Dark Sector Review

Dark Sector is a blatant Gears of War clone that gets stale by the end. It shouldn't be a surprise since Dark Sector's development has taken it all over the place (original trailers showed the game taking place in outerspace).

Gameplay: 7.5/10
Pros: Plays just as good as Gears and introduces a pretty fun twist with the flying glaive blade. The beginning of the game is great since your are constantly gaining new abilities.
Cons: The story makes absolutely no sense...nothing is ever fleshed out. Multiplayer is a forgetable tack on, and the game gets incredibly stale in the final levels as your abilities max out and you fight the same damn elemental creatures.

Graphics: 8.5/10
Pros: The graphics are incredibly slick looking. The resolution and crispness of the visuals is amazing. Great Particle, Lighting and Shadow effects. Definitely a technical achievement on Xbox 360.
Cons: The enemies get very repetitive about midway through the game and all the environments look the same. The impressive real time lighting and shadowing gets dull when all the environments are the same drab industrial landscape.

Sound/Music: 8/10
Pros: The sparse atmospheric voiceovers and TV dialogue are incredible at setting the mood. Sound Effects are top-notch. Voice Acting is decent.
Cons: Music is sparse, voiceovers have little impact due to the terrible story.

Lasting Appeal: 6/10
Pros: Single Player campaign is a decent length and includes increased difficulties. Multiplayer expands on the single player.
Cons: It was a struggle to finish the game since it gets really stale at the end. They should have ended the game at chapter 7/8 instead of 10. Multiplayer cannot compete with games like Gears of War, Halo 3, Call of Duty, and Rockband. Pretty forgetable game all around.

Average: 75%
Tilt: +1.00%

I'm impressed that all the changes Dark Sector went through during the development process didnt' completely ruin it. The game featured an entirely different sci-fi story a few years ago and much poorer graphics. The game is a blatant Gears clone, but it offers a pretty neat set of powers...it's a shame that this wasn't more fleshed out. The last part of the game would've been incredible if you were supped up to dominate the baddies. It's a good rental, but don't buy this one.

Verdict: 75%