Better than the sum of its parts.
Dark Sector's biggest claim to fame is probably its troubled development past. Announced way back in 2000, the game went through several major overhauls in gameplay and story before finally being released in 2008. The games story is definitely its weakest point. It opens with your character, Hayden Tenno (who is at least voiced nicely by Michael Rosenbaum) infiltrating some sort of prison, for reasons never really well-explained or even thought out. This is a problem prevalent throughout the game, all the way to ending which ends very abruptly. After getting his ass kicked by the protagonist Mezner(whose motivations or vague ties to your character are never made very clear either), Hayden gains the power of the glaive, which is essentially a big spinning blade that you throw out of your arm. At first glance, Dark Sector is very much a Gears of War clone. It features the same over-the-shoulder camera, weapons are switched using the d-pad, and the atmosphere is EXTREMELY Unreal Engine III-ish. But the glaive mechanic is definitely the games saving grace. As you progress, the glaive gains new abilites, such as a power shot, a shield ability, and "aftertouch" which allows you to sterr it in midair. Couple this with the ability to charge up the glaive with fire or electricity, and you have a pretty versatile arsenal. Though it's basically a pointy boomerang, using the glaive to chop dudes heads off never quite gets old. And the game always ensures you never rely on the glaive too much, forcing you to use your guns and powers strategically. Aside from a sharp difficulty spike in the latter third of the game that will have you seeing a couple checkpoints over and over again, the game is pretty short, clocking in around 6 hours. And though the game features multiplayer modes, which people are surprisingly still playing, they're not very compelling. For the sub-$20 you can find this game for now, though, there's a lot of fun to be had in Dark Sector.
