ark Sector wastes no time piling on intrigue. In its first minute, set during the Cold War, an American submarine surfaces off of the coast of Lasria, a fictional Eastern European city. This vessel’s intent is not to attack or survey. Rather, it has risen from the murky depths to signal defeat. Its hull has been breached, not by a torpedo or a depth charge, but by something that physically tore it open like a can of beans. It doesn’t take the Lasrian military long to investigate, but the only thing they learn is that the cause of the breach is still nestled within the submersible, waiting for human contact.

After this heart-pounding tease, the game flashes forward 20 years. Hayden Tenno, an American operative sent to gather intelligence, is understandably on edge. But it’s not what hides in the shadows that worries him; it’s the air he breathes. Within this first level, the game successfully creates an unsettling atmosphere that makes you think this rabbit hole must be incredibly deep. With an agitated Lasrian army standing between you and your job, it also doesn’t hold back from throwing the you into the fires. Even in this introductory zone, the gunplay is very impressive, and should make anyone who has played Resident Evil 4 and Gears of War feel right at home. It offers a beautifully designed over-the-shoulder targeting system, visceral pop-and-shoot gunplay, and plenty of fodder to mow down.

This early gameplay, as entertaining as it is, is just a prelude to greater things. The game really doesn’t begin until Hayden is infected at the end of the level. Rather than developing a cough or the sniffles, his right arm mutates it a hulking mess of flesh, metal, and something alien. This should be reason for concern, but this gross mutation does bring a profound advantage – one of the coolest weapons in recent memory, the bladed glaive. It functions like a boomerang, but before returning to your mutated hand, it usually cuts into an enemy with the remorselessness of Wolverine’s claws. Once this weapon is introduced, the gunplay is pushed to the side. The developers have placed this unusual weapon on a pedestal and spend the rest of the game worshiping it. As the enemies pour in, it gains new powers, such as the ability to channel fire, ice, and electricity, and also the ability to slow time so that you can manually control its flight path.

It becomes such a focus, in fact, that even the story, which had such promise, is tossed into the trash. I couldn’t even begin to tell you what the game ended up being about. Did it deal with aliens? A disease? Something from hell? I have no idea.

With everything vanishing into the glaive’s shadow, Dark Sector becomes a one trick pony. It’s a fun trick, but I tired of the glaive about three quarters of the way through the game. The vehicle segments, which I won’t ruin for you, add some rocket-powered spice, but they aren’t used enough to be satisfying diversions. After a few minutes, it’s back to throwing the glaive and wishing that the game didn’t limit firearm ammo so much.

Dark Sector’s multiplayer doesn’t get the blood pumping, either. The two modes, Epidemic and Infection, support 10 players and focus specifically on Hayden and his amazing powers. In Infection, one player starts out as Hayden, and the other players must hunt him down. Whoever finishes him off with a close-range melee attack becomes Hayden next. In Epidemic, two teams of five square off against each other. One of the players from each side is, you guessed it, Hayden. The goal for each team is to take down the opposing Hayden. These matches don’t last long, and truth be told, they bored me to death.

As negative as I have been, I still feel that Dark Sector is worth checking out. The glaive is something that every action nut has to wrap his or her hands around. Like the BFG or the cerebral bore, you’ll remember this weapon forever. Sadly, you’ll remember the weapon more than the game itself.