Digital Extremes are no strangers to the shooter genre - they had a defining hand in the creation of the Unreal franchise, as well as the largely forgettable Pariah. They first unveiled their Sci-Fi title Dark Sector in 2004 with an in-game cinematic; hardly likely to instil much confidence in followers of fast-action titles who generally prefer actual game footage. With the news of a complete restructure in 2006 to remove a lot of the sci-fi elements, it seemed Dark Sector was to be relegated to the status of vapourware, and with the market absolutely flooded with similar titles we can't say for sure that anyone would have missed it.
Fortunately however, it appears Dark Sector is now nearing completion, and it must be pretty damn good because it's been refused classification in Australia. Apparently, a collection of pixels moving in a certain fashion have produced a "violent and sometimes gruesome game with a sinister storyline and ominous outcome." Sounds mint!
The Dark Sector story isn't much to write home about, unless your home hasn't seen a video game since the early 80's. You have the basic requirements for any third person shooter - a protagonist with an unlikely name (Hayden? Really?), a supervirus threatening to destroy the world, and a mad scientist who needs to be taken out at all costs. Plus, it's set largely in Eastern Europe, because virtually nobody goes there on holiday and the developers can make all the scenery up.
Indeed, the only thing we can see so far that is likely to set Dark Sector apart from the multitude of other shooter titles is that the virus has a kind of mutant effect on your ability to wield weapons, transforming you right arm into a destructive killing force - no wait, that's BioShock. Well, at least as the game progresses Hayden can improve his abilities and cause damage in slow motion - sorry, I've done it again, I was thinking of TimeShift. Look, to be fair, the main redeeming factor of this shooter is the gritty, foreboding, and downright spooky feeling of desolation, destruction and futility set against an Eastern European wasteland, devastated by the carelessness of man, and in that it in no way resembles S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Moving swiftly on, some more news has emerged recently regarding the multiplayer aspect of Dark Sector. It's broken up into two distinct game types: Infection and Epidemic. The Infection game type is a match between Hayden and the military. One player assumes the role of Hayden while all others (up to nine) assume the roles of Troopers, however Hayden is considered the infected target, and it is up to the Troopers to bring him down. Please, no expression of surprise at this revolutionary concept. Once Hayden is brought down (“finished”), the Trooper responsible becomes infected and a new round begins. A match will run until either time expires, or a set number of points are reached. The ultimate goal of an Infection match is to have the most number of points when the match is over, and points are granted to Troopers by either stunning Hayden, finishing Hayden, or assisting in bring Hayden down. Similarly, points are awarded to Hayden by killing Troopers, and Troopers can lose points by committing suicide.
As a Trooper, the player will be armed with either an assault rifle or a shotgun, have a couple grenades, and one proximity mine. Troopers can only attack Hayden, and so they can either work together (communicating via a shared chat channel) or go solo. In order to bring Hayden down, they must inflict a set amount damage which will stun him, and then, while he is stunned, perform a “finisher.” The Trooper that performs the “finisher” becomes infected and plays as Hayden in the next round.
The Epidemic game type is a team based match between the military, and the Agency. Players are divided into two teams where (on each team) one player assumes the role of Hayden, and all others assume the roles of Troopers. Matches end based on a time limit, or point total, and rounds end whenever a Hayden is brought down. Team points are awarded whenever an opposing team brings down the other team’s Hayden, and individual points are awarded to players based on kills and assists (players can also lose points by committing suicide). Players can only communicate with other players in the same team, and can only attack players on the opposing team, but otherwise, both the Troopers and the "Haydens" retain the same functionality they have in the Infection game type.
Dark Sector should be released shortly to a third-person shooter starved console community. Those of you with an Xbox 360 or a PlayStation 3 should look to the stores later this month, you lucky people! In the meantime, here are some screenshots released today, and don't forget to check out the official site!
