Developers TimeGate Studios have brought gamers some of the most enjoyable first-person shooters over the last couple years. Though they’re perhaps best known for their award winning RTS series Kohan, they’re also renowned for their work on the expansion packs for the first-person horror shooter F.E.A.R.
However, for their latest title, Section 8, TimeGate Studios, has departed from their established roots in strategy and the paranormal to embrace the more mainstream genre of sci-fi first-person shooters
Section 8 has you playing as Alex Corde, the newest recruit in a division of elite, hardcore and battle armor clad soldiers known as the 8th Armored Infantry.
The plot is as follows: A renegade faction called the Arm of Orion has seized control over a number of planets and are generally being in a pain in the butt. Of course, it’s your job to drop in mess up all sorts of faces and save the day.
The campaign is fairly straightforward and consist primarily of grabbing control points and accomplishing a series of objectives while shooting computer controlled players.
Section 8 is far from being anything exceptional in terms of narrative prowess or engrossing gameplay, but gamers can expect to put in a decent amount of time in playing the game, which will take couple hours to complete.
Additionally, Section 8’s single player mode serves as an effective gameplay tutorial to prepare you for its multiplayer mode.
Like most first person shooters, Section 8’s robust online–or system link–multiplayer is where you’ll end up spending most of your time. There’s a number of huge maps where up to 32 players can wage war on, allowing the possibility of some pretty epic and chaotic battles.
But let’s face it: Large scale battles between space marines isn’t anything we haven’t seen before in games like Halo or Killzone 2.
But lest you think that Section 8 is derivative, the game comes well-prepared with a plethora of fun, innovative touches that helps define itself in amongst the competition.
One original aspect about Section 8 is customizable battle armor. Sure, there’s the usual number of pre-determined class setups like Sniper or Assault, but you can also go ahead and modify what weapons your character uses and what passive perks they’re equipped with to suit your play style.
For instance, if you’re more into stealth and sniping, you can choose lighter armor that allows you to move faster, use your jet pack longer and turn invisible for periods of time using a cloaking device.
Fans of casually waltzing into the fray with a huge gun, however, will probably choose to take a machine gun or rocket launcher and then upgrade their shield strength and damage output. You’ll be a slow and an easy target for snipers, but you’ll completely demolish anyone foolish to take you on toe-to-toe.
The battles are a little different than the typical Deathmatch or Capture the Flag modes gamers are used to. Instead, they take a host of classic first-person shooter gameplay types and integrate it into one game.
While you’re busy running around killing your enemies and helping control choke points throughout the map, random, new objectives will flash on your screen.
Sometimes you’ll be tasked with escorting a VIP off the battlefield while your opponents are charged with assassinating them. Other times you’ll need to destroy a convoy that the enemy is supposed to protect, assault a base or steal the enemy’s intelligence.
The dynamic objectives add a nice spice of variety and immediacy to Section 8’s multiplayer and ensures that no two battles play out exactly the same.
Gun turrets are particularly lethal because of the creative way Section 8 handles re-spawns. Instead of inserting you back in the game at a designated location, Section 8 drops you from several miles in the sky and lets you plummet to the ground.
While dropping, you can decide to either glide to a smooth, controlled landing, or you can smash right into the ground. The latter allows you to drop in ready to fight, while the latter causes damage to nearby opponents, but leaves you stunned and dazed for a few seconds.
However, while dropping, you’re more or less helpless. If you make the mistake of dropping into enemy controlled territory where gun turrets are deployed, they’ll pick you out of the sky. Tanks are equally deadly.
They’re slow, but they’re incredibly powerful. If a team doesn’t swarm on them immediately with heavy explosives to knock it out of commission, a tank in the hands of a skilled gamer can become a nightmare for the other team.
Graphically, Section 8 is adequate. It looks like a next-gen title with some good textures, special effects (the drop sequence in particular is very impressive) and colorful maps, but it isn’t jaw dropping by any means.
Still, Section 8’s frame rate is fluid and consistent, which is no small feat when dozens of enemies are on screen shooting rockets at you simultaneously.
It’s also worth noting that Section 8 utilizes X-Server, a new technology that allows you to host servers on your PC.
One large complaint about Xbox Live is that it doesn’t use dedicated servers, meaning matches are sometimes laggy or end abruptly when the host disconnects. With X-Server, however, these problems should be rectified as long as the host’s PC doesn’t reset or shut off. Though still untested, if X-Server performs the way promised, it could become a popular way of playing on XBox Live in the near future.
Final Verdict
Dismissing Section 8 as an uninspired Halo rip-off would be huge mistake. An understandable one, perhaps, what with Section 8’s insistence in recycling the ho-hum space-marine cliche, but a gross lapse in judgment all the same.
Though the game’s premise may appear generic, Section 8 brings enough innovation to the genre to distinguish itself as a worthy contender. It doesn’t offer a whole lot in the single-player department, but if you’re ready to hop online and go to war, Section 8 is well-worth checking out.
Final Score: B
Enclosed below is the trailer for TimeGate Studios’ Section 8. It is available for Xbox 360 and PC now.
Mark Fujii: I'm your typical college student who plays too much video games. I also work as an electronic sales associate, meaning I sell Ipods and violent video games to your children when not trying to sneak off and play Super Smash Bros while the boss isn't looking. Oh, and I'm totally awesome. True fact.
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Mark Fujii
I'm your typical college student who plays too much video games. I also work as an electronic sales associate, meaning I sell Ipods and violent video games to your children when not trying to sneak off and play Super Smash Bros while the boss isn't looking. Oh, and I'm totally awesome. True fact.