Dark sector

February 26, 2008 - We've
been checking in on Hayden Tenno -- a government agent infected with a
virus that's turning his skin to metal -- and his ever-expanding amount
or super-human abilities for a few months now. Each time we check in,
Hayden's got another move or ability such as creating a telekinetic
shield, guiding his trusty glaive after it's been thrown or some
gut-spilling finisher that's equally important in his progression to a
full-fledged badass that can fend off the hordes of metal-skinned
enemies in front of him.

After months of slicing and dicing AI, we got to kill our friends last
week. As GDC rolled on a few blocks away, D3 and Digital Extremes took
over a portion of a downtown San Francisco hotel and set up a plethora
of flat-screen TVs and Xbox 360s.

Dark Sector's multiplayer mode was open for us to explore.


Packing five maps and two modes, multiplayer on Dark Sector harkens
back to a little title known as Gears of War. Sure, there isn't the
number of options the Microsoft title packed, but the same "I start
here, you start there, and we brawl in the middle" gameplay is intact.

The first mode for us to get out heads chopped off in was Infection.
Basically a VIP game, Infection pits a team of soldiers -- who either
pack a machine gun or shotgun -- against one player acting as a
suped-up Hayden. The team of gunners start on one side of the map and
Hayden starts on the other.

This chance to play as Hayden gave us access to all of his abilities --
we're talking full, metal-skin suit. We could turn invisible, sneak up
behind opponents and gut them with the glaive, or stand back, toss up a
shield and watch the bullets bounce off. However, when we were one of
the hazmat-suit soldiers, we weren't exactly outgunned. Aside from the
aforementioned firearms, non-Haydens pack a handful of grenades, one
proximity mine and the ability to work together.


I can smell him.



As
we marched through a dark Spanish villa in "Court," we found that
having a plan was key to taking down Hayden in his completely encased
state. For awhile, we and the other four soldiers would just rush at
the super-human and hope that our shells and explosives would knock him
to the ground so that one of us could pull off a brutal finisher.
However, this attack plan ended with the majority of us getting glaived
in the face, shot in the back and basically pwned.

The fact that one of the developers was playing as Hayden for awhile didn't help.

Anyway, once we got a handle on the controls, attacking as one from
cover proved to be our best bet. For starters, Hayden's a hard guy to
keep an eye on because he can hop around the screen so easily, and thus
the ability to call out his location -- if you see Hayden, you can hit
a button and have the foe marked on all of your allied HUDs -- becomes
invaluable. Just like Dark Sector's
single-player campaign, cover is a big part of the game's multiplayer.
Levels are strewn with walls to lean against, crates to take refuge
behind and concrete trenches to plan your attacks from. As we took the
fight to Hayden in the villa, most of our battles came to a head in the
Court's covered walkway. The path between two buildings had half walls
and pillars on each side that made setting up base for an entire team a
breeze and gave plenty of angles for people to pop shots from. Once the
bullets had Hayden on the ground -- the character gives off a red glow
to let you know it's time to move in -- a teammate would finish the VIP
and become Hayden in the next round.

The second mode in Dark Sector's multiplayer is Epidemic. Here, folks
are broken into two teams and set loose on each other. The catch? Each
squad is comprised of a few soldiers and one Hayden. The groups face
off with the goal of racking up the preset number of kills.


Even though Mausoleum had us blowing people away in a graveyard and
Deck had us machine-gunning folks to death on an out-to-sea vessel, our
favorite map from the multiplayer taste had to be Factory. Filled with
turbines and canisters that gave our glaive the ability to freeze
opponents, Factory placed the battle in a decrepit building packing
blown-out floors, dank quarters and dark corners to hide in. We were
lucky enough to get cast as Hayden during one of the Factory battles --
teammates randomly switch between Hayden and the soldiers -- and
literally ran through the level hurling the glaive into people's backs
and slicing them up the gut.

However, one drawback to the close-quarters action was the same complaint
we had a few previews ago -- melee attacks. When you're in this Hayden
v. Hayden structure, killing the opposing super-man is assigned to your
team's super-man. In between turning invisible and slitting throats, we
spotted evil Hayden, rushed to his location and began swiping at him
with our glaive. The foe followed suit, and what followed was mass
confusion as each of us swiped our way off the screen. We couldn't see
each other because the animations were pushing us past one another.

Eventually, I killed the guy with a blind swipe, but the moment felt anything but awesome.

From our short time with the title, it looks like the multiplayer
portion of Dark Sector is going to appeal to a niche audience. A group
of skilled friends will probably have fun taking opposing teams
head-to-head, but this probably won't be a game you just jump into with
some random group of partners.


Double knockout.



Stay tuned for more updates and our official Dark Sector review toward the end of March.