Dark Sector - first look

Actually using the glaive takes practice, though - the developers told us that throwing it uses the same mechanic as swinging a club in a golf game - so Hayden will be able to make full use of firearms while he adjusts. In fact, he'll use them a lot, and will apparently be able to pick up anything from pistols to AK-47s to rocket launchers, which are guaranteed to come in handy against the bands of militia and tougher, creepier monsters that roam Lasria's towns.

In what we saw of the game's early stages, Hayden alternated between traditional shootouts in open, rubble-strewn streets and creepy, Silent Hill-style crawls through shadowy, dilapidated buildings. In the open, the developers tell us, cover will be extremely important - it's meant not just for dodging bullets, but also for enabling players to scope out an area and work out a plan of attack before entering it. Will you try to take everyone down with a single throw of the glaive? Will you run in with guns blazing? Will it even matter which one you pick? Only time will tell.

Most of the enemies Hayden met in the street - all of them Lasrian militiamen - seemed dumb as posts, and whether he was using guns or the glaive, Hayden was able to mow them down with little trouble. According to the developers, though, these "meatbags" are just the start. As Hayden gets more powerful, the player's perception of earlier enemies will gradually move from major threat to minor annoyance to "resources to be harvested." Creepy.