported by Hayden being limited to two guns, a rifle of some description, and a pistol. He has the Death-Frisbee as well, but he can only use it when wielding his pistol, and while it?s undeniably powerful, Hayden must wait for it to return to his hand before he can throw it again and it?s range is rather limited. The only way for Hayden to get a weapon that won?t burn out before he can even fire off a full clip is by buying off black-market arms dealers, who hang out in sewers. It?s also the only place Hayden can install weapon upgrades. The additional level of depth to the weapons stops the game from feeling too much like Gears of War, although admittedly, it does it by making it feel a bit like Resident Evil 4 as well.
The game is also full of nice little touches that show that the design process consisted of more than borrowing Epic?s homework twenty minutes before class. The game use the Havok physics engine, so objects not nailed down move in that pseudo-realistic way that always happens when Havok is involved. You can shoot grenades out of the air, or if you?re a good shot, hit them with the Death-Frisbee. When you burn away the goo that often blocks the way, it burns with a green flame. You can electrify water using stored lightning, killing anything that happens to be stood in it. Basically, it?s full of little things that make you go, ?oh that?s cool? in a pleasantly surprised tone. Digital Extremes have also managed to make a game that is simultaneously more and less violent than Gears of War. The curb stomp finisher in Gears was pretty grisly, but Dark Sector ups the ante with dismemberments, snapped spines and slit throats, and yet it somehow manages to feel less gratuitously gruesome. I?ll admit to being baffled as to how they managed it, but I?d be lying if I said I didn?t admire them for it.
It?s good news for all the graphics whores in the world too, as the game is simply gorgeous, if a little monochromatic in places. The game?s palette seems to consist of grey, dark grey, even darker grey and black, but every now and then it?ll surprise you with a vivid orange or a warm yellow. OK, it?s not really a big deal but it makes a nice change from the unrelenting ?grittiness? that seems to be omnipresent in modern games. Orange is good, I like orange. I like blue more, but I?ve already mentioned that I don?t get to have my perfect world, didn?t I? Anyway, back on topic, the game is dripping with high resolution textures, bloom effects, dynamic lighting and all the other aesthetic tricks that are almost a legal requirement these days. Hayden has quite a fat head, but that?s pretty much the only graphical gripe I have and it gets covered up with a cool helmet later on anyway.
The level design is essentially linear, but the developers have put in lots of little nooks and crannies to explore and secreted ammo, cash or weapon upgrades in many of these crevices. Aside from sounding like a custom official?s best day ever, it?s a nice little bonus for investigating. Sadly, I do have to knock off a few points for the lack of originality. Castle? Check. Abandoned Town? Check. Ruined Factory? Check. Sewers? Alas, check. I can say with some authority that they?re some of the prettiest sewers I?ve seen in a game, but that?s because I?ve seen a lot of them.
There are other problems in the game as well. There?s also no blind firing, so you have to come out of cover to attack. The black market arms sales, which are a great idea, are hampered by the fact that each weapon is really expensive. I might not have spent hours hunting down every handful of change in the game, but even if I had, I?m not sure I?d have been able to afford too many, certainly not enough to warrant the locker feature in the black market screen, and would it be too much ask for the arms dealers to sell those little metal things that you put in guns, you know, bullets? I said that ammo was scarce in the later levels, but that isn?t strictly true. I had plenty of ammo, just not for the weapon I had. The ammo caches that were so common in the early levels seem to dry up later on and I?m not sure if it?s by design or just an unhappy mistake, and I certainly can?t decide which would be worse. The combat can get fairly repetitive at times, although that is ameliorated by the fact that the game auto-saves after nearly every fight so the game can be played in bite-sized chunks. There are quick time events too, usually when Hayden is grappled by some mutated townsperson, and you have to hammer a button not to get chinned, but irritatingly, it?s a different button each time. It takes the patience of a saint not to propel the game disc into traffic when some stray tentacle kills you near the end of a long boss fight just because your thumb was tired.
To sum up, Dark Sector is a pretty solid game with enough personality to set it apart from the titles that inspired a lot of its gameplay. It looks great and it?s fun to play, and while it?s hurt by its lack of originality in places, it?s certainly worth a look.