Since the game's multiplayer focuses on capturing bases (which tend to all come equipped with their own automated turrets), this mechanic creates some interesting tactical challenges. Sure, the obvious thing to do would be to just spawn right on top of the capture point of the least-defended enemy base, capture it, die, then respawn and drop somewhere else to repeat the process while causing as much confusion and chaos in the enemy ranks as possible. The problem is that if you choose to drop anywhere near an active enemy base, chances are that the anti-air turrets will knock you out of the sky before you even get close. The further away from an enemy base you choose to drop, the less chance you'll get splattered by flak, so beyond that it comes down to a choice of either deciding to use your airbrake, or dropping in full-tilt and hoping nobody notices you while you recover.

Once you're in the field and have actually managed to survive for more than two seconds, the game's additional tactical options start opening up. As you fight your way across the battlefield, you'll earn credits for various acts such as straight-up killing, taking out enemy turrets, repairing friendlies, and so forth. These credits can then be exchanged for air-dropped deployables, such as your own personal automated turrets, supply stations which will auto-repair and reload any friendly that wanders nearby, and even tanks and Mech suits for those times when you really need to kick some ass. The deployables suffer the same vulnerability to enemy anti-aircraft fire however, so don't expect to be able to litter an enemy base with them unless you take out their defenses first.

This really plays into the teamwork aspect of the game. You can join different squads of players for the sake of co-ordination, which causes other members of the team to be highlighted on the map. If you actually manage to get a well coordinated squad together, you can engage in some really cool actions like ordering a tank and piling in to man the different weapon positions, or choosing to all spawn on top of a given base at the same time in a mad gamble to see who can survive the flak barrages and make it down in one piece. Naturally however, you'll probably have a hard time finding some good people to team up with in your average online public match unless you bring a few friends along. The full game is promising functionality for clan tags, integrated friends lists, and the ability to quickly and easily hook up with your buddies, so team-minded players will have an easy time here.

The beta also demonstrated the game's verbose customization options. Sadly there aren't any aesthetic tweaks that can be made, but players can choose from a variety of weapons and devices to kit themselves out with. A player can carry two weapons and two types of devices with them at once, along with an array of 'Passive Modules'. The weapons range from your standard-issue shotguns, sniper rifles, machine guns, and rocket launchers, while the devices include things like grenades, detonation packs, repair tools, sensor jammers, and the like. The Passive Modules are the most interesting and add a kind of pseudo-RPG element to the game; using these you can apply a set of upgrades to specific categories, such as increasing weapon damage and accuracy, your armor's defenses and shield strength, your repair abilities, sensor visibility, and other factors. A character suitably pimped out with the right set of upgrades can really do some damage when his abilities are used correctly.

However, the most interesting thing about the PC version of Section 8 is something that will ironically apply only to the Xbox version of the game. Xbox gamers wanting to put their PCs to work can take advantage of the new "X-Server" technology to host Xbox servers for the game on their PC, boosting the max player limit to 32 (word has it servers for the actual PC version will be able to host up to 40 players in contrast). This is actually a bit of a first for console gaming, and I for one can't wait to see all of the silly methods people will come up with to exploit, modify, and otherwise break the console iteration of the game as a consequence of allowing hosting on PC environments. Should be interesting.

Will Section 8 be a game that actually breaks the mold with its big armored fist? That remains to be seen, as there have been plenty of promising titles I've observed which have ultimately flopped upon release. Additionally, I still haven't had any taste of the game's singleplayer component yet, which the game's action-packed intro movie and locked-out "Corde's Story" option in the beta's main menu hints should be pretty interesting. What I can say is that the multiplayer action I've engaged in thus far has been nothing less than addictive, beautiful, and ultimately incredibly satisfying and I'll be sincerely looking forward to seeing how things turn out upon the game's release next week. Stay tuned for the formal review.

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