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Dark Sector is the latest release by the small
development studio Digital Extremes, the team also responsible for
the likes of Pariah and Unreal Championship on the
Xbox. In a Third-Person Action title, you take the role of Hayden Tenno, a military operative on a mission in Lasria (a fictional
Russian city), where a virus has developed an infected the
population. You too become infected, and learn new abilities borne
from your disease.
The release plays-out through a third-person camera, as
a combat-orientated game. Tenno’s abilities include that of spawning
a Glaive from his right hand – a bladed boomerang, as opposed to the
polearm variety – which can be used as a projectile weapon. The
Level design has been calculated well, allowing for both tight
corridor shooting and large expanses filled with enemies. The
variety of environments is pleasing too, and although you may think
for only ten Chapters the title may be short, each is equally
proportionate to a Chapter in Gears Of War – and here there
are twice as many.
To the uninitiated, Tenno’s Glaive may seem like just another
alternative weapon, but with all the powers it holds and the ability
to slice-and-dice at mid-range with ease, the weapon is often your
first port-of-call. Certain enemy types require tactics surrounding
the use of different weapons – such as shielded human opponents,
with whom a quick smash of the Glaive will disorientate, and a
close-range shot with a shotgun will then putdown – and later Levels
will find ammo running very thin on the ground. While the mid- and
long-range combat is clearly refined and of stunning quality, the
close-combat could be said to be rather lightweight. Dissolving into
little more than mashing the B Button and hoping for the best, when
thrown the Glaive can swiftly remove limbs and other extremities, at
close-range it’s about as effective as a potatoe peeler.
The firearms selection could be considered slightly meagre, but is
no more so than the likes of Gears Of War or
Resident Evil 4. The player cannot use dropped enemy
 weapons
for more than a short period – they contain sensors that deactivate
them when being used by someone with the infection – and so
therefore must purchase any weapons they desire to use for a longer
period of time from the Black Market. Essentially the Merchant from
Resident Evil 4, here the player can buy and sell weaponry,
as well as apply Upgrades found with the Levels. Upgrades are your
generic clip-extender and fire-power enhancers, but their effects
have been well implemented.
The comparisons to Capcom’s astounding Resident Evil 4 will
be obvious from the title’s default viewpoint, and the Gears Of
War’s inspiration is evident in the surroundings, the Cover
System, and the execution of a Power Throw is remarkably similar to
the Reloading feature seen in Epic’s big budget release. A series
from which the publishers insist Dark Sector has drawn
inspiration from may not be so obvious – The Legend Of Zelda –
and from which the only element that relates is the mimicking of
Link’s infamous Boomerang with Hayden Tenno’s Glaive. Not only does
the Glaive automatically return, but it can also be used to carry
elements – such as fire and electricity – from around the
environments, and pick-up weapons and equipment. Using these
abilities is key to solving the vast majority of the titles puzzles
– puzzles which have been taken as a carbon-copy from
The Legend
Of Zelda series and repeated ad-infinitum; not so much as
drawing inspiration as overusing an already tired technique.
It is evident that the title’s distinctly individual enemy types
have different agendas set in their Artificial Intelligence. Human
opponents rely on simple path-finding techniques and basic cover
routines, and will rarely put you under further pressure when low on
health. The zombie-esque mutants will simply amble towards you,
charging when
 provoked, whereas the infected enemies you fight later
in the game provide highly intelligent combat scenarios, forcing you
to watch all sides as they leap about with intent and, above all,
team work.
The game shows promise with some interesting techniques; the first
Level takes place entirely in black-and-white, whilst the second
begins with your control over your avatar loosened somewhat due to
your character being in a daze. Many elements of the title recall
the Xbox’s ill-fated trilogy,
Advent Rising – a title that
showed much promise, but failed to capitalise on much of it.
Multi-Player, however, leaves a lot to be desired. The Glaive is
simply not built for online play, as is evident with it’s rather
unwieldy online usage, and with the options of only Infection and
Epidemic, Team Deathmatch and All-On-One, there’s not much depth to
keep you from going back to
Halo 3 or
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow
Six: VEGAS 2 any time soon.
The title’s graphics are on-par with any big-budget release from the
last two years in the genre – including Gears Of War – and
some of the enemy Character Models on particular look fantastic.
It’s a shame that Tenno himself isn’t a more likeable – or
distinctive – character, but perhaps it was a conscious decision on
behalf of the developers to have his transformation and Glaive – as
opposed to his personality – as the star of the show. Environments
vary from city streets to military and bases and ocean liners; each
one as supremely detailed as even the likes of
Call Of Duty 4:
Modern Warfare, and putting titles with which a similarly,
comparatively small budget could be attached – such as
BulletWitch and
Bully: Scholarship Edition – to shame.
The music is a great addition to the atmosphere – suitably eerie
when exploring a dimly let disused factory, and upbeat when in the
middle of a fire fight in the plaza of a large building.
 Transmissions of many kinds can be heard whilst roaming around the
Levels – similar to the recordings in
BioShock – and are an
aid to the story’s narrative mid-play. And some of the quips by the
Black Market shopkeeper are hilarious.
Coming from a relatively small developer, through a relatively small
publisher, with a relatively small budget, Dark Sector
confounds expectations. Not only does the title competently mesh
many ideas from the best games of recent years, but also it does it
with style and a more intriguing story than the likes of even
Blacksite. Dark Sector is by no means perfect – areas of
scenery which you should clearly be able to vault over never present
you with the option to and graphical glitches are few, but do occur
– but what it set-out to achieve it clearly does; an entertaining
package for the gap between Gears Of War and the recently
announced Gears Of War 2 that should earn it’s developer a
little more respect.
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