Although at first glance the story behind Dark Sector appears to be deep and full of mystery, it really just ends up being full of mystery. Unfortunately, unlike any good mystery, this one is never unraveled. You play the role of one Hayden Tenno, an American special agent sent to Lasria, a small country located in the USSR, to hunt down a madman hell bent on releasing a deadly Bio-weapon that turns its victims into mindless killing machines. Unfortunately, that's really all we are offered. There are some side characters, but their backgrounds are never clarified, nor are their connections to Hayden. For example, during the course of the game, we come to a cut scene in which Hayden is confronted by a woman with whom he clearly has a past, however, that past is never expounded upon, and all the encounter manages to do is leave us scratching our heads in puzzlement.

Despite these shortcomings, the story mode is really quite fun to play through. The story is driven by Hayden becoming infected, and the resulting powers he is granted. The first power granted to you is the Glaive. This is really the main feature of the game, and it provides the player with hours of entertainment while massacring hordes of mindless infected. However, as the story progresses, Hayden grows in strength and begins to acquire new abilities, such as a telekinetic shield, and even invisibility, which you may then use as you wish. Also, although it is not really a power, throughout the game players may come across fuse boxes, electric transformers, fires, etc. all of which the Glaive can be thrown into, offering a massive boost in power, as well as the great visuals that result from enemies being struck by an element powered Glaive.

Gameplay in Dark Sector looks and feels almost exactly like Gears of War, and proves to be just as entertaining. The differences lie in the story and setting of the game more than anything, as well as the presence of the Glaive. There were many great features in Dark Sector, and one that I enjoyed and used quite often was the aftertouch ability. This allows the player to maintain control of the Glaive after it has been thrown, allowing for precision accuracy. However, my absolute favorite feature was the finishers. I found no greater joy in the game than when I was brutally and effectively eliminating enemies with the various finishers available. Aside from the powers, one interesting feature is the Black Market. This can be accessed through manholes strewn throughout the story, and allows players to purchase and upgrade weapons. The only downside to this is that because the Glaive is so powerful, and can be dual wielded with pistols, you are automatically drawn to the handguns, eliminating roughly one-third of the weapon selection.

As stated before, Dark Sector plays almost exactly like Gears of War, and this carries to the controls, with slight changes. The main difference is that the right bumper now throws the Glaive, and the X button reloads your weapon. However, all other controls remain the same. Simply push A to roll or dive into cover, or hold A to sprint, left trigger aims your weapon, and B is your melee button. It's as simple as that. It is very easy to learn and master the controls, which is huge for any shooter, considering the fast pace of the combat. If you can't get a hold of the controls, you will be doomed to struggle throughout the entire game.

Visually, Dark Sector has a lot to offer. Although a lot of the surroundings are shrouded in darkness, this really sets the tone of the game and keeps players on edge. The character models are well done, and the elemental effects are stunning. My primary complaint is the lack of variety seen in the enemy models. Among the non-infected enemies, there are only about four different models, and there are just as few infected enemies. This is of course not including bosses. Speaking of bosses, for the most part the game did a great job at presenting them, and giving the player an "Aw, crap" feeling when faced with the monster before them. Although the visual effects were quite well done, the sounds definitely could have been better. For the most part, weapons, and sounds emitted by enemies, both infected and human, were rather repetitive. The one sound however, that stood out and left a lasting impression, was the sound of the Glaive. Both the sound made when thrown and when making contact were superb and extremely recognizable. In fact, while playing multiplayer, when you heard that sound you were immediately filled with dread, as you became aware that you were in immediate danger of being eviscerated.