Do Not Play This Game
Do you like multiplayer shooters? Play COD4
Do you like multiplayer shooters with vehicles? Play BF2
Do you like multiplayer shooters with emplacements? Play TF2
Do you like all of these things put together in a really poor way? Then you must hate yourself, but you still shouldn't play this game.
I usually don't rent games without knowing at least something about them. For some reason I made an exception this time. Horrible Decision.
I won't pretend to know the game's story, because I don't care what stupid story they tried to tack on to this poorly conceived collection of multilplayer mechanisms. Section 8 is essentially a Battlefield style point-control game. There are some interesting ideas presented such as purchasing emplacements and vehicles with cash you accrue during each game by performing well. This means vehicles are a rare commodity so you'll want to use them wisely. Players can also spawn anywhere on the map. You select your spawn point and are dropped from the sky, and have some control of your speed and direction prior to landing. This makes infiltrating a highly guarded point unique and fun. While you can also spawn on your squad, I think most people will go for the freedom of spawning where they want, at the expense of teamwork. Player customization is also interesting using a point system to assign what are essentially "perks" to your dude of choice. However for better or for worse, there don't seem to be any unlockable perks or weapons. Everything is fair game right off the bat.
This game unfortunately has more failings than good things to talk about. Combat feels like a secondary consideration, the weapons are underpowered, and mundane. The assault rifle seems to be the most effective weapon, and still takes nearly a whole (very high capacity) magazine to down one player. Even the sniper rfile takes 3-5 shots just to kill someone, and rockets seem to be for some reason the least effective weapon. There arent any combat mechanics to make firefights more interesting. Everyone gets a jetpack, but it generally doesn't last long enough for more than a high jump, and then takes 10-15 seconds to recharge. The game looks awful visually. Everything looks rushed and poorly conveived. Even gun and player models look generic with not a lot of thought put into design. The world is very ugly, everything looks out of place and textures lack detail. There is no incentive to play as a team, everyone is on their own when it comes to points. The controls and in game menu systems are poorly layed out and often confusing especially when you are using them on the fly. The single player portion is barely worth mentioning, it is basically just a bot match, with some story tied in for good measure, I don't know why they even bothered to include it, it's such an afterthought.
In conclusion, while this game presents some ideas that are worth mentioning, it's execution is poor and cluttered. There seems to be too much crammed into the game and none of it is done particularly well; from the combat to the objective gameplay. There is really nothing that stands out in Section 8, nothing that is innovative enough to make thi a worthy purchase or rental. The closest game that comes to mind is Enemy Territory: Quake Wars which although I didn't play much of, it is certainly a much better looking and feeling game. Section 8 just seems like something that was thrown together without much planning and rushed out to cash in on the gaming lull before the holiday season kicks off.
Once again, there is no reason to play this game. Go play any other multiplayer game in the same genre and you will have a much better experience.
