Dark Sector, stylized as darkSector, is a 2008 third-person shooter video game developed by Digital Extremes for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows.
The game is set in the fictional Eastern Bloc country of Lasria, and centers on protagonist Hayden Tenno (voiced by Michael Rosenbaum), a morally ambivalent CIA "clean-up man".
The camera is positioned over the shoulder for third-person shooting, and the player can take cover by standing next to an object such as a pillar or wall. While in cover, Hayden can move temporarily out of cover to fire and throw the Glaive, but there is no blind firing from behind cover. There is a sprint function, which works similar to Gears of Wars Roadie Run, and melee attacks that allow Hayden to punch or slice nearby enemies. The game has no HUD (except for the ammo counter); Hayden's health is shown by the screen flashing red when he takes damage, as well as an indicator showing the attacker's position. If Hayden takes too much damage, the flash speed will increase, and a heartbeat will be heard, indicating Hayden is "bleeding out".
Money, ammo, weapon upgrades, and grenades can be found in set locations. Downed enemies drop their guns, though after his infection, Hayden can only carry these weapons for a few seconds before they self-destruct. Permanent weapons can be purchased and upgraded in black markets, one small weapon for his off-hand use with the Glaive (replacing the pistol) and one large weapon such as a shotgun or rifle.
Multiplayer
Dark Sector has an online multiplayer mode, where there are two modes of gameplay:
- Infection: one player is randomly selected to be Hayden in a deathmatch against many soldier characters.
- Epidemic: two Haydens on separate teams, the objective being to kill the opposing team's Hayden first.
In both modes, Hayden will have superior powers compared to the soldiers. Hayden will be able to become invisible, use the Glaive, etc., whereas the soldiers cannot. He is supported by Yargo Mensik (voiced by Jürgen Prochnow), an ex-GRU Colonel, scientist, and sleeper agent who knows the origin of the Technocyte virus. The main antagonist, Robert Mezner (voiced by Dwight Schultz), is an ex-CIA agent who seeks to build a utopia by spreading the Technocyte virus across the planet. Supporting Mezner is Nadia (voiced by Julianne Buescher), a mysterious woman whom Hayden knows; and "Nemesis", a metallic, humanoid figure who fights with a long Technocyte blade. Other characters include "the A.D.", Hayden's superior in the CIA; the Blackmarket Dealer, an arms dealer who supplies Hayden with weapons and equipment for his missions; and Viktor Sudek, a captured informant.
Plot
Near the end of the Cold War, the USSR discovers a sunken submarine off the coast of Lasria; something attacks the salvage crew through a gaping hole in the hull. In the following years, a mysterious infection called "the Technocyte" breaks out in Lasria, causing widespread mutation and destruction before the Lasrians bring it under control.
In the present, Hayden infiltrates a Lasrian gulag compound Robert Mezner is using to hold those infected with the Technocyte virus. His mission is to find Viktor Sudek, prevent the virus's spread, and eliminate Mezner. Finding Viktor, now a loose end and potentially infected, Hayden executes him. Fighting through enemies and planting C4 charges, Hayden encounters an armored humanoid called "Nemesis"; immune to gunfire, it telekinetically deflects an RPG back at Hayden, knocking him off the roof and he passes out. Waking up, Hayden finds himself face-to-face with Mezner, who chastises Hayden for his blind obedience and divulges info about his psychological profile. Nemesis then stabs Hayden's right shoulder, infecting him on Mezner's order, who states that Hayden deserves to suffer the disease's effects. By detonating the explosives, Hayden manages to escape. The game was originally proposed as a follow-up to Digital Extremes and Epic Games' critically acclaimed multiplayer first-person shooter, Unreal Tournament, but the original plan was scrapped and the game was not spoken of for another four years, during which the game underwent a massive change in focus. The original design had the game keeping in line with its predecessor as a multiplayer arena-style first-person shooter. An in-game cinematic unveiled years later in 2004, gave viewers a brief look at potential storylines and environments, as well as the graphics of the game. Digital Extremes specifically stated that the clips were not pre-rendered and were actual in-game footage. The game was shown as the first example of what a seventh-generation game would look like.
The game was originally intended to take place in a science-fiction environment, in outer space, with players taking the role of a character that inhabits a sleek mechanical suit with powers. The game was officially revealed by Digital Extremes' in late 2005, around the time of the original release of the Xbox 360. In 2006, major overhauls to the game were revealed, showing the main character, and a noticeably less sci-fi setting, although Hayden starts to resemble the originally planned main character as the infection takes over his body. The developers cited a shift in focus by other gaming companies and publishers as the reason for the change to a more modern setting and reducing its sci-fi elements, also adding that they wanted to achieve the realism that fans would enjoy. Another reason was that the tech demo was originally built before the team knew the maximum specifications of the Xbox 360. An interview with GameSpot revealed that the change in setting was intended to make the main character stand out more, as well as making the story more relatable, which they said has been written as a superhero origin story. The producer of Dark Sector, Dave Kudirka, said when they first built the engine, they did not want it to look like the Unreal Engine 3, and they wanted their own perspective engine. When asked about the games' engine being made on the Wii or PC, he replied "plausible". The game went gold on March 7, 2008. The musical score of the game was composed by Keith Power.
The Windows version of Dark Sector was initially planned to be released on the same date as on consoles, but later it was dropped and there were no news on its release. Some sites reported in 2009 that a YouTube video showed Dark Sector running on a PC. It was later confirmed that the game was indeed ported to Windows and was on sale, though only in Russia and the language was Russian by default. Hackers found ways to run the game in English. Aspyr and Noviy Disk published Dark Sector for Microsoft Windows, on March 23, 2009. Optimized by Noviy Disk for the release, the port featured improved graphics and a redesigned interface that made use of mouse and keyboard controls. An English/French version was added to Steam a day later. The PC version's multiplayer mode is only available via local area network play, as the game is a straight port of the console version with no extra code for internet connectivity.
Comic
A comic titled Dark Sector Zero was released with Dark Sector. Set before the game's main events, it delves into the events that led to Lasria's demise.
Reception
Dark Sector received mixed reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Xbox 360 version 73.24% and 72/100, Greg Howson of The Guardian thought the game was similar to other Gears of War clones except for the Glaive mechanic which he found entertaining, but ultimately called it a solid action game.
Ban in Australia
In February, before the release in March 2008, the game was banned by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) for sale in Australia. Adam Zweck, the sales and product manager for AFA Interactive, the local distributors of Dark Sector, told GameSpot AU that the game was banned due to its violence, in particular the finishing moves. It was later re-released in Australia for the PlayStation 3 on October 9 of the same year, but the violence was censored. In July 2009, Dark Sector was released on the cover disc of PC Powerplay, an Australian PC gaming magazine, although this was the heavily censored version of the game. GamesRadar included it in their list of the 100 most overlooked games of its generation.
Possible sequel
When asked about a sequel in 2008, Steven Sinclair of Digital Extremes stated that there was "nothing definitive" planned, but commented that he would "love to do one", and that Dark Sector only scratched the surface of the character and weapon's potential. Digital Extremes eventually developed a free-to-play game, titled Warframe, which borrows heavily from the original Dark Sector concept video and game.
The original concept for Dark Sector was more similar to what Warframe is now, but was put in a modern setting with a linear, single-player mode due to the industry landscape at the time. As such, Warframe is considered a spiritual successor, and has a handful of nods to Dark Sector.