Dark Sector Review

The combat is bloody and great fun

Dark Sector's campaign will last around 8-10 hours on your first play through, with a harder 'Brutal' mode unlocked upon completion. As well as being one of the most action packed games you'll play on the Xbox 360 or PS3, the campaign also serves as brilliant training for the online multiplayer modes. There are only two modes on offer, Epidemic and Infection, but both are worth spending some time with.

Epidemic is a team game, pitting five against five, with the twist being that only one member of each team plays as a super-powered Hayden - the others are standard soldiers. Kill the other team's Hayden first to win. Infection pits one Hayden against up to 9 standard soldiers, with the goal being for Hayden to kill as many of the soldiers as he can. With only one player able to use special powers it's a game of hunter and hunted and works really well when Hayden is played by someone with experience. Slightly disappointing is the lack of standard deathmatch and team deathmatch modes, but these could be added at a later date.

Both versions of Dark Sector look great and for the most part run at a nice frame rate. It's a shame neither manages to maintain the silky smooth motion seen during quiet periods, but the glorious architecture and abundance of screen-filling special effects are worth the compromise. When fighting against a gang of Infected, a couple of robots and an army of soldiers, few next-gen games look better. A few rough edges here and there and the odd low-polygon object are really all there is to moan about.

A special mention must also go to the audio, with the surround sound implementation being worthy of particular praise. The Infected sound brilliant and are truly terrifying when their screams are heard on a loud audio set-up.

The later powers you acquire turn you into a real killing machine

Other than minor presentation differences between the Xbox 360 and PS3 games, the PS3 has Sixaxis motion control of precision glaive aiming and Entitlements, although the Xbox 360 game has marginally superior online functionality and Achievements. Rest assured that both games are very good.

Dark Sector's had a long development cycle and at times we were more than a little worried about how it'd turn out, but Digital Extreme's debut next-gen release has been well worth the wait. It's not going to set the world alight like Gears of War and it doesn't revolutionise survival horror like Resident Evil 4, but its thrilling combat and sensational visuals make it well worth adding to your collection.