Dark Sector demo springs onto Live

By Robert Purchese Published 11 June, 2008

Glaive us quite a fright.

Microsoft has finally flung a demo for Dark Sector onto Xbox Live Marketplace.

Anyone in the world can play it - even Germany - and it should give you a taste for the shooter that aimed to win our hearts with a mutant hero who had a Glaive for an arm and Zelda-like puzzles to solve.

Dark Sector came out in April and had lots of promise, but struggled to leave a lasting impression on us, although lots of you liked it. Perfect for a test-drive, then, if you quite fancied it but were put off by the initial asking price and mediocre scores.

Pop over to our Dark Sector review for a detailed examination.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (12) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • septimus #1 4 years ago

    Quite a good fun game. Worth the £20 I picked it up for (new). Wouldn't pay much more for it though.

  • repairmanjack #2 4 years ago

    Thought it was criminally overlooked at the time. Still really enjoy it.

  • Darren #3 4 years ago

    I tried the PS3 demo a month or so back... it was OK, reasonably enjoyable even for the length of time I played it, but it didn't make me want to buy the game. It didn't have anything really to make it stand out from other similar third-person games and the blade weapon felt very gimmicky. Interaction with the environments were poor too. In terms of design, the game felt like something from 2003 to me.

  • JayScott #4 4 years ago

    No, anyone in the world can't play it. It has been banned in Australia, because we are too stupid to have an R rating for games. Not that this game necessarily needs one, imo, having played the PS3 demo downloaded via my Beverly Hills 90210 address.
    Edited by 1 at 11/06/08 @ 16:20

  • ParanoidZombie #5 4 years ago

    looks like a good game, but the bossfight (huge colossus in an abandonned church) at the end of the demo is very weird: I used the fire glaive, stunned him twice, which allowed me to perform two powerful QTE attacks, and then what? He doesn't climb any more, I use fire and lightning but that doesn't seem to harm him.

    EG said that boss fights were poorly designed, and from that demo I understand what they meant.
    Edited by 1 at 11/06/08 @ 16:30

  • SomaticSense #6 4 years ago

    Sorry, I know I few people liked it, but it's rubbish.

    It's not awful, but a lot of the basic mechanics aren't right and there are a few glitches. The 3rd person camera is way, way, way too oversensitive, although the over the shoulder aim cam is fine. The glaive seems pointless, as unless you can nail the quad damage pefectly everytime it's quicker to just use your pistol to take the enemies. The crates are awkard as fuck to melee, and a couple of times the crates which refused to smash when I kicked them got stuck to my boot, and then went walkies with me for about 100 yards.

    The texture detail can sometimes be stunning, but the graphics in general seem both bland in technical ability and derivative in design. The game seems a blatant copy of GoW, only a hell of a lot less polished.

  • tobsen #7 4 years ago

    This game is great. Don't believe anyone who says otherwise!

  • espibara #8 4 years ago

    Cracking good game, had a great time with it. Its inspiration is blatantly RE4 and Gears but who cares good fun and defo wortha punt if you can get it under 30 quid.

  • spookyzombie #9 4 years ago

    Maybe if we're lucky they'll release another bang up to date demo like COD3 too.

  • muscleblade #10 4 years ago

    @ParanoidZombie

    I actually love the bosses in this game. When the Collossus doesnt climb anymore just get your glaive on fire and keep throwing it at him and hes dead after awhile. Goes faster if you manage to get the glaive electricuted though but that demand some good timing.

  • muscleblade #11 4 years ago

    "Awful controls. A game like this is screaming out for a mouse and keyboard setup :( "

    Dont agree at all. Go back to your PC then.

  • CreepinJesus #12 4 years ago

    @JayScott: "too stupid to have an R rating for games"

    What does the R stand for anyway? Rater Rrrr for Piracy?