Section 8 "A Bland Brand of Shooting" Review

The only real innovation Section 8 includes is its randomized missions in its 32 player online option. Objectives can spawn randomly and suddenly. One team will be tasked with protecting it while the other will be tasked with defending it. The winner gets a significant amount of points and sometimes an in-game bonus. These bonuses can be a neat tank, a new forward base of operations and other things.

One of the most entertaining and satisfying moments of Section 8 takes about five minutes in the beginning of the adventure. When you first enter into battle, you drop from an orbital ship thousands of feet in the air and slam headfirst into the ground. A really spectacular scene and if you aim your head right and spread yourself out a little you can even take out your first opponents.

Section 8 has thrown a hat into a very crowded genre of late. In order to give gamers a reason to buy another 1-player space adventure, with an online option, Timegate Studios and Southpeak games are going to have to do a lot more with this title. There are just too many titles in this genre for the average gamer to shell out another handful of bills for something they already possess. Sure you're going to get the odd gamer that just can't resist and will fork over his electric bill, but how many of this kind of gamer can there be.

The first player game play in Section 8 isn't very entertaining anyway. Certainly, this option may have a lot to do with the fact that a better game in this genre was sitting a few feet away, but then that's the point isn't it.

I could be suffering from oversaturation, but the presentation of Section 8 is very bland and average looking to me. Maybe I've seen too many space marines lately, but even though they moved around smoothly and there weren't any noticeable hiccups, I would rather look at Counter-Strike, Tribes, Battlefield or a host of other games.

The sound track of Section 8 sounds like something I've heard in a space opera before and the sound effects of the weapons are generic and uninteresting. They do provide a nice smoothing voice for the female announcer but even she sounded familiar.

The single player experience of Section 8 isn't worth talking about, but the 32-player online option is fun and entertaining to play. Online two 16-man team's battle for points by controlling objectives and eliminating opponents, but this has already been done better. In this part you'll boldly go forward slowly as you and your opponent try to chip away at your others huge health reserve. In this mode matches between hardcore veterans are often going to be no more than battles of energy attrition.

Section 8 is a space adventure you can safely play at the local video game store display, since the first five minutes is the most entertaining part. Hardcore space shooting fanatics will spend a few happy hours here, just as a diversion, but Section 8 isn't going to be stealing anybody away from games like Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena or Halo Wars.