Section 8 is an odd piece of game – the opening cut scene shows eminences of Quake 2; the jet packs of Tribes 2 (less the ‘skiing’); the crunching sounds and general feel of Unreal Tournament 2004, the airborne drops from Medal of Honour and so on, it generally feels like a mishmash of many first person shooter games. However after putting in some serious hours into it, granted it still feel like those games however it certainly added its own touches – little ones though that made it just enough to stand out and say ‘yeah, that's from Section 8’.
So the game can be looked at into two ways – the single player and the multiplayer. I guess that sounded obvious considering many games prior to this has the same fundamentals however it's more designed to play for its multiplayer as the single player is more of a training ground that can last up to five hours or so. Yes it’s that short and the storyline isn't that crash hot either as it plays on the revenge standpoint. Also being a training ground of sorts, after completing it should make you prepared for the final onslaught of multiplayer but sadly, it didn't.
Some of the downsides to the single player campaign is when your commander issues you orders / suggestions of what's about to come next, he barks mostly at the wrong time – that is mainly during the heat of battle. Granted one can say you are in a confrontation however my common sense states don't do this whilst I'm in battle – do it before or after but not during. As a saving grace, I was hoping that the game manual shed some light into the many makings of this game but sadly, it didn't…not even close. The good news though you get to see the maps first hand before launching into multiplayer as those are the very same maps you'll be using, with some slight variations.
So if you are in the mood for some trial and error, actually there's no real choice here, the game's multiplayer is where it's at. The game boasts many features in this part that can take a little while to get used to however, the good side to this is that you can muck around with bots before taking a dip online. Note though that the bots are not exactly your human counterpart as mainly they are interested in shooting each other than completing objectives set in the game. For example: there were many times where in the convoy mission (more details on that later), the bots will either don’t worry about it, blissfully let it sit there or if they managed to get into it, use it weapons just to destroy other bots instead of achieving its goals, that is to park it at the designated spot marked on the map.
But all is not lost as your goal is to learn the game (ironically so because isn't that what the single player meant to do). So feel free to create as many errors as you like and thankfully there are four bot levels so you can pace the game to your liking. In saying that, there are six classes to choose from ranging from a sniper to the guardian. Basically there's a template for all walks of life and if you don't like what you see, you can even alter the templates or simply create a new one. Now that's flexibility in its finest.
To solve that ‘wait for thirty seconds to respawn’, this game makes you work your respawn. Other words, you start off from your drop ship and free fall down to land. Not only this, you can eventually hit the breaks to slow down and float to your designated spot or away from it if you wish. And the spawning point is where you like to be, anywhere in the map however be warned of anti-aircraft turrets as if you float in the path of one, its instant death. Thankfully these are all highlighted on your map so pick wisely. That feature I really like so say goodbye to spawn camping and my pet hate, waiting forever to respawn. Technically though, you are away from the battlefield for a moment however at least you are doing something instead of making a cup of coffee, waiting to spawn again.
Very quickly you realise there's no features for multiplayer like capture the flag, death match etc. however the feature it has can be summarised as ‘choose your own feature’. What this means that you can practically dictate what you want depending upon you and your team's actions. Yes this game is very team orientated and if you decided to go ‘solo’, be prepare for an unpleasant ride. The feature in this game is dubbed ‘Dynamic Combat Missions’ (or DCM for short). What this means that whatever you and your team does, whether it’s team assist kills and so forth, earns you points and once you earn enough points, entitles you, or anyone else in that matter, an open challenge, whether be escorting a convoy or summon a VIP or whatever else.
There are many to choose from and to see where your team is up to, press the default F5 key. This is a damn cool feature as it's like throwing a curve ball to your foes and stating ‘try hit a home run…I dare you’. If you succeed in a DCM rewards you a decent amount of points however if you fail, your foes gets half of the reward. Other words, don't throw a challenge unless you are pretty confident you know you going to win. Of course some DCMs will be permanent fixtures to your party like the convoy (as it's has a decent weaponry) or the living legend VIP, that can take on an army. Of course they can eventually be destroyed regardless.
Yet at the start of the game, the entire battlefield is littered with soulless grey – other words, it's free for anyone to capture. To capture a base requires hacking into a computer designated with a number. Once hacked, you need to wait for a while for the hacked computer to ‘upload’ whatever it needs then finally it's yours. Why capturing a base is good is because it spawns turrets, radars and many more goodies. Other words, it becomes your mini base of sorts and naturally assist you earning DCM points however the enemy can capture it too, regardless if it's under your control. If that's not enough, you can earn cash to purchase upgrades on the whim. So if you want another turret, go for it; want a cool merc to drive in and own people, go for it. Of course the better the equipment, the more expensive to buy and to earn cash is to hack, kill, heal, whatever – just do stuff ok. And once you get the magical thousand points (or whatever you have assigned), you win.
Your guy as a default is a slow, heavy hunk of metal however there are built in features that can make it more interesting like sprint (you need to warm up first), armour that can self heal (say hello to Halo) and use the cool jetpack, albeit for a limited time. All of the armour’s features does require a cool down so plan it wisely. That part is somewhat a shame because you really cannot bunny hop, strath or any of that cool man-to-man combat stuff as it feels really clunky and extremely heavy to control so you are very reliant on these extra armour features, more than you realise.
Visually and soundwise, it's not too bad considering it's powered by the Unreal Engine 3. Graphically it's not too bad however it can use a little more detail, especially for the guy you control and its weaponry. It's just a little too bland for what this powerhouse engine can deliver. Yet the sound quality is decent as everything sounds loud and aggressive – nice explosions, weapon discharge, that robotic clicking sound when overdrive is about to commence and so on. Even the voice acting during the single player campaign is quite decent considering and the general chit-chat from the soldiers are quite realistic – surprisingly though as FPS in general can be lacking in this department.
Section 8 is an unexpectedly decent game to play. Granted I was a little put off even looking at the main dude (he looks kind of odd) however it's a case of don't judge a book by its cover. Play the single player campaign if you must however you won't get much by doing so. Generally the single player campaign does very little to tell you all the features it has to offer however if you put in some time and effort to learn the multiplayer feature (and I mean some considerable time), you'll come to appreciate what this game has to offer. A very dynamic multiplayer where you really don't know what's going to happen until it happens, it's a game that constantly keeps on your toes until the final whistle blows – and that's a sure sign of an awesome game – just its shortfalls can set an inpatient person back.
7.5 / 10