I've been playing Dark Sector for a couple days now and I must give it a fairly high rating. The official blurb sets the stage:
What lurks inside Dark Sector? A frightening Cold War secret and 3D-shooter action. Covert-ops agent Hayden Tenno is sent on a mission to Eastern Europe. During an attack by an unknown enemy, Hayden is infected with the Technocyte Virus, which turns its victims into mindless killing machines. Hayden begins to develop superhuman powers as his abilities gradually evolve. As the virus takes over, it works magic on his body, and wreaks havoc on his mind. Harness Hayden's new powers, which grow as the game progresses. You'll need them to survive Dark Sector's gritty, shadowy world that sits on the edge of ruin.
It looks pretty good. What you are forced to say is that the environment is reminiscent of Gears of War, as is the cover system. But beyond that it is very much its own game. Now generally I cannot stand zombie games, and there is one scene in the third or fourth chapter when it's nothing but zombies ad infinitum until you can find a trick to stop them from coming. But I have to say that I do enjoy sending zombies into the great beyond in Dark Sector.
The play is very good and the control is fairly well thought out. It's not very complicated but gives your fingers a different twist. The super cool thing is the glavie, your three bladed boomerang which you hurl using the right bumper instead of the right trigger. As is relatively standard, you zoom your aim with the left trigger and then either shoot lefty with your pistol, or hurl the glavie righty with the right bumper. Holding the right bumper and timing your letgo based on the color of your reticle gives you extra power. And, as you might expect a super boomerang to do, you can fetch remote objects, like the very guns the enemies were shooting you with. Regular weapons, shottys, assault rifles, etc are only good for a certain time, then they auto-destruct generally before you can reload them. So you are mostly dependent on the glavie.
Environments are mostly tight to medium, and in dark places enemies can creep up on you. There are a few puzzles that you must solve to move from level to level, though nothing as complicated as those in Prey. But other than that it is a straightforward over the shoulder first person shooter, very much like Gears with sprinting and diving for cover.
I've gotten through a couple boss battles which are tedious but generally solvable with rockets. I've endured a lot of rain noises on a perfectly sunny day, and I've endured the ridiculously tight lock you have to have on weapon pickups. These mar an otherwise nice semi-tactical shooter.
Interestingly, the more games like this I play, the more I appreciate Black. This whole game would be an order of magnitude better if the environment were destructible.
Recent Comments