Hey, you. No, not you, him. Yeah, you, c'mere. Got a review for ya.
Since I haven't reviewed ANYTHING in a while, I thought I'd give a run-through of the new demo which was released recently for Section 8. I understand some of you American readers will be puzzled as to why I'm reviewing a demo when the actual game is out. This is because we Europeans are going to have to wait for a few more days. Damn you.
Anyway, enough arsing about.
So then, Section 8. This game follows what I would call a very Battlefield-esque play style. At the start of a match, you choose your loadout, with the usual selection of Assault, Engineer, Recon included and pick a drop location. The full selection of loadouts you get to choose from are as follows;
Assault, which are the simple light weapon soldiers, armed with (predictably) an assualt rifle, pistol, frag grenades and knife.
Engineer, the main repair blokes. These guys also get an assualt rifle with a shotgun on backup, a repair tool, and a beacon to show enemies on your minimap.
Recon, the snipers. Obviously armed with a sniper rifle, these guys are much more dangerous than they look. You can actually destroy turrets in with their sniper rounds. They also pack a pistol for close encounters, as well as a scanner beacon and temporary beacon jammer.
Infiltrator, a rather confusing class. Unlike the ones I've already explained, the Infiltrator class doesn't seem to have a clear-cut role. Armed with an assualt rifle, backup shotgun, scanner jammer and knife, they seem to be an alternative to the Assualt loadout, only with the ability to run around more.
Guardian, the support guys, and arguably the coolest sounding. Armed with a heavy machine gun and missile launcher, these guys are as tough as they sound. They also pack grenades and a repair tool, so these guys are not to be sniffed at.
Last but not necessarily least, Artillery, another slightly bewildering loadout. These soldiers carry an assualt rifle and missile launcher, with grenades and a repair tool. I can't figure out exactly why these guys are more fitting for the title 'Artillery' than the others, and upon closer inspection, I'm still just as confused.
For any of these classes, getting around is no chore. In fact, it's fucking fun. Holding the jump button will give a temporary boost from your jetpack-type thing, and sprinting for a few seconds will result in dashing, wherein you begin to run at exceptional speed and can be a very difficult to hit target.
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/kotaku/2009/03/section_8_preview.jpgOk, ok. I must admit, in this picture, he does look quite like an elite from Halo.
In all honesty, the premade loadouts seem to be for lazy or impatient people. After deciding to have a look at customising the loadouts, I found that with each one you can do...anything. Want your Sniper to have a missile launcher on backup? Fine. Engineer with grenades and a knife rather than his repair tool, thus rendering any distinction as an 'Engineer' between him and the other classes dead? Go ahead. With this in mind, you can quash any incentive to pick between the classes for preference of one aspect over another. Why choose between heavy close range firepower, the ability to repair and heal myself and teammates, and long range firepower when I can just roll it all into one class and rename it "TEH NUB KILLER"? Which is not to say it ruins that aspect of the game. On the contrary, it's quite enjoyable to use everything you want to on your own custom class, and feel like the most kickass player on the game.
When you've finally chosen your class, premade or custom, it's time to quite literally drop in on the action. You can either choose to drop in a pre-designated drop location, or choose your own, which is much better (Déjà vu, anyone?). You're given an overhead view of the game map with crosshair, so you can choose exactly where you want to drop off, although it has to be said you can't technically drop anywhere. Enemy controlled bases will have AA turrets, and unless these are destroyed, you ain't gettin' anywhere close, boy. Anyway, once you've chosen your drop location, it's time to make an entrance.
The loadout screen is switched for a much more exhilarating view of your soldier's perspective, as he plummets at alarming speed towards the Earth's surface, whilst the atmosphere burns at his shields all around your vision. Speaking of alarming, what's that noise? HIT THE BRAKES, QUICK. You hit them too late, brace for impact. CRASH. No time to dust yourself off, grab your weapon and get in there!
This is essentially your entrance at the start of the game and everytime you respawn from there. Minus the 'hitting the brakes too late' part, depending on how bad you are. It really is a throughly enjoyable way to enter the map, particularly when you compare it to the more traditional 'appearing into thin air' approach. It really grabs your attention as well; unless you've muted your TV, I doubt you'll go accidentally AFK.
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/media/360/section8/section-8-moon-drop.jpg
This, but from any one of those guys' perspectives.
Wow, that image was big.
