Dark Sector
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
A third person action game like so many others in out there, what makes Dark Sector so special then? Read on and see …
A black and white perspective
The camera slowly pans past a dingy stone wall, the music is heavy and atmospheric. Black and White leaves falls slowly while dancing on the wind. A shape moves up a short stone staircase, it’s a soldier, a man who calmly takes out his walkie-talkie gives the latest report from his patrol. Quickly out of the darkness another shape appears, grabs the guards head and with a twist, breaks his neck, the guard collapses with a thud. The person draws his handgun from the holster and puts one finger on his ear, answering his bosses order. The camera pans slowly behind the man, and the character is ready to be controlled.
That’s how one the year 2008’s most overlooked action-games starts. In Dark Sector, you play as agent Hayden Tenno and his mission in the fictional Soviet nation Lasria. Hayden suffers from a disease that makes him feel no pain and this disease will helps him during the game. Before the game even starts Hayden is trying to back out of the mission knowing that an infections is spreading throughout the area he’s already in, but his colonel says that it is already too late to return. Hayden’s initial mission is to kill another agent who had been there before him, Hayden succeeds, but his colonel orders him to continue, while the infection eats slowly eats away at his body and starts to mutate him.
Gameplay & mutation
It is quite clear to all whom have played Gears of War that the controls are similar in this game, there is a simple cover-mechanic and it works just the same as Gears of War. One touch and you can quickly hide behind pillars, walls and other kinds of cover. The games health system uses the regenerative mechanic which let’s the player regenerate health when he’s not getting hit. The feeling of shooting enemies in the game is quite satisfactory, the controls feels natural and easy to use.
One of the game’s main weapons is the throwing star called “Glaive”, this weapon keeps getting upgrades throughout the game and it’s clearly one of the game’s best weapons. When the function to remotely control the glaive gives a lot of satisfactory decapitations of the heads, arms , legs and sometimes whole bodies. Along with the usual weapons that can be used is also a Melee button where you can beat the enemies that get too close and with the same button make a so-called “Finisher” to make a quick and incredibly cool martial maneuver to finish off an enemy.
The game itself is very linear, there are some minor puzzles to be solved and there are also various “upgrades” to collect. With these upgrades, you can upgrade your weapons in “the black market” which can be accessed on each level. The black market lets you buy, sell and upgrade your weapons, the money for it you’ll find all over the different levels.
Graphics & Music
The game has a pure dystopian look, it’s something that fits the environment in which you play. You will see a very nice lighting, good models and very nice textures. Purely artistic the game is nothing to brag about but the game does a good job with the technical stuff, steady framerate and nice graphics.
The music is good and instill a great sense of excitement and anxiety, the sound effects in games is good too, one of the nicer sounds is when you throw the Glaive but basically it is probably the music that makes some people perceive the game as scary.
Conclusion:
Dark Sector is a pretty good action game, especially when you consider what price you can get the game for now. The game’s multiplayer is not something that is remarkable enough to mention when it is just a few of players actually playing.
Dark Sector is ambitious and it tells a pretty good story, but it’s not always easy to follow and it leaves many questions unanswered. If you decide to buy the game, you will get a solid action experience,the gameplay is fun and the new powers you gain helps to move the story forward. Don’t buy the game thinking that the game will be the best, the game is a good entertainment a for a few nights, and a solid single-player experience.
