Zombie-like creatures.
Check. Darkly clad slightly funny looking hero. Check. Mysterious virus that
creates monsters out of people. Check. Boomerang of doom. Mega-check. But is
Dark Sector worth the play through?
All too often within the
industry we see a timely trend of games that come along after a new, ground
breaking venture explodes onto the scene. Grand Theft Auto is the mother-ship of
trendy, less engaging followings, and typically, those games aren’t the best
options on the market to indulge in. But from time to time, copying the system
actually works well, and Dark Sector proves this to be fact.
Dark Sector feels like a
mash-up between Gears of War and Resident Evil, with gritty, dark atmospheres
and zombie-esque creatures attempting to eat you. At the same time, every single
general mechanic within the gameplay itself feels like Gears of War all over
again. You are even able to hold down the run button in order to sprint for a
given amount of time. Even the aiming system utilizes the same style of view and
zoom-in that Gears became so soundly known for.
Typically, this formula
of copying and pasting the best parts of the past year’s biggest games would not
work so well and we’d all wind up playing a lackluster video game. Digital
Extremes decided to prove the stereotype wrong and managed to put together a
game that is not only engineered well, but is also extremely fun to play.
Gamers will dawn the role
of Hayden Tenno, a man on a mission to stop the catalyst of a potentially
world-wide epidemic. His ultimate goal is to eliminate a virus that is spreading
rapidly throughout a disjointed Soviet-bloc location. After the prologue, you
quickly discover that you’ve been infected, and that this infection has given
you the ability to wield a powerful weapon called the Glaive. This
boomerang-like extension of your arm is what nearly all of the combat within
Dark Sector revolves around.
As you progress through
the game, you will be granted new abilities to use with your Glaive, as well as
different environmental entities that can potentially enhance the weapon’s
strength. If you launch your Glaive into a broken electrical box, it will come
back to you with an awe inspired charge. This charge can then be unleashed onto
a multitude of enemies for a short period of time, delivering a knockout punch
to any creature that the Glaive encounters. On the same note, if you were to
need electricity drawn to a door in order to open it, you would simply charge up
your Glaive and then launch it at the inactive door. There are many ways to
strengthen the weapon, including lighting it on fire.
As the story unfolds and
you reach certain points in the game, key sequences will trigger your virus
infection to grasp a hold of your body a little more, which in turn enhances
your abilities. At one point, you will learn how to throw the Glaive extra hard
by holding down the corresponding button until the reticule turns yellow. During
another moment, after an epic boss battle with something resembling King Kong as
a rock zombie, Hayden was granted the ability to produce a greenish colored
shield for a few seconds. Due to the character’s acquisition of this shield, a
few glowing green stones appeared on his infected arm. This metamorphosis will
continue as you play on, and really adds nicely to the visual aspects of Dark
Sector.
There is also an area
that your character can occasionally visit that is located beneath the streets
of your current locale. This area, known as “The Underground”, is accessed via
man-holes and allows the player to purchase, sell, customize, and upgrade
different weapons. Unfortunately, the Glaive eliminates the need to use any
other weapons at all, unless the money you find littering the buildings begins
to burn a hole in your pocket. You will also occasionally find upgrades for the
nullified weapons lying in dark corners and across gaps that appear inaccessible
that you can apply via “The Underground”.
Visually, Dark Sector is
an extremely impressive addition to the Xbox 360 lineup, and definitely falls
into the upper echelon of graphically overhauled games. Digital Extremes did a
fantastic job of developing an atmosphere that portrays the game’s already dark
elements. You will find yourself easing around corners in fear that something
may or may not leap out at you (which happens, by the way). The emphasis on
darker colors and constant shadow really compliment any form of bright color
that appears on the screen, so when your Glaive becomes supercharged with
electricity or lit afire with flames, your eye is truly drawn to the color
explosion. This contrast of light and dark also causes the Glaive to “pop” in an
amazing manner.
Enemy designs are
slightly repetitive, but most of the time you find yourself too caught up in
killing them to care about what they are wearing. The enemies also tend to come
in fairly strong waves, which force the player to remain patient and cautious.
If your body is exposed for too long (which seems to be the only way to throw
the Glaive accurately), then your screen with begin to redden and the controller
begins to thump to your accelerated heartbeat. If you do not take cover soon,
the enemy will snag an upper hand and kill you on the spot.
