Few things in life can match the pleasure of slicing someone’s legs off with a spinning blade. So Dark Sector, at the very least, has that going for it. Thankfully, it has plenty more besides. Taking elements of Gears of War and Resident Evil, this sits nicely in the middle ground - third-person action that mixes things up between ludicrous, head-exploding violence and careful blasting from behind cover.



Set in Eastern Europe, you do battle against enemy troops and hideous freaks contaminated by some long-forgotten Soviet experiment. It’s all decidedly atmospheric stuff, and visually, it’s come on leaps and bounds since we last saw it, with some gorgeous lighting cascading shadows this way and that, and lots of variety in environments, with one level we played taking in dusty streets leading to an abandoned school house.

We were only allowed to play the fourth stage in the game, but it was enough for us to get a taste for some of the nice ideas being developed. In between all the blade-throwing carnage were a handful of puzzles involving assigning certain energies to your blade in order to unlock the way ahead. And the mix of duck and cover combat and all-out blasting is most agreeable.



One thing Sector’s doing that we didn’t expect is its slow development of the lead character. As you progress, not only do you change in appearance, but you slowly learn new skills in a way not entirely dissimilar to say, Zelda or Metroid - which means that the way you play through the game will constantly be evolving and offering up new challenges.

Link: http://www.gamesradar.com/gb/ps3/game/news/article...

Coming early 2008

When is E3? Is it in July?