Review by: Tony Mitera

Section 8’s method of respawning after death, which consists of dropping in from space at high velocity, is a whole lot more fun than magically appearing out of thin air. The gameplay is centered around teams of power armored infantry duking it out over a large battlefield and for a grasp of the various control points found on it. Though Section 8 doesn’t really break much new ground when it comes to its premise or its gameplay, it does do a good job in entertaining you with a dynamic battlefield and a lack of any truly noteworthy faults.

The titular Section 8 is a group of infantry who drop into whatever hellhole they are needed directly from spacecraft orbiting above. The powered armor suits each member of the group wears is the only protection they have both during the drop and once in the fight, but comes equipped with regenerative shielding and a jetpack to help give them the edge in the fight. Of course, the terroristic ARM faction that has begun engaging Section 8 in open warfare also has equipped its soldiers with such suits, making the face of war one more based around mobility and force rather than of subtlety and the use of cover.

Though the game has a plot-driven single player campaign complete with some awkwardly scripted events and cutscenes, they are little more than the maps of multiplayer interspersed with bots to fight and objectives to achieve. Though a grand story does its best to unfold and show off the heroic actions of Section 8’s members, it is hard to feel too heroic when you are facing off against enemy AI that rarely presents much of a challenge. The campaign is a great way to get accustomed to the finer points of the game and get a feel for how the powered armor handles, but the meat of the game is found in the 16 player multiplayer matches.

Though the game has six default loadouts that you can choose to jump into battle with, each of them can be completely changed to whatever configuration you want. Each loadout consists of two primary weapons, two secondary items, and an array of passive modules. Primary weapons range from sniper rifles and rocket launchers to shotguns and an assault rifle so that you can begin to base your loadout on the situation you intend to be in while using it. The secondary items consist of weaponry such as a high damage knife and grenades as well as a repair gun, portable sensor arrays to scan for nearby enemies, and a device that can temporarily block you from enemy sensors. The passive modules let you further tweak your loadout in that you have a certain amount of them that can be slotted to increase your armor, decrease the time enemies can spend locked on to you, or reduce the recoil your aim suffers while firing.