Dark Sector (2008)

It's funny how when you get a game for free on Steam, you don't really feel like digging into its flaws. But at the same time, it's hard to talk about anything else.

Dark Sector is a shooter where the gameplay is split roughly in half: gunplay and the use of the glaive - the protagonist's signature weapon.

Most of the interesting mechanics revolve around this glaive: you can charge it with fire, ice, or electricity, control it mid-flight, and even use a shield with invisibility. I genuinely enjoyed this part - the mechanics kept things fresh and engaging throughout the game.

The only exception was manual control of the glaive in flight - it felt clunky and uncomfortable to use. But overall, almost everything related to combat and killing enemies was done well.

That said, I had two main issues with the weapon side of things:

1. Machine gun sections This is a classic trope from older games - mowing down enemies with a mounted gun while being shot from all directions. It should feel intense and cinematic.

The environments are actually well designed for this - usually elevated positions with good visibility.

The problem is the massive bullet spread. If an enemy is even partially behind cover, hitting them becomes frustratingly difficult. And since enemies constantly hide behind cover, this becomes a consistent annoyance.

1. The "black market" weapon shop The game clearly puts more emphasis on the glaive than on firearms. You can easily ignore weapon upgrades entirely and just play with the glaive.

Still, there is a variety of weapons, and the developers needed a way to present them. Unfortunately, they went with the most basic approach: manholes scattered across levels that act as black market shops.

I bought a standard AK early on and used it for the entire game, only visiting the shop to apply upgrades.

There were also things I really liked.

Upgrades are scattered across levels in briefcases - something I usually dislike, since it forces you to search every corner to avoid missing something permanently.

But here it's handled much better: upgrades repeat, and there aren't that many unique ones. This makes it easy to collect a full set without obsessive exploration, which I appreciated.

I also liked the attention to detail - especially how the protagonist's body changes as the infection progresses.

Just got infected

Infection later

Unfortunately, there were quite a few issues that bothered me throughout the game.

1. Excessive camera shake At first, it felt like a serious test for my vestibular system. Running, taking damage, explosions - everything causes heavy camera shake, and there's no option to reduce it in the settings.

2. Poor communication of mechanics The game doesn't explain some of its features at all. I only discovered that the character had a flashlight and grenades by checking the settings menu. I don't remember a single hint or tutorial message about them.

This ties into another issue: I often got stuck, not knowing where to go next. Sometimes for 10–15 minutes.

Twice I had to check YouTube, and it was almost funny to see another player struggling in exactly the same way, trying the same things I did.

At some point it started to feel like an IQ test I was failing. Thankfully, by the middle of the game, you start to understand its logic and get stuck less often.

There was also a particularly frustrating moment when I disabled some graphical effects in the settings - and accidentally turned off gameplay-critical effects like fire and electricity, which were required to solve a puzzle. Why this option even exists is beyond me.

1. Poor ultrawide support As expected, the game doesn't handle ultrawide monitors well. I had to play at 1920x1080 on a 1440p display.

2. Darkness section There was a moment where the lights go out and monsters start coming from all directions. It could have been tense and atmospheric, but instead it was just frustrating because you simply can't see anything.

Despite all of this, I did finish the game - and I'd even say I enjoyed it overall.

But when I saw the "New Game+" option, I immediately knew: I'm not going through this again.

I did not like Dark Sector. It’s somewhat of a fresh concept in terms of playstyle, but with terrible performance, mechanics, bugs, broken AI and invisible walls. In the basics, you play in Third Person, finish each level, fight some bosses and rinse and repeat.

In this game, you play as some dude that is Special Ops or something and is headed for Russia to kill the head of some secret project. He discovers that this project is the release of some kind of virus, turning everyone into mutants. You need to stop Doctor Evi…. I mean Mezner and save the world. Of course, some good old fashion betrayal and plot twists take place while you move from kill wall to kill wall.

The first issue with this game is the performance. It is an XBOX 360 Port, and it runs absolutely atrocious. Not only with the fixed 30 FPS and the unchangeable graphics settings, but also the widescreen support that is not present. I ran the game on 1920x1080 and it barely held. Also, when you alt-tab in this game, be prepared to stuff your finger deep inside the power button of your PC, as the whole Windows installation is going haywire, with a black screen and a moving arrow in the end. I know that this is not a new game, but it absolutely runs like ass.

Then you got the dumb enemy AI. Many times, they are stuck with two or three enemies at a time and just wait for you to put a bullet in their heads. The spawn mechanic is also really terrible. You kill two soldiers, and another one just pops up out of nowhere. There are also sections in which the game respawned enemies endlessly until you progressed. I really, really hate that sh!t. Many times, I thought I got them all, only to be pumped full of lead by a new enemy that spawned right in front of me.

You collect Russian Monies throughout the game to buy new weapons at the black market. Throughout the game, you only find enough to afford two or three weapons. You also find upgrades in the levels, but once installed, they are permanent. But the most ridiculous part here, is that you cannot buy a single bullet from the market. Every gun ever made in Russia is here, but good luck finding some rounds for it.

Then you have the weapons. Every weapon in this game sucks except the Korbov and your starting pistol. The cool sharp Glaive on your hand is one of the worst weapons I ever used in a game. It has a range of 2 meters; you need to go full into the hailstorm of bullets to hit anything, but f*ck that, I just try to headshot all the dumb bullet machines from afar. The Glaive always misses, kills stuff with 3 or 4 hits and the aiming mechanics are terrible.

That brings me to the detection. I think this game has one of the worst hit detection I have ever played, without exception. You got a big circle for a corsair, this much makes sense, but when I pop three heads in two seconds and then empty 2 magazines on one stupid mutant with a lead pipe, it made me question if I needed to grab a new pair of glasses, or that the game is just broken. To further elaborate this fact, you can grab ammo with your Glaive, but half times, it does not work, the lock on animation doesn't work. It made me furious sometimes.

When you want to interact with something, the normal way is to press the corresponding button. In this case, Spacebar. Not in Dark Sector. In this game, you first whack the object that you want to interact with, and then after your second press, the interaction will take place.

Talking about Spacebar, controls in this game are horrendous. You can change them in the menu, but this is not saved. This means that I just stuck with the layout for PC and, My God, it is horrible. Many times, I died because I threw a grenade in my face with Q instead of taking cover.

The only thing I give Dark Sector praise for is its sound design. The sound and background music are really well done and sound creepy and atmospheric. Just a shame that it needs to be in a crappy game like this.

I had some fun moments with the game, but the majority of problems, bugs, the cryptic nature of the boss battles, small annoyances, and game breaking bullsh!t, ruined the rest of the experience for me.

I would not recommend this game.