“It’s time for heads to roll.” Digital Extremes’ latest title, Dark Sector, which is being published by D3 Publisher, decided to take that quote and make it literal. Their new sci-fi, action packed, third-person shooter seems to do everything right and very little wrong. From the look and feel of the game to the emotion behind each character’s voice, Dark Sector is something to be revered and enjoyed by anybody old enough to pick it up and play. Based around the perfectly coined Evolution Engine (formerly Sector Engine), Dark Sector evolves the third-person shooter genre to what it should be.

You’ll start out having to install a bit of the game to the PlayStation’s HDD. This will roughly take about 3-4 minutes; so don’t expect to get bored too soon. The result of this is faster load times - not quite up to par with Devil May Cry 4’s, but only a tad slower nonetheless. Also, make sure you’re signed into the PlayStation Network upon booting up the game. This will allow you to be prompted with the 23MB update that has already been released.

Dark Sector revolves around a world where biochemical warfare is expected but not always prepared for. The Technocyte Virus is described as a bio-weapon that turns the infected into mindless killing machines; that is, as long as the virus doesn’t kill the host first. The United States has sent in a man named Robert Mezner, a scientist who willingly puts his life on the line for science and research. After all contact is lost with their operative, the government is left with no choice but to send in a psychotic, unstable, ruthless killer, Hayden Tenno. Not only has Hayden spent the last countless years in a prison cell for past crimes but he also happened to be Robert Mezner's protégé.

Due to the relationship between the two, the government feels that releasing Hayden into the world again may help their negotiations with Mezner. They’re also well aware that Mezner will potentially try and recruit Tenno into the grand scheme of things. You won’t learn any of this throughout the game, but we figured we’d give you a little more history in regards to the plotline that was provided to us through Dark Sector Zero, a comic book that discusses the past history of Dark Sector.

The game begins with Hayden Tenno being deployed to the Eastern European city of Lasria. Lasria is a Soviet state still around after the end of the Cold War and is not only on the brink of ruin, but is also home to the secret Technocyte Virus. Tenno is sent in as a third-party operative in order to take out one of his comrades, Viktor, along with the task of blowing up the facility that Viktor is being held captive in. Upon arrival, Tenno begins to question the mission and his participation within it. After being told that he’s already past the point of no return, he must push forward to carry out his task. Along the way you’ll learn that Mezner is alive and well and plans to release the virus from its holding vault.

Thus you push forward to seek out Mezner while walking into your first real challenge of the game, taking down a helicopter looking to pulverise you with a hail of machine gun fire and rockets. Upon completion of this dogfight, you’ll have your first run in with the unoriginally named villain, Nemesis. Not much is known about Nemesis at this point, except for that it looks as though it is from another planet or seriously infected with the Technocyte Virus in an extreme way. After being knocked out, you’ll shortly awaken and return to consciousness with Robert Mezner standing above you. He’ll go over some things and you’ll enjoy some light banter, however, once you reach for your weapon off to the side, Nemesis will puncture you with its weapon, slowly causing the Technocyte infection within your body and the start of your journey through the world of Lasria and Dark Sector.

Digital Extremes has given the impression that they’ve put a ton of time into the ... (continued on next page)