A great game that's definitley worth the price.
The story isn't amazing but that's a rarity in video games anyway. You play as Hayden Tenno, a government agent sent to the country of Lasria to capture a man by the name of Mezner. Hayden starts off obnoxious, cocky, whiny and ruthless and slowly changes into a good guy. I point this out because the game can't help but point out how much of a jerk Hayden is to everyone he knows in nearly every cut scene that involves more characters than just him. Hell, even Mezner, the game's primary antagonist, takes the time to point out how much he hates Hayden (though it's never made clear how he even knows who he is). Despite all of this, I really liked Hayden more than most shooter protagonists.
Anyway, it turns out Mezner has taken control of the Lasrian military. What does this mean for Hayden? It means his job is going to be a whole lot harder. To top it off, Lasria has been overrun by a strange infection that turns all effected by it into horrible mutants. Early on in the game Hayden is attacked by one of the infected humans - who also happens to be Mezner's right hand man - and contracts the infection. Hayden then sets out to find and kill Mezner. The infection is what makes the gameplay really stand out but I'll talk more about that in a moment.
The game controls pretty much the same way Gears of War does. It's an over-the-shoulder third person shooter with a "Tap-A" ( or X on PS3) cover system. You tap the A/X button and Hayden, the game's main character will hide behind whatever object he happens to be making physical contact with provided that it's not a person or fire. To shoot from the hip you simply press the trigger button. But, to fire with any sort of accuracy, you'll need to press the secondary trigger button to mount your equipped weapon on your shoulder. The B/O button can be used to make Hayden melee enemies, leap over any chest-high objects in his path, jump down specific ledges, or perform brutal finishing attacks on enemies who have taken enough damage. Those are just the basics of the controls.
Strangely, Hayden can't blind fire from behind cover. You always have to lean out to shoot your enemies. This is easy to forgive since blind fire is nearly useless in every game that uses it. Instead you're given something I like to call a "Blind Melee" that allows Hayden to quickly elbow an enemy in the face from behind cover. This actually comes in handy as it knocks back the enemy long enough for you to finish them off any way you'd like.
As I mentioned earlier, Hayden's infection is what really makes the game's controls stand out in quite a few ways. First of all, Hayden cannot hold on to enemy weapons for more than about 45 seconds because they are all equipped with devices that deactivate them when they are handled by anyone who is infected. Instead, to use any gun besides a pistol, you'll have to visit the Black Markets scattered throughout the game to purchase illegal weapons with collectible money. As the infection spreads through Hayden's body you unlock new powers to use such as a force field, invisibility and others that all involve the glaive.
Yes, now is the time I will talk about the glaive. This is the part of Hayden's infection that effects the gameplay the most. The glaive is a bladed disc that grows out of Hayden's right hand soon after he becomes infected. The glaive can be thrown like a boomerang and will be quickly drawn back to Hayden meaning your ammo supply is rarely an issue. The glaive has many different abilities - most of which involve slaughtering Lasrian soldiers and infected citizens in the most brutal of ways. As Hayden gains new powers provided by his infection the glaive gains such abilities as being controlled in midflight, stealing weapons and items, and conducting the elements of fire, ice, and electricity for extra special mayhem.
The game also stops you at points to solve puzzles. There's not too much to say about them since they don't show up too often. They are generally challenging and often require you to know the finer points of using the glaive.
Graphically, this game is great. There is a great amount of detail in both the environments and the characters and the rain effects are some of the best I've ever seen in a video game. Blood effects look great too. While the game is pretty heavy on the blood it looks very realistic and every enemy loses what appears to be a realistic amount of blood. And this game looks great under any circumstances. I've played but the 360 and PS3 versions in both standard and high definition and it always looks good. Granted, it does look alot better in HD, it's not bad if you're stuck with a standard definition television. My only gripe with the graphics is how dark they are. You're pretty much forced to increase the brightness settings in the options menu when you start playing it.
This game's sound department is pretty swell too. All of the voice actors, and that is every single one of them, deliver their lines very well. None of the lines sound weird or awkward. The sound effects are great too. Each weapon sounds just right and the explosions are great. In the areas of the game where gunfire isn't the focus you can hear just about every footstep, every raindrop, and every stepped in puddle. The music is pretty standard but it sets the tone of the game well. It's a mix of generic war music and generic horror game music. None of it really stands out but it gets the job done.
Like pretty much every other shooter these days, darkSector comes with it's own online mode. There are two playable online game modes. Epidemic and Infection. In Epidemic, two teams go head-to-head in a 1 life-per-player elimination round. The teams are divided between The Agency and Lasria. Each round, one player on each team is chosen to play as an infected soldier. The Agency has Hayden while Lasria has a fully infected soldier. Everyone else plays as a standard soldier. It's a tough choice between firing on the weak regular soldiers or focusing all of your shots on the enemy infected. It's heartbreaking to take out all of the enemy soldiers as the infected only to have the enemy infected sneak up behind you using his camo ability and snap your neck. Overall, Epidemic is very fun.
Infection is more of a Juggernaut-type game mode. One player is infected and everyone else is a soldier and must work together to kill the infected. Everyone has one life and when you die, you sit out the rest of the round just like in Epidemic. 1-to-5 (or more) may sound unfair but infected players are so powerful it quickly becomes a challenge to take them down. The human player who delivers the kill becomes the infected player the next round. Infected is the more difficult game mode, no matter which side you're on, but it's also alot of fun.
This game cost me only 9.99$ new at my local GameStop so the price is reasonable. But, if you don't think it's right for you, you can check out the demo on Xbox Live or Playstation Network. There aren't really any differences between the 360 and PS3 version except that the PS3 version gives you the option of using the SixAxis motion controls for the glaive's aftertouch ability. It doesn't feel tacked on and works well. Graphically, both versions are identical. Overall, it's a great game and is definitley worth any shooter fan's time.