In the run-up to the release of Section 8: Prejudice on PlayStation 3 this past week, we realized that we had never actually reviewed the original game in the series, Section 8. In order to be fair and totally impartial we simply had to review the original. And my oh my, why did I miss out on this game? The only thing counting against it is the fact that everyone has moved on since 2009 and will most likely be playing the sequel.

Section 8 is a futuristic team-based online first-person shooter, with a few awesome traits to get you interested and then wonder where the time went. Running on Unreal Tech, the game has aged rather well and can still hold a candle to today’s other online shooters, and is at the same time very scalable and will run on quite a wide range of hardware, while still running silky smooth at all times.

Being a team-based shooter, your typical game will consist of securing points across the map and then either defending these or going out to capture the enemy’s points. Before you start you can choose your class, from an engineer who can install turrets and fix up your buddies, to snipers and grunt infantry, each with small yet significant changes in gear and abilities. So far so good.

Since every game and his cousin now has a multiplayer aspect, you better do something to stand out from the crowd. Section 8 is set in the future so you can expect a few sci-fi twists to the gameplay, and the first of these is the drop-ship. Every time you spawn on the map you start off in your drop-ship 15 000 feet above the planet. You then choose your drop location anywhere on the map. Hit the brakes before 1200 feet and you can glide into an even more controlled location.

Dropping behind enemy lines or even right into the enemy’s base is a great way to keep you in the action. No longer do you spawn at your base and have to traipse all the way back to where the action is - you now drop right into the thick of it! Naturally dropping with all your buddies into an enemy base will be a little unfair toward the enemy, so they have anti-air turrets if they hold the local Control Point. These turrets will make short work of you before you even hit the ground, so staying out of their line of fire is vital to success.

The longer your team holds the Control Points on the map, the more points you and yours will score to eventually win the round, either by time or score. But points are not the only rewards. Kills and captures are rewarded with cash which can be used for purchases. Buy another turret to protect the local control point, an armoured mech or even a tank - the choice is yours. Instead of having to run to your base to collect these upgrades and heavy machinery, however, you can simply tag the ground with a target to designate where you want these items to be delivered, and your drop-ship will drop them there for you. Now you can set up an attack force behind a hill next to an enemy base and your foes will be none the wiser.

If these upgrades aren’t to your liking, then the next two words will certainly make up for your lack of excitement: Jet packs. Or is that one word? (It can be either, but we’ll go with ‘jet’ and ‘packs’ in case folks are still expecting two words to knock them out - Ed) Jet packs allow you to fly short bursts over mountains and buildings in order to surprise the enemy with an aerial attack. They also come in very handy when you’re on the receiving end of fire and need to make a hasty retreat.

The game allows for up to forty players per map, and when you have that many players per level things can get pretty hairy pretty quickly, resulting in protracted battles. This is a good thing as the action is relentless and good fun for an old ticker that needs a start. But even then it’s just a capture and control shooter, right?

Well, no. It also includes DCM’s, short for Dynamic Combat Missions. These are objectives your team can perform for extra points and cash during the larger scale battle around you, and include protecting the ‘General’ as he travels between points, preventing data from being captured by the enemy, and destroying the enemy’s in-bound cargo carriers. These little side-quests break the monotony of rinse-and-repeat capture and shoot gameplay - they’re a nice distraction for you and a small squad to indulge in before refocussing on the overall mission.

The main problem with Section 8 is finding an online game. This title has definitely died a bit of a premature death in my opinion as it’s perfect for gamers with slower machines to get in on some team-based shooter action while they wait for a chance to upgrade their PCs to support Battlefield 3. I managed to find a few obscure servers in Poland (or somewhere, I have no idea what language was being spoken) and these players are hardcore fans.

Another place I feel this game will find a great home is in the LAN scene. It supports both dedicated local servers as well as player servers. As an added bonus you can host an Xbox server using your Windows PC! I didn’t test this feature, but it’s a step in the right direction for sure!

When all of this online play is getting a bit too much, or when you play the game two years late and realize the only people still playing are now complete masters at it, you can then try your hand at the singleplayer - either play a few skirmishes against bots to train or delve into the campaign mode. The campaign is negligible and feels like the obligatory fluff added to a lot of games these days. Stick to the multiplayer modes and you’ll do just fine.

Being an older game with a now very low price tag, every gamer should give Section 8 a try, especially when hosting the next LAN party at your house or school. Yes, the sequel has been out on PC and Xbox 360 for a while, and is now available on PlayStation 3, but you can’t deny a bargain a few minutes in the spotlight.

The Good: Dynamic missions in huge battles make the fight personal; tactical dropping from 15 000 feet; a bargain!
The Bad: Sequel is out already; Hello! Hello! lo…
The Ugly: Missing this game the first time around was criminal!

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