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CG rating |
The Bad
- The graphics, on occasion
- Sometimes entertaining gameplay
- A few puzzles
- Short single-player
- LAN-only multilplayer
- The doubtful utility of the Glaive
- The FOV
Review
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The PC version of Dark Sector didn’t manage to create any kind of impression while browsing through the pre-release screenshots, theoretically representative for its final value. There wasn’t much to see, nothing new or especially interesting, it just looked… ok, I guess. Just another 3rd person action/shooter.
Of course, pre-release media materials aren’t necessarily representative for the final value of any game, so the “Hey, this is actually better than I had hoped” impression was still a possibility. Unfortunately, in this particular case, after playing (and beating) it, the final impression remained the same: It’s ok… I guess.
Don’t get me wrong, not all games must be triple A material and not all titles must be “the best there is”. Moreover, Dark Sector isn’t a bad game and it’s been released in a period of the year where there’s not much to play.
So then, we have an Unreal Engine 3 look-alike (the “Unreal feeling” is certainly there), depicting the story of some sort of secret agent, called Hayden Tenno, sent to a vaguely mentioned fictional Eastern European country to kill a… let’s say “mad scientist”, responsible for the creation of a super virus. As if it wasn’t obvious enough, the story is mediocre. At best.
We’re treated with cliché after cliché, the “mystery” elements fail from the start, and Hayden looks like an idiot, which isn’t something I would come to expect from a super agent. So, there’s not much to follow in terms of story and it most certainly won’t be the main reason you’ll want to finish the game for. The only thing that stands out is the premise: the virus will allow players to use new and powerful abilities, while also changing the character’s look in the process.
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The first thing that I noticed after starting the game was the FOV (field of view). Although a 24” widescreen LCD should have been enough for a correct playing perspective, the 3rd person view used in Dark Sector manages to “plant” the main character in front of the camera in such a manner that I had to constantly look from above in order to see where I’m going, or what I’m doing.
This “magnificent” field of view also limited my horizontal viewing angle in such a radical manner that I was thinking my monitor just got shorter. I’m not an “aspect ratio nazi” by any means, but Dark Sector is quite bad in this department, up to a point where, I dare say, it becomes tiring for the eye. For this reason, even if the game was much, much better than it actually is, I still would have played with a continuous sensation of discomfort.
So, from a 3rd person perspective and using a Gears of War style cover system, it becomes obvious that Dark Sector is all about action. There’s a lot of enemies to kill (special troops or mutants), and after planting a few well aimed headshots, one of the “exclusive” features of the game becomes apparent: all the weapons the special forces drop (well, almost all the weapons the special forces drop) have some sort of locking mechanism, preventing their use by anyone else. The idea is interesting, and mainly serves another purpose: you have money, which you can use to buy “unlocked” weapons from various Black Market dealers, who always look the same and can always be found hiding underground, in the sewers.
So, while becoming mutated with the virus created by the scientist I need to hunt down, and transforming into… something else, I can’t use any weapon my enemies drop. For this reason, I gotta ask: why am I given the option of picking them up in the first place?
Fortunately enough, the virus gives you a different kind of weapon: The Glaive. It’s a boomerang style weapon which I can’t really effectively describe at the moment: check out the screenshots. It looks pretty cool, and it always returns to the wearer, regardless of the skill involved in throwing it. But it’s not particularly strong: only headshots kill an enemy with only one strike, and that doesn’t always work, either, courtesy of the collision system. There’s also the moving speed, which isn’t exactly “bullet fast”, and a rather limited range of use. For this reason, the Glaive, although very cool, isn’t exactly useful as something I’d like to use for every single kill.
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There’s more to this unique weapon than meets the eye, though. You can control it’s trajectory while in the air (which is useful for certain puzzles), you can employ it to unlock doors by using some sort of “power shot”, accessed by charging it while pressing a button, and there’s the ability to “transfer” electricity and fire to it, for a limited time. On this front, the lightning Glaive looks awesome and behaves in a similar manner. The same goes for its fire counterpart, which can also be used in solving certain puzzles.
Still, if the game had a “per shot” kill statistic after beating it, I think it would have showed that I used my trusty hand gun more often. As I was saying, the Glaive is pretty slow and has a limited range, making it difficult to use when you’re fired upon from every possible angle. The gun, however (which occupies the other hand, and uses a different button), is instantaneous, has no range limit and can be used for countless headshots.
Another unexpected inconvenient is the other weapons you can use – the unlocked ones, that is. Most of them are two-handed, which means that they also occupy the Glaive hand and the switching animation is takes long enough to convince you of their “usefulness” under fire. As a bonus, ammo for these weapons is kinda scarce, too. So, basically, we have a cool (but crippled) super weapon and a hand gun, as tools which are of some real use. Out of the whole arsenal.
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Comments [Add a new comment]
| Yes | |
 | 59% |
| No | |
 | 27% |
| Haven't decided | |
 | 14% |
Total: 1666 votes
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