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The main thing I’ve never quite understood about Section 8 is that, on the box, the characters look like extras from Michael Bay’s Transformers movies, but in the game they closely resemble Halo’s Spartans. I don’t get it, but I’ve got to move on – I’ll just bung it on my list of things that will never be explained, right alongside the Loch Ness monster and why Liz Locke was fired from last year’s Apprentice.
In a move that will probably surprise nobody, then, Section 8: Prejudice is picking up the where the original left off. More interesting, at least for dorky journalists and sweaty analysts, is the distribution method; choosing not to compete in the hustle and bustle of the crowded retail rat race, TimeGate Studios has relocated to the sun-kissed peninsulas of the relatively breezy digital space.
Yet, despite the shift from plastic to intangible chunks of digital code, TimeGate is consciously trying to position Section 8: Prejudice as having enough content to be a full-blown retail release. This could, I’m repeatedly told by TimeGate, be pressed onto a shiny disc, plopped in a shop and sold in the high street. By this point it’s starting to sound like I’m involuntarily taking part in one of those late night infomercials – “surely that’s too good to be true? How is that possible!” and so on.
Still, it’s hard to argue with the raw numbers. On a basis of quantity, you’re getting an awful lot for your 1200 Microsoft funbucks. There’s a five-hour single-player campaign, a 32-player multiplayer mode and some four-player wave-based co-op thrown in for good measure.
Whether it’s quantity over quality, however, is something that’s still a little unclear. On the one hand you’ve got TimeGate talking the talk, drawing particular attention to Prejudice’s single-player campaign and promising a more involving environment than the first game, and one that’s not just a few objectives loosely thrown over the set of multiplayer maps.
The hero is still Captain Alex Corde of the 8th Armoured Infantry, the grizzled, bass-toned space marine with a chin so hard it could probably cut through diamond. After playing a couple of earlier levels – including the mandatory ‘training area that goes wrong’ opening – I can comfortably say that I could quite happily never play a game which requires you to blow up an AA turret by planting a C4 charge on it ever again in my entire life. But it’s worth noting that the action was starting to pick up at the precise moment I had to stop playing.
Still, I can’t help but feel the real meat of Section 8 is the multiplayer. This is where the original managed to strike a chord, and the primary 32-player Conquest mode has now been quietly tweaked and suitably rejiggered to give it a fresh lease of life.
There’s an awful lot going on, mind. This is large-scale online warfare, with vehicles, multiple primary objectives and even bonus side missions popping up from time to time. The size of it all means you’ll spend a fair chunk of your first few hours wondering why you were blown up by that mech suit – mech suit? – or the bike, or the deployable turret on top of a cliff that you didn’t even know existed. It takes time to disseminate all the carnage, because with 16 players a team there’s always going to be loads going on.
As for your character, the mandatory persistent levelling gives you enough customisation options to fiddle around with for at least a few hours, and Section 8’s jetpacks, lock-on ability and rocket boosts means you’re suitably ultra-powered enough to lark about with your swanky superpowers. Shame the weapons don’t feel equally as destructive, however, with the mainstay assault rifle feeling like it’s doing little more than spraying relentless blasts of silly string at your foes.
There are a few moments which never get old, though. Turning on the anti-air defences as a gaggle of enemy troops are dropping in on your position ensues some particularly satisfying kills, though it’s unfortunate the game doesn’t give you credit for doing do. Tried-and-tested moments where you have to defuse or arm something are always guaranteed to raise your heart rate, and any time you get the jump on three or four enemies feels particularly empowering. But, then, it always does.
As with the original, TimeGate’s server technology also allows people to host their own dedicated servers on the console versions. This requires some sort of fancy Microsoft dual-certification jiggery-pokery, which sounds like a ghastly bureaucratic nightmare but should allow a dedicated core audience to blossom if the game manages to burn-in with the online community.
Finding its feet is probably the biggest challenge ahead for Section 8: Prejudice. A mix of so many derivative elements means there’s very little you can lump on the box (wait – there is no box) to make it stand out, despite all the various components of the game combining to create something unique. It might be affordable, but there are only so many hours in the day – and it’s always going to be a hard sell convincing online gamers to put down their Needle Rifles and MP5k’s.
Section 8: Prejudice is due for release on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in Q1 2010.
