Re: Free Dark Sector game on Steam!

On Wed, 27 Nov 2024 18:56:58 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/29900/Dark_Sector/
"Free to keep when you get it before Nov 30 @ 9:00am. Some limitations apply..."

Oh sure, _NOW_ they make it free. I waited for years for it to come on
sale and I finally broke down and bought it a few months ago. I swear,
Valve is watching what I buy and marking it down to $0.00 as soon as
they see the credit card charge was approved...


"Dark Sector" was never a great game, but I remember having fun with
it. It was a B-tier FPS game; the level design was pretty dreadful,
but the weapon/armor design was neat and the combat was satisfactory.

Here's what I wrote back when I played in 2011 (I bought it on CD-ROM.
Remember when games came on one of those?)

     I bought Dark Sector solely because of its price; it was
     only $4.99. I don't care how terrible a game is; at that price
     it is inevitable it will be added to my collection. Anyway,
     sometimes novelty is as important to me as quality. And
     nothing about Dark Sector screamed quality; I'd never even
     *heard* of this game, and if the copy on the box was anything
     to go by, I'd just purchased a third-rate FPS. But you know
     what they tell you about box (or book) covers, and they are
     right. Dark Sector is a surprising gem.

     Oh, not for its gameplay. Although often quite satisfying, it
     has an uneven difficulty curve; some levels are cake-walks while
     others require multiple run-throughs. The game relies too much
     on "tricks" to defeat the bosses (whilst inadequately hinting
     as to what that "trick" is) and some levels lack direction and
     flow. The controls are stiff and unwieldy (a result of its
     console ancestry) although I did manage to complete the game
     with keyboard and mouse. The story is a bit of mess too,
     with characters and events appearing with little explanation.
     And don't even try to play this game in wide-screen; it just
      won't work.

     But where the game shines is in its graphical style and mood.
     Set in a nameless eastern-European country, the mood is
     depressed and subdued. The shadowy graphics complement this
     perfectly. Creeping through the ruined cities hearing nothing
     but crickets, it reminded me nothing so much as Half Life 2.

     So while I'd hardly rate the game as a not-to-be missed
     classic, it certainly was well worth it's budget price; even
     had I paid full price I would not have been disappointed.
     Not every game has to be excellent but I do so enjoy
     getting value for my money.



Whether it's held up since then, I've no idea. But it was memorable
enough that I didn't mind paying for it twice. ;-)