threevue

Release date = March 2008. Our thoughts.

Mark
Dark Sector plays as a very solid medium between the relatively clunky RE4 and the ‘roid fest Gears of War. It has the same over the shoulder view point, but is much faster and smoother than both of those games put together. Visually, it looks really good, although DARK Sector is a very appropriate name for it, because half the time I couldn’t see anything (come on devs, you spent so much time creating these environments, at least let me see them).

There were some things I wasn’t too fond of. There is no guidance system, so there were a few moments where I was left wandering around having no idea what to do. I love the glaive, but controlling it mid-flight was slow and counter-productive. It was easier just taking the half-second to aim it where you wanted it to go. Overall, it seems like a good game, and I’ll probably be playing more of it in the future.

Russ
I was immediately impressed with how the game looks, and I kind of liked the loosey-goosey camera hovering over the character ala Resident Evil 4. The mix of Krull-style glaive and pistol is fun, and I found myself not even wanting to use the other guns. The gunfights themselves were confusing, because the cover button is also the run button, and I would find myself doing one when I wanted to do the other. There seems to be a lot of variation in the game, as far as levels and mood and stuff.

But I have some other major issues with the demo. I couldn’t figure out where to go next a few times, and that was quite frustrating. A game so simple and intuitive shouldn’t require me to have to go online to figure it out. The boss fight was really frustrating too, and required another trip online. This shouldn’t happen with a demo, and it’s a telltale sign that I would probably spend the entire game with my laptop next to me, glued to an FAQ for every room. I only consulted a walkthrough once in my entire 25+ hours with RE4, but that doesn’t look to be the case with this one. I’d buy it for $10 or less. Oh and Tyler, this game came out three months ago.

Tyler
I like the direction this game is going. From the demo I can tell that Dark Sector is going to be a pretty straightforward third person action game with some glaive-chucking mechanics thrown in for spice. One of my concerns is that I was reminded a lot of Gears of War in a lot of ways. Taking cover, rain soaked concrete set pieces, monsters… but I’m cautiously optimistic about this title.

My biggest thumb up is for the controls, because they are exactly where they need to be. Usually in TPSs, I feel so rigid and slow to react that the thought of playing an entire game in the fashion makes me barf out loud.  Dark Sector is so easy and familiar to play it only reinforces my dislike for RE4 with its obtuse controls, bad aiming and stop start menu system (I played up until you rescue Ashley and fight with Luis). The story is at least interesting from what I’ve seen and read and it looks pretty if not a little dark on the screen. I’ll be renting this one when it comes out, the demo did it’s job.  The only hitch is the name of the main character, Hayden Tenno. I just don’t know if I like it or not. Prolly not.