The Glaive presents some
pretty awesome ways to return the favor as well. If you spot an enemy, you can
hold down the left bumper in order to bring up your reticule and hurl your
boomerang weapon at them. If you hit the body, the enemy will dawn a reddish
overtone, indicating that he is vulnerable momentarily. At this point, you can
either return the Glaive once more, or pull out your weapon and finish him off.
If you are caught in close combat with an enemy, which tends to happen when
facing the zombie creatures, then you can press “B” to melee with the Glaive.
Occasionally, an indicator will pop up on screen called the “Finisher” that
allows Hayden to perform a violent martial arts inspired fatality kill. Thanks
to dramatic camera angles, these always prove to be fun to watch, especially if
you snag the bad guy from behind. After a certain point in the game, you will
acquire an ability called “Aftertouch” that allows Hayden to guide his Glaive
after letting it go. This enables the player to accomplish some pretty
spectacular head kills without ever putting themselves into harms way.
Audio portions of Dark
Sector play as important a role as the visual strengths, and the effects are
just as successful. When in the heat of battle, the music will pick up slightly
in order to notify the player that enemies are still standing. Once all the
baddies are finished off, the music will fade away, and allow your senses to
fall back into rest-mode. These musical scores are effective and efficient, but
the true genius lies in the eerie sound effects that surprise you as you scamper
down dark hallways and into ravaged rooms. Soft creeks and groans in the Earth
will definitely put you on high alert for no apparent reason at all, and the
black ooze that blocks many of your paths will create indescribable noises. This
element of the game itself is reason enough to at least try it out.
But, as expected from a
rehashed concept, there are still flaws. Although the flaws are not visible on
screen via laggy graphics or buggy sound effects, they are still as noticeable
as ever. The storyline itself is poorly developed from the very beginning of
Dark Sector. The game simply drops you into a “prologue” that isn’t really a
prologue at all, gives you a minute amount of details about the plot, and then
lets you off your leash. Guidance exists and functions nicely in regards to
gameplay mechanics, but is hardly existent at all when dealing with plot
interaction and development. For those of us that really enjoy immersing into a
story with such an engrossing atmosphere, a lacking story is hard to forgive.
Multiplayer modes in Dark
Sector are limited, but fun if played in paced doses. Gamers can either play
through Infection, which has one person playing as Hayden while the others are
guards attempting to hunt him down and kill him. Whoever successfully takes
Hayden out becomes him in the next round. The other mode is called Epidemic, and
serves as the team-based option of multiplayer. Each team has one Hayden, and
the rest of the teams are made up of soldiers with shotguns and machine guns.
The goal is to once again eliminate Hayden, which can prove to be difficult
without a Glaive for in your own possession. These modes take place on a limited
set of five different maps, and as you’d expect, the gameplay does not take long
to wear out. The multiplayer does do one thing better than Call of Duty 4
though. Dark Sector has a LAN option.
Overall, Dark Sector is a
pleasing entertainment experience when you pay attention strictly to gameplay
mechanics, graphics, and sound. But since the storyline falters heavily when
dealing with emphasis and immersion, and the storyline is an integral part to a
game like this, then it proves to be very difficult to ignore the flaws. Dark
Sector should be experienced, but will probably be an experience that you only
want to go through once.
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Gameplay: 8
The gameplay
itself is wonderfully done, but unfortunately the lacking storyline detracts
from every other aspect within the game.
Graphics: 8.5
Atmospheres are
beautiful and brooding at the same time, but occasionally the maps would seem
slightly bland. Contrast between dark and light colors make up for the slight
blandness though.
Sound: 9
I did not
encounter a single flaw with the audio portion of Dark Sector. Every music score
seemed spot on with the emotional state of the moment, and each eerie sound was
perfectly placed.
Difficulty: Medium
If you fail, try
try again. This motto suits well for a game like Dark Sector, simply because you
will die occasionally, and you will learn from the mistakes you make in order to
advance further.
Concept: 6
As I have already
stated, the concept behind Dark Sector is tried and true, with very few new
things added to the mix. The Glaive is a lovely addition to the recipe, but is
weighed too heavily on in terms of fighting.
Multiplayer: 6
The multiplayer
side of Dark Sector is enjoyable in moderation, but will undoubtedly become
mundane and boring after a short while with only two modes and five maps.
Overall: 8
Dark Sector is
engaging and addictive, but only the first time through. After beating the game,
you will more than likely find yourself searching for a reason to work through
the storyline again.
