If you're even seen Warframe before, you'll immediately notice a surprising amount of similarities between these games, but it was really funny to find out that this is just what remained after they basically completely overhauled this game from being straight up Warframe.
It's also important to keep this in mind, because some of its shortcomings suddenly make a whole lot of sense. I was trying to find a more definitive answer on why they did it, because there's a lot of vague "changed after publisher involvement" type wording around, and there's a way more direct answer in a Kikizo interview with Josh Austin.
"Originally when they started this title, there was no Unreal Engine 3, and it was heavily sci-fi. When they were pitching it around [to potential publishers for the game], nobody was buying it, because at the time this sci-fi theme in the game was just not working very well for them." He said that a stronger emphasis was put on the ever-popular superhero theme, and it seemed to pick up momentum again. "Then D3 Publisher picked it up two years ago, and really got it going."
Even though the shift seemingly wasn't too sudden, I can't imagine it's too easy to go from having a more fleshed out concept for a sci-fi game (that they were clearly very passionate about), and then turn it into a Cold War game where you play as a CIA dude infiltrating a Soviet secret military island to locate and destroy technozombie virus.
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It's all assumptions, but I feel like environments have been hit the hardest. After a surprisingly pretty opening, you spend most of this game inside concrete buildings, non-descript corridors, tunnels, underground facilities, factories, warehouses, and other unremarkable places. It's like the pantheon of ♥♥♥♥ that's relatively easy to build, since it's all boxes that are then filled up with crates, desks, computers, posters, machinery, shelves, metal catwalks, and other generic assets.
Even though I'm not the biggest fan of Warframe environments either, there is an obvious mismatch in creativity between the initial concept, the final Dark Sector, and what they would go on to make for Warframe.
The story largely follows suit, though I think it shows a certain level of ambition despite the generic premise. The big picture is still about an Evil Scientist doing Bad Stuff at their Secret and/or Remote Base, it is up to you, the Special Agent, to use your awesome skills to put this to an end. Most of the charm here is in the little character moments and small details.
One that I liked the most is that despite the usual "hero turns into monster" narrative, they don't do the tired song and dance of protagonist struggling with and rejecting the changes. Hayden gets a suppressant and then just doesn't use it for majority of the game because he seemingly understands the usefulness of having a glaive that can cut people in half and enables him to fight the dangerous mutants that the virus creates.
Things are a bit muddy, but I like that they overtly say the virus changed Hayden into a better person, that it "saved his soul." I'm not sure if that's the implication, but I read that as the virus sort of flooding out whatever brainwashing or drugs CIA was using on him to turn the guy into a killing machine.
Maybe I don't stumble into these narratives often enough, but it's rare to see a story where a character shifting into something inhuman is seen as a positive change. I really like the way this intertwines with the suit/virus design as well. It's essentially just a warframe, and to my eye, what sets them apart from a lot of other sci-fi suits is that their design feels like a fusion of physical and spiritual in a way that makes body conform to the identity.
Might be off the mark entirely, but at least it felt like the game is sincere and has enough going for it to try and find something more within the narrative.
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I'm curious how much of the original gameplay made the transition to Dark Sector as well. Regardless what the answer is, I feel like this is where you see the real connection between two games, because the strengths and flaws so similar.
I tried to get into Warframe multiple times, but each attempt was stopped after getting incredibly bored. It's a game where everything feels great, looks cool, sounds fantastic. Everything you do is so immensely satisfying, but that's just not enough for a gigantic game where you mostly do the same generic objectives on procedurally generated maps filled with enemies that can't do anything to you.
Dark Sector is a bit more challenging and still asks you to engage with enemies to some extent, but it still has the same thing going. The glaive is awesome and it feels great to use. The sound effects are satisfying, chopping off limbs, splitting enemies in two, and popping off their heads feels great.
They also trickle in power-ups to make sure you always have new fun ways to use the glaive. First there's a power throw that has to be timed just right in exchange for huge damage. You also get to assume direct control and steer it, which allows for more precise shots, attacking from safety, and hitting people behind cover. Then you get to power it up with electricity, fire, or ice, which outside of basic puzzles serve a similar purpose of just killing enemies even harder, and doing so with cool visual effects.
Perhaps the coolest upgrade also turns any powered up glaive into a flying bomb that you can detonate whenever you want. Even though there's rare much use for it, it always feels really good to hit a clump of enemies with an ice explosion.
Everything outside the glaive? Yuck. Typical 3rd person console shooter in a post-Gears of War world. Though on many levels even worse than average. The movement in particular is rather clunky in this one, and the addition of sprint never gets rid of the feeling like you're a walking boy in a runner's world.
All 10 chapters are mostly super linear affairs through dull environments that are mostly filled with either dudes with AKs or zombies with pipes. Over time they introduce new enemy types, but not enough to really switch things up. Like on rare occasion there's a dude with a shield, but the way they interact with the glaive is a bit awkward. You only get limited time/distance to control the glaive, so it's easier to just slam a power throw into their shield and shoot them.
Later in you get special infected that can shoot and go invisible, but for all for all intents and purposes, it's just those dudes with AKs switching into a different outfit behind the stage. The only really meaningful switch-up here is that later infected enemies don't die to one power throw like everyone else, which is nice in a sense that it encourages you to seek out environmental power-ups to take them out faster.
You technically have guns too, and there's a whole bizarre system where enemy guns have DNA locks that prevent infected from using them (which means you), and this is used to justify a little RE style system where you come across shop locations. In those shops you can buy guns, slot in upgrades you found, or sell anything in your inventory (including those upgrades).
It all feels incredibly superfluous because most of the upgrades are small and unimpactful, you don't get enough cash to swap out guns too often, and there aren't that many of them to begin with. Though using them is so unnecessary most of the time that I probably would've barely used my revolver if it didn't look cool as hell.
The only thing that really stood out outside of the Glaive is that the boss fight are surprisingly decent for a shooter. They all lean into your glaive's power up ability, so they're sort of "gimmick" fights, but that's still better than the standard industry approach of making bosses in these games into something that just doesn't mesh with any other part of the game.
