Man, I can’t even remember how long ago I picked up Dark Sector. I got it used like I get most of my games and it sat around for a while. I started playing it and it was alright, but it didn’t really grab me. I went back to it in between other games and even though I got Left 4 Dead 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 for Christmas, I decided to give it another shot. In the end, I liked the game, though it seemed a little all over the place and the control mechanics were a little crappy.

I’ll talk about the mechanics first. The game looks great, but sometimes the AI gets a little funky and the bad guys will either just sit there or walk into walls. My biggest complaint though lies in the fact that the controls are clunky at best. The running in this game sucks. You’ve got to hold down one button and push forward. You also can’t jump. I hate that. Gears Of War did the same thing. I don’t understand the thinking being having to run up to an object and crouch behind it just so you can jump over something. There also seemed to be some sluggishness between hitting the buttons that the screen tells you to hit. I’d like to think a sequel would fix these problems.

Aside from that, the game’s pretty solid. I’ll be honest, I skipped nearly every cut scene, so I have no idea what the story is about. I liked the glave, but wish it had more of an actual physical presence. By that I mean it should do more when it hits various elements in the game aside from the few pre-designated targets. One thing about skipping the story, though is that I still have no idea why I was killing dudes with guns, zombies with hammers and blades and demon-aliens who shoot bolts of energy. I also had to use some walkthroughs to figure a few things out. I’m not sure if that’s because the game is too hard or I’m just not very smart. Either way, I don’t really mind. I eventually got through the whole thing on whatever the normal setting and had a fun enough time.

If you haven’t checked Dark Sector out, it’s worth picking up used. I think it’s under $10 at Game Stop now, so that’s a pretty good deal. Now I’m moving on to Left 4 Dead 2 and probably MUA2 for something more stable and long-term.