Rock, Paper, Shotgun

The Section 8 forums have some info on the new DLC. It’s three new maps and ten achievements, which can be purchased in-game via the downloadable content menu. It’s 560MS points, which is around $7, which seems like a lot to me.

The Seek and Destroy Map Pack expands the Section 8 experience with three new maps for the Multiplayer and Instant Action game modes. Players fight for control of a geothermal energy plant on the salt flats of New Madrid in “Devil’s Backbone” and battle in the narrow confines of a hazardous valley on the planet Titan in “Hornet’s Nest.” “Azure Basin” is set high atop a mountain plateau where a massive hydroelectric dam sits astride the map, with combat ranging both inside and outside of the facility.

The response to my Section 8 review on Eurogamer seems to have been tempered somewhat by the release of a demo on the 360. It’s worth stressing that I haven’t seen 360 code and can make no judgment there, but impressions have not been favourable. I tried playing it on the 360 pad and, well, yes. Mouse and keyboard will be the default choice. It seems like the release of a demo on the console might actually have seriously damaged the chance of the game on there. As a relatively complex multiplayer FPS it does seem to me like it carries some serious PC heritage, however, and you won’t win any prizes for guessing what version I would recommend. One other thing that I didn’t mention in the review was how impressed I was with the way the game scaled. I played a bunch of five-on-five games pre-release and the smaller maps still delivered tight games with so few people, which is pretty impressive.

However, ugh. It also seems that the PC version of Section 8 is having some technical difficulties in its US launch. The culprit: Games For Windows Live failing to intiate. Another fine game marred by Live? Why oh why… Developers: use something else, please.

The Section 8 open beta got into full swing over the weekend, and I spent a lot more time messing around with it. We also had a bit of an RPS community romp on Saturday, although I missed most of it by being late to the party. The overflow played on a secondary server, and still got some good fights in. Some more thoughts on the game follow.
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So the Section 8 beta has now opened up to everyone, here. We’re aiming to get a big RPS posse online over Saturday, and we’ll set things up in this forum thread. I’ve noticed some surprise from people about how good Section 8 is, so if you’re sceptical, now is your time to take a look and decide. I think it’s pretty damned good, and I’m looking forward to playing some games with RPS folks over the weekend. (Alternative download for file.) And, well, expect problems: it’s a beta. Other instructions on the official forum here.

While I’ve been having a right old laugh in the beta for Section 8, as detailed here, we’ve not heard much about the single player game, until today. ‘Neath the click is a trailer that SouthPeak sent over, which features the TimeGate team talking about their single player campaign. It’s not clear how linear it’ll be, as it looks like it’ll be a bot-driven series of objective-based battles to intro you to the game concepts, and the story of the battle between the two factions. The game footage in this clip has it looking fairly awesome, anyway, with some serious robo-stomp tango. They’re obviously proud of the mech smashing humanoid opponents, and I was pretty stunned when I saw that happen for the first time in-game.
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Right, it looks like I was a bit confused on this front: the next stage of Section 8’s testing is a European beta, since the first lot was North American, and it does have limited places. You can sign up here. That European beta will start on the 10th. For my recent impressions take a look here. Kristan at Eurogamer was also pretty positive. As I understand it, an open beta, presumably for both continents, is to follow. The game is scheduled for release worldwide on August 28th.

The past few days I’ve been absorbed by Timegate’s closed multiplayer beta for sci-fi shooter Section 8. I understand that there’s actually some single-player element to the game, which will explain some of the sci-fi story which underscores the action, but what I’ve seen so far is a multiplayer game of fair complexity. It’s a Unreal 3-powered amalgam of jetpacks, drop-pods, and guns that go dakka. I want to say up front that I’m having great deal of fun with this. It’s the kind of game I go into for five minutes to take a screenshot, and emerge from two hours later. Read onwards for why.

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More action from Section 8’s armoured dudes as they come crashing down from space in this new developer diary. Lots of in-game footage, and lots of chatter from the developers about loadouts, customisation, movement, and all that robo-jazz. This one is looking more and more interesting as time goes on. If the game is smooth and balanced when it hits, I suspect we might be in for a small pleasure.
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Robots, jetpacks, tanks booted out the back of dropships, lots of firepower and some extreme mechanised jumping: Section 8’s most recent trailer has all the elements that makes an wizened PC gamer sit back in his chair, run a hand across his beard and say: “hmm, I remember Tribes.” Anyway, for those of us who haven’t been able to get on the beta, the trailer, courtesy of Destructoid, is below.
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