Review: Dragon Ball Z – Ultimate Tenkaichi (PS3)

Right before I popped Dark Sector into my 360 I had just got done sealing Kane & Lynch back into its Gamefly envelope (without finishing it). I mention this because I wonder if my feelings for Dark Sector are better then average because I just got done playing one of the most mediocre games I have played in a long time. I had heard a lot of bad things about Dark Sector the week prior and a lot of reviewers were dead right about the games shortcomings, but underneath the weak storyline is a decent game that has potential for future titles.

Graphics

Dark Sector is pretty…very pretty. Not since Gears of War has bleak dank environments looked so good, but that in itself is sort of an issue because the games environments are very similar and there is not a lot to differentiate them. I am willing to look past most of this because the game does look really good, but I still would have liked to see a little bit more variety. Some reviewers mentioned some noticeable slowdown in the game, but during my play through I did not notice any frame rate dipping that affected gameplay. The game ran smooth and load times were quick. If you are a graphics whore then Dark Sector will not disappoint.

Story

I am really finding it hard to write anything about the story of this game. Dark Sector’s biggest problem in my eyes is that it fails to draw any kind of comprehensible storyline. The game feels like a long prologue to what will take place in the next game…if they make one. You get to know a few characters and some basic plot points, but at the end of the game you don’t really care about what happens to anyone in the game. I know games like Gears of War didn’t have amazing stories but they had memorable characters and the story kept you interested for the course of the game. Unfortunately that is not the case when playing Dark Sector.

Gameplay

The only thing that saves Dark Sector from being mediocre is its gameplay. The glade is really fun to play with and the further you progress in the game the more unique things you can do with it. I found myself dying on purpose so I could try and steer my glade to take out 3 or 4 guys at a time. You also unlock some abilities such as generating a shield that can fling projectiles back at your enemy and the ability to go invisible, which is very useful in the harder sections of the game. The game does take advantage of the glade for use in puzzles, but don’t expect any of them to be cool. The puzzles are standard fare and don’t really challenge you to think much.

Near the end of that game I did get a little tired of the glade, so I started using my other abilities more. I think the developers should have put more situations in the game that require the use of your other powers. You can pretty much play through the entire game using the glade and some people will do that and miss using the other abilities, which when used right can be fun in their own right. Dark Sector had all the abilities and cool powers to make an amazing game; they just missed putting them together in the right manner.

Multiplayer

I would love to give a long narrative about the multiplayer in Dark Sector but there was almost no one on to play with, even a week after the game shipped. There are only two game types Infection and Epidemic. Epidemic is a standard death match where everyone has a glade and special powers. This game is okay but the fast paced use of the glade just doesn’t work well when everyone has one. Infection is actually a decent game type that puts one infected against all the other players. The infected is very powerful with the glade and all his powers, while the other players must use guns and grenades to bring the infected down. Once the infected is killed the person who killed him now becomes the infected. This transpires for a few rounds and then the person with the most point is the winner. This game was fun, but since no one is playing this game online there is really no point to buying this game for the multiplayer.

Overall

If you liked Gears of War then chances are you will get a good 10 hours of fun out of Dark Sector. The campaign is fun to play through and your powers are unique and fun to use, but just don’t go in expecting a deep story or memorable characters. Dark Sector has a lot of potential locked away in it and I just hope the developers realize the parts they got wrong if they decide to make a sequel. This game does deserve a spot on your gamefly que, but its not worth the $60 price tag.

The Good
+ Great Graphics
+ Fun Powers
+ Da GLADE!

The Bad
- Weak Story
- Repetitive Levels
- Easy Puzzles
- Multiplayer is Limited

I give Dark Sector a 3 out of 5 Aeropausonauts