It might be worth metioning this game also has an interesting points system. Whenever you kill an enemy, assist in killing an enemy, heal a teammate, repair a turret or vehicle, or basically do anything you honestly think deserves points (jetpacking between rooftops excluded), you earn points which you can then use to buy various useful objects. These range from the quite useful, such as mini-turrets and little supply depots, to the kickass, such as battlesuits and tanks.
http://www.gamoholic.net/images/stories/Section8_Screens/S8_HeavyArmor.JPGMaybe not quite as awesome as it looks here, but still bloody satisfying.
However, don't fret about these. This isn't the same affair as Call of Duty: World at War's invicible super tanks. Section 8 has done something interesting by making weapons useable against pretty much everything. Although it would take a stupidly long time, a sniper rifle is enough to take out a heavy armour suit.
As many things as this game does right, it's not without its issues, which you'll probably find almost right away. The biggest of which, and the one which takes the most getting used to, is the controls. They can feel very unresponsive at times, and can take a fair while to guess. For example:
LB = jump as opposed to the most traditional A button
Click in left stick = zoom whilst in aiming, as opposed to more commonly used right stick
B = change equipment, instead of crouching or melee.
Whilst these seem trivial, they can be difficult to get used to, and can mean another control system to memorise. Often they can take a second or two to respond as well. For instance, whilst dashing, a simple relinquishing of the joystick isn't enough to make your soldier stop. It takes a couple of seconds, meaning that an underestimate of these controls could turn your speed attack on an enemy into a free point blank target for him. It can also take a couple of seconds after a jetpack boost or dash to reload or change weapons, which can sometimes make the game clunky and frustrating, particularly when it causes your unjust death. Oh well, at least you get to re-deploy and hurtle back into the fray.
Despite these relatively minor faults, I have found that I've enjoyed the demo of Section 8 overall, and would definitely recommend it to fans of the Battlefield-style multiplayer tactical shooters. Although the gameplay is not what I'd call particularly deep, it's an aesthetically pleasing game, which has a lot of style and doesn't take itself too seriously, meaning it can be played quite easily rather than making you feel like you're committing a sin by not hurling yourself into enemy bullets. In any case, I'll be buying it. Thank you very much for reading, feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Since I haven't reviewed ANYTHING in a while, I thought I'd give a run-through of the new demo which was released recently for Section 8. I understand some of you American readers will be puzzled as to why I'm reviewing a demo when the actual game is out. This is because we Europeans are going to have to wait for a few more days. Damn you.
Anyway, enough arsing about.
So then, Section 8. This game follows what I would call a very Battlefield-esque play style. At the start of a match, you choose your loadout, with the usual selection of Assault, Engineer, Recon included and pick a drop location. The full selection of loadouts you get to choose from are as follows;
Assault, which are the simple light weapon soldiers, armed with (predictably) an assualt rifle, pistol, frag grenades and knife.
Engineer, the main repair blokes. These guys also get an assualt rifle with a shotgun on backup, a repair tool, and a beacon to show enemies on your minimap.
Recon, the snipers. Obviously armed with a sniper rifle, these guys are much more dangerous than they look. You can actually destroy turrets in with their sniper rounds. They also pack a pistol for close encounters, as well as a scanner beacon and temporary beacon jammer.
Infiltrator, a rather confusing class. Unlike the ones I've already explained, the Infiltrator class doesn't seem to have a clear-cut role. Armed with an assualt rifle, backup shotgun, scanner jammer and knife, they seem to be an alternative to the Assualt loadout, only with the ability to run around more.
Guardian, the support guys, and arguably the coolest sounding. Armed with a heavy machine gun and missile launcher, these guys are as tough as they sound. They also pack grenades and a repair tool, so these guys are not to be sniffed at.
Last but not necessarily least, Artillery, another slightly bewildering loadout. These soldiers carry an assualt rifle and missile launcher, with grenades and a repair tool. I can't figure out exactly why these guys are more fitting for the title 'Artillery' than the others, and upon closer inspection, I'm still just as confused.
For any of these classes, getting around is no chore. In fact, it's fucking fun. Holding the jump button will give a temporary boost from your jetpack-type thing, and sprinting for a few seconds will result in dashing, wherein you begin to run at exceptional speed and can be a very difficult to hit target.
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/kotaku/2009/03/section_8_preview.jpgOk, ok. I must admit, in this picture, he does look quite like an elite from Halo.
