Section 8 is a multiplayer only game, don't be fooled by the Corde's story campaign mode, it's basically a glorified bot mode with some random bits of story thrown about. While it's nice to see that the developers thought about the single player crowd, I would've much rather they just made it an outright bot mode, or better yet, dropped the single player mode altogether and drop the price to $29.99 or $19.99. Which leads us to our second problem.
Who's going to buy a Section 8 at $59.99 when they already own Halo, Tribes, or Battlefield? If it were an awesome game than yes, some people would, but the fact of the matter is that it's not an awesome game. It's a solid game yes, but it's not an awesome game. That leads us to the issue of empty servers. The servers are fairly empty, even for a game that's only been out a week. I held off on reviewing this game just to see if the servers would fill up, and thus give me a better game experience on which to review a game. But because the servers are empty, I have to give this review based upon a game in which a 32 player map was played with 10 people.
The game would definitely be better with 32 people, because much of the time is spent trying to sprint across the map to find somebody else. That said the “spawning” is a very cool feature. You spawn by “burning in”, which is a fancy way of saying skydive from thousands of feet high and straight into the ground, or if you can aim well enough, some other hapless guy not seeing your armored body come crashing in. The only thing better is dropping a tank on them (Think commander mode in Battlefield 2, and dropping a vehicle on some unsuspecting enemy, yeah you don't get credit for the kill but it's truly the greatest joy you will ever experience, that said you do get credit for dropping items on your enemies in Section 8.)
The purchasing system works well, and money is gained by killing enemies, capturing control points, and completing objective (how else would you expect to make money). Points can be spent on anything from turrets to tanks and can be placed anywhere there is open sky. The game boasts a large amount of vehicles and for the most part are useful, however you can run crazy fast if you use the power sprint. The power sprint kicks in after you have continuously sprinted for awhile and is a good albeit flawed concept. While it is nice to go much faster, I feel that to enhance the feel of speed, the developers toned down the speed at which you normally move. Another detriment to the power sprint is the fact that it is far too hard to stop running, perhaps maybe it's momentum, but I found that just running into a wall to stop myself was the best.
The jetpack, is by far, the best aspect of the game. While it doesn't last for long, it does recharge and can be used as many times as you want. The jetpack allows players to jump higher and farther allows players to jump around the map and reach places to snipe or setup an ambush. I liked the jetpack, I really did, but I felt that they could've done so much more with it, maybe allowing you to use it longer is all that it needs to be come a real gem.
While on-the-fly purchasing, jetpacks, power armor, auto-lock, and power sprinting all work well and within expectations, they don't make Section 8 blow it's competition out of the water. I feel that it's a rental but not a purchase and with major multiplayer hits like ODST and MW2 coming out, this one is going to reach the bargain bin quite quickly.
Section 8 is out now for the PC and 360.
