Digital Extreme probably had a no-brainer hit when the decided to let people lop off body parts with a deadly Frisbee, but in their pursuit for something more they may have missed the mark this time around.

Loved
The Glaive: As if lopping off enemies' legs and arms with a flying three-bladed disc weren't fun enough, Dark Sector lets you slow down time and guide it along it's path with the PS3's tilt controls. (Which works amazingly well) You can also absorb electricity, fire and ice with it, allowing you to do things like freeze over lakes you have to cross or turn waterfalls into bullet-deflecting cover.
Gruesome Finishing Moves: Call me a fan of action violence, but I love being able to weaken a creature or enemy and then walk up and sink my glaive through its arm, or cut out its intestines and lop off their head in one move.
Puzzling Boss Battles: The boss battles, and there are a lot of them, almost all require as much thinking as it does shooting and throwing. The final fight in the game is particularly brutal.
Weapon System: It's not all about the glaive in Dark Sector. You can also upgrade your weapons through a black market, a requirement because the ones you find on the street tend to explode after a few minutes use.

Hated
Delayed Abilities: While it's a rather lengthy game, it takes far too long to give you the abilities that make playing it actually fun. Typically that isn't a problem, but the game has so little else to offer that, sans your evolving powers, Dark Sector feels like a generic, rather bad shooter.
Weak Glaive: Lets face it, none of use are going to buy this game to shoot people. Dark Sector is all about the amputation and designing it so that you can't lop off a limb without several hits is just plain stupid.
Shallow Plot, Bad Dialog: Wow, just wow. The plot is an amalgam of every old sci-fi and military movie. You've got your scorned lover, your grumpy old Russian scientist, your patriot-loving general. Thank god they let you skip each and every cut-scene... immediately.
Trite Character Design: The look of some of the main characters go hand-in-hand with that hackneyed plot, but the one I can't figure is lead Hayden Tenno. Since when do Emo kids go black-ops when they grow up?
Bugs: While the technical glitches aren't as pronounced later in the game, early on they can be quite distracting and it never shakes the occasional chugging.

When I first checked out early code of Dark Sector I hated it. When I started playing it I hated it. In fact, there were times when I was playing through it that I honestly considered just stopping and moving on. But something kept me coming back for more. Most likely the glaive and the impressive ways you can use it to, at times, literally shape a level. Unfortunately, the game doesn't really shake out its kinks until nearly half-way through and the elements of the game that are truly unique and impressive tend to get lost in a glut of generic gunplay.

Next time, more Jackal and Aftertouch and less running and gunning.

Dark Sector was developed by Digital Extremes, published by D3 Publisher of America and released on March 25 on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Retails for $59.99. Campaign played to completion, online modes sampled on PS3.

Dark Sector - Multiplayer Features

Game Types - Dark Sector's multiplayer is broken up into two distinct game types: Infection and Epidemic.

Infection - The Infection game type is a match between Hayden and the Lasrian military. One player assumes the role of Hayden while all others (up to nine) assume the roles of Lasrian Troopers. Hayden is considered the infected target, and it is up to the Troopers to bring him down. 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. Points are granted to Troopers by either stunning Hayden, finishing Hayden, or assisting in bring Hayden down and points are awarded to Hayden by killing Troopers (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.

As Hayden, the player has no allies, but is armed with a Tekna 9mm, the Glaive, all three Evolutionary Powers, and any weapons dropped by the Troopers or lying around the various maps. Hayden also has access to the elements fire, ice, and electricity (depending on the level) to use against the attacking Troopers.

Epidemic - The Epidemic game type is a team based match between the Lasrian 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. Both the Troopers and the Haydens retain the same functionality they have in the Infection game type.

In both game types, players will respawn at designated spawn points when they are killed.

Multiplayer Customization

On the X360, MP games can either be played using Xbox Live, or System Link. On the PS3, MP games can either be played on the Playstation Network, or LAN.

Each multiplayer game type supports up to ten players and has access to five different maps. The maps are unique in size, detail (such as weather effects), and layout. For example, the map called the Deck promotes a more close combat oriented play style, whereas the Court promotes a more team-based play style with its symmetrical layout and numerous opportunities to surround opposition. Multiplayer games can also be customized in terms of time limit, number of players, score limit, and the existence of bots.

Leaderboard

A Leaderboard is available for both the PS3 and the X360, however the X360 board uses TrueSkill™ rank and the PS3 uses a traditional scoring system. A player's score on the board (either PS3 or X360) is based on the multiplayer game performance game performance.

PS3 vs. X360

Both systems will allow players to create, join, and search for multiplayer games. However, only the X360 gives players a Quick game option, a Custom game option, and a Ranked game option. The Quick game option will pick a game for the player based on their preference of Infection or Epidemic. The Custom game option allows players to set up their own games with the customizable settings of time limit, score limit, number of players, and the availability of bots. Ranked games are directly linked to the X360 Leaderboard. A player's performance in a Ranked game will determine their position on the X360 Leaderboard. The PS3 allows players to search for or create multiplayer games.