Rangarig

I picked up Dark Sector by D3Publishers yesterday and gave it a quick whirl this morning.

Dark Sector is a First-Person-Shooter (FPS) with elements seemingly taken from Sci-Fi Super Hero comics as you find yourself in the role of Hayden sent into the ruined Eastern-European city of Lasria where the Russian military hides a secret from the Cold War. The box promises that you will become a super weapon thanks to some sort of virus ... Spiderman/Venom anyone?

After a cryptic intro that tells you little, other than that the whole plague in Lasria seems to come from a submarine and that Hayden seems to be a whiner, rather than your nuts-n-bolts superhero commando, you steer Hayden in over-the-shoulder perspective through a prologue with graphics held entirely in grey. Lovely!

The graphics on a whole are of a good quality and the cut scenes are nicely done - definitely next-gen consoles standard fare though. The sounds and music are of a good quality, though I wonder why every enemy I shoot, kill, maim has to scream. Certainly a head-shot or beheading would not allow him to do so, and yet they all do ...

Unfortunately these enemies also seem to be more or less cardboard cut-outs. I should not be so unfair, because they actually will act "intelligently" and run away seeking cover as you shoot at them, but standing behind cardboard boxes with your entire back exposed to the enemy really begs the question whether it could not have been done better. For the most part though, they will duck and cover, hide behind pillars and wall sections and only temporarily duck out to shoot at you.

Unfortunately this is made a little bit more exciting thanks to the jerky controls. Whilst in over-the-shoulder view, Hayden spins so quickly you get dizzy, once you start aiming (Left Trigger) it is a bit better, but it is still really difficult to precisely target someone hiding behind boxes. Halo, etc. achieved this in a much better way.

Excitement arises at the end of the first level as you face a boss enemy and finally face that dreaded virus.

I have currently reached Level 3 and will continue to explore what the game offers. More will follow later!

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Bumhug360

Oops didnt notice this thread had been marked as spam.

Was wondering about this, looks nice from what I have seen but not heard much about it

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Rangarig

Currently completed Level 3 and 4 and I must say that my initial evaluation was close enough - especially with regards to the enemies. It differentiated somehow in these levels, because apart from soldiers and scientists in hazmat-suits, you now face zombies affected by the technocyte. It's all very 'Resident Evil'.

Unfortunately the quality of the enemies is still very bad, though the sheer amount of them will get you down if you don't pay attention. The soldiers duck and cover and take pot shots at you, but eventually it's still easy to take them down. The zombies stream towards you en masse and hit you with claws and melee weapons - and eventually they may actually grab you, something which you have to react to with frantic button tapping to shake them off.

A nice touch is that you find weapon upgrades - but you first need to find black market shops to apply them - which isn't too bad though, because you can also sell and buy weapons there. Weapon upgrades increase fire power, firing rate, accuracy and clip size as well as a few other effects which basically come down to affecting the above.

But of course the most important aspect are the mutant powers you gain from your technocyte infection - these consistently increase as you go through the levels and your initial throwing glaive can now be steered in flight, be charged with electricity, burn and set things on fire, and so forth. You also consistently need to use these factors to open doors or kill specific enemies. And they managed to create some really interesting boss and mini-boss fights.

One thing that really bothers me however are the very linear levels. You start at one end of the level and have to get to the end. You can't explore any areas that do not lead you towards the end - making you move from corridor into big room with enemies to corridor to the next room with enemies. And yet there are some parts where you get stuck, because there is no actual indication of how you need to proceed. And then you die. Or get bored.

If I had to give it a mark out of 20, I would give it about a 13/20 - no, the game is not bad, but it is hardly original. Ultimately, there are better games out there, but if you are looking for an uncomplicated FPS whilst you are waiting for Resident Evil 5 or something of the sort, give this a go.

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