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Set in the distant future the U.S. has established colonies on planets when the New Madrid colony goes dark. To see what happened, the 8th Infantry goes in to investigate. For folks not familiar with 8th Infantry, typically the label refers to folks mentally unfit to serve in the army. Once on New Madrid, players discover that the Army of Orion has taken over. You play Alex, tasked to determine what their motives are.
Section 8 features single and multiplayer modes. I got a chance to take a look and spend some time with one of the multiplayer game maps. Section 8 provides players with a dynamic multiplayer experience, eliminating spawn points and allowing players to select where they would like to drop down into the map and engage into battle against the other team.
The game allows players to customize their characters selecting from a variety of different attributes depending on their preferred playing style. Some of these attributes include increasing speed, amount of damage able to be taken, agility and more depending on if you like to play tank, deal damage or more espionage type game styles. Players are limited to a total of 10 points to determine how they want to assign to each attribute.
Game objectives change throughout the course of the game including escort missions, capture the flag, and full on assault adding variety to the game and offering something for everyone. Some of the more interesting aspects of the game included a jet-pack allowing players to traverse to higher points of the map and snipe. TimeGate also added in a lock-on aim in case folks elect to spam the jet-pack to escape fire, ensuring targeting on the enemy team.
I enjoyed my time with the game, playing on the Xbox 360. The ability to spawn where you want to gives players a tactical advantage and keeps the game going. The graphics are decent but the gameplay is great for a quick game. I also got to take a photo with the only booth dudes in the entire E3, so mad props to SouthPeak Interactive.
Section 8 features 8 different maps which have 6 different variations on all but 2 of the maps. The game will support 32 players on the Xbox 360 and 64 on the PC. Look for Section 8 to come out in late August 2009.
~Bawdyjane