Preview by: Dave VanDyk

With the historical success of franchises like Tribes, Unreal Tournament, and Battlefield, new games trying to break into the genre will have even more of a challenge in becoming popular without being regarded as just another generic knock-off.

At the very least, giving the player a chance to suit up in an awesome piece of butt-kicking battle-armor is always one way to score bonus points for your game, and this is part of what makes Section 8 from TimeGate Studios such a cool title. The name is interpreted as a double-entendre; it refers both to the United States military discharge regulation for being 'mentally unfit for service', and the designation for the "8th" Armored Infantry team the game focuses on and their near-suicidal missions which have them ejecting from dropships over 15,000 feet in the air wearing nothing more than a suit of glorious power armor. I recently had a chance to tool around with a multiplayer-only pre-release version of the game and found myself immediately enthralled with what I saw.

Granted, maybe I'm just a sucker for anything involving space ships, giant robots and large explosions, but there's just something about this game that feels right. From the detailed artistic style, the techno-themed heads up display, and the incredible feeling of speed any time you start an orbital drop, Section 8 offers a non-stop visual treat. Making extensive use of everything the latest Unreal engine tech has to offer, the game offers some gorgeous landscapes, a huge range of visibility (exploited to its fullest when you 'drop in' high above the map), and best of all, consistent framerates at high resolutions and detail levels. Okay, so it isn't exactly Crysis, but the game's graphical presentation sure isn't a pushover.

As for the gameplay, the core gimmick the game is built around is a "spawn anywhere" mechanic. Upon starting a multiplayer match and joining a team, you're tasked with selecting a drop point from any place on the map. You're then treated to an incredible first-person view of the action as you descend from high altitude at an absurdly fast rate of speed. Once you get close enough to the ground, a prompt appears to engage an airbrake to slow your descent and fine-tune your landing point; failing to do so results in a hard crunch into the ground which doesn't really do damage, but does immobilize you for a couple of crucial seconds while you recover. Hitting the ground in this manner also results in a nifty animation where your HUD gets all distorted and your avatar struggles back to his feet.