In all honesty, the premade loadouts seem to be for lazy or impatient people. After deciding to have a look at customising the loadouts, I found that with each one you can do...anything. Want your Sniper to have a missile launcher on backup? Fine. Engineer with grenades and a knife rather than his repair tool, thus rendering any distinction as an 'Engineer' between him and the other classes dead? Go ahead. With this in mind, you can quash any incentive to pick between the classes for preference of one aspect over another. Why choose between heavy close range firepower, the ability to repair and heal myself and teammates, and long range firepower when I can just roll it all into one class and rename it "TEH NUB KILLER"? Which is not to say it ruins that aspect of the game. On the contrary, it's quite enjoyable to use everything you want to on your own custom class, and feel like the most kickass player on the game.
When you've finally chosen your class, premade or custom, it's time to quite literally drop in on the action. You can either choose to drop in a pre-designated drop location, or choose your own, which is much better (Déjà vu, anyone?). You're given an overhead view of the game map with crosshair, so you can choose exactly where you want to drop off, although it has to be said you can't technically drop anywhere. Enemy controlled bases will have AA turrets, and unless these are destroyed, you ain't gettin' anywhere close, boy. Anyway, once you've chosen your drop location, it's time to make an entrance.
The loadout screen is switched for a much more exhilarating view of your soldier's perspective, as he plummets at alarming speed towards the Earth's surface, whilst the atmosphere burns at his shields all around your vision. Speaking of alarming, what's that noise? HIT THE BRAKES, QUICK. You hit them too late, brace for impact. CRASH. No time to dust yourself off, grab your weapon and get in there!
This is essentially your entrance at the start of the game and everytime you respawn from there. Minus the 'hitting the brakes too late' part, depending on how bad you are. It really is a throughly enjoyable way to enter the map, particularly when you compare it to the more traditional 'appearing into thin air' approach. It really grabs your attention as well; unless you've muted your TV, I doubt you'll go accidentally AFK.
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/media/360/section8/section-8-moon-drop.jpg
This, but from any one of those guys' perspectives.
Wow, that image was big.
It might be worth metioning this game also has an interesting points system. Whenever you kill an enemy, assist in killing an enemy, heal a teammate, repair a turret or vehicle, or basically do anything you honestly think deserves points (jetpacking between rooftops excluded), you earn points which you can then use to buy various useful objects. These range from the quite useful, such as mini-turrets and little supply depots, to the kickass, such as battlesuits and tanks.
http://www.gamoholic.net/images/stories/Section8_Screens/S8_HeavyArmor.JPGMaybe not quite as awesome as it looks here, but still bloody satisfying.
However, don't fret about these. This isn't the same affair as Call of Duty: World at War's invicible super tanks. Section 8 has done something interesting by making weapons useable against pretty much everything. Although it would take a stupidly long time, a sniper rifle is enough to take out a heavy armour suit.
As many things as this game does right, it's not without its issues, which you'll probably find almost right away. The biggest of which, and the one which takes the most getting used to, is the controls. They can feel very unresponsive at times, and can take a fair while to guess. For example:
LB = jump as opposed to the most traditional A button
Click in left stick = zoom whilst in aiming, as opposed to more commonly used right stick
B = change equipment, instead of crouching or melee.
Whilst these seem trivial, they can be difficult to get used to, and can mean another control system to memorise. Often they can take a second or two to respond as well. For instance, whilst dashing, a simple relinquishing of the joystick isn't enough to make your soldier stop. It takes a couple of seconds, meaning that an underestimate of these controls could turn your speed attack on an enemy into a free point blank target for him. It can also take a couple of seconds after a jetpack boost or dash to reload or change weapons, which can sometimes make the game clunky and frustrating, particularly when it causes your unjust death. Oh well, at least you get to re-deploy and hurtle back into the fray.
Despite these relatively minor faults, I have found that I've enjoyed the demo of Section 8 overall, and would definitely recommend it to fans of the Battlefield-style multiplayer tactical shooters. Although the gameplay is not what I'd call particularly deep, it's an aesthetically pleasing game, which has a lot of style and doesn't take itself too seriously, meaning it can be played quite easily rather than making you feel like you're committing a sin by not hurling yourself into enemy bullets. In any case, I'll be buying it. Thank you very much for reading, feedback would be greatly appreciated.
