Engine Room: Dark Sector

Atomic talks to producer Sheldon Carter about the finer details of Dark Sector

Pariah? What the heck was that? Developer Digital Extremes told us it was a revolutionary shooter that made full use of pixel shaders, physics and high resolution textures, coupled with a full-flavoured and compelling plot. Sounds, smells and tastes like success in anyone’s book.

In reality, we ended up with a by-the-numbers story and an extremely linear game. Sure the weapon upgrade mechanic mixed things up like man-jelly in a washing machine, but otherwise sleeping through the title was just as effective as playing it.

This, however, didn’t make us angry. Disappointed yes, and maybe even a little upset, but DE’s previous work on the Unreal franchise gave us hope that the developer was capable of more. And that ‘more’ would be so confronting it’d put your brother’s browsing history to shame.

When we had a look at a preview of Pariah all those years ago, DE showed us its little secret – a project it’d just started work on that would trump Pariah’s two-pair with a straight flush of awesomeness. The clip Digital Extremes had to show presented us with an armoured figure, sneaking down the corridor of a space ship. The graphics were supremo, the atmosphere intense and the scent... oh, it’d have your nose hairs ecstatically screaming Celtic slurs.

Dark Sector was the name of the game, and two years on Digital Extremes is not only happy to chat about its work, but admit that the release is not far away.