Section 8: Prejudice Review

Section 8: Prejudice is the downloadable follow up to Section 8, a full-fledged retail game. The first Section 8 was hailed as a fun multiplayer focused title, and while Prejudice has a singleplayer campaign, it is not the meat of the title. It may seem odd that a developer has decided to change route and go the fully downloadable, it makes sense for Time Gate.

Most people will not be expecting a fantastic story. They would be right. S8:P suffers from horrible writing. From that stems the bad tendency of every mission being the most crucial part of the entire operation. The visual presentation also suffers from a lack of geometry. While there are plenty of objects in the game, it lacks the production values found in its retail brothers. There are a few performance issues as well. In the frame-rate category, you’ll experience anything from minor slow down to game halting crawls (while frame-rate drops that bad are VERY rare).

In the Section 8 universe, there are a few things that are very unique to it. One of them is the overdrive mode. Overdrive basically turns the sprint feature found in most modern shooters and cranks it up to about 15. After sprinting for a while, you switch from first to third-person and haul ass. Time Gate also implemented a fancy little feature that allows the player to auto-target quickly. When you’re going around killing people, you build a meter that, as long as your reticule is already close to the enemy player, will allow you to auto lock-on to them. The lock-on keeps your reticule on them for about 3-4 seconds and gives you that extra boost in performance you need.  Mechanics wise, Section 8: Prejudice is very sound. The aiming feels fluid and responsive. Grenades, with a quick tap of the R1 button, are almost always sent off at the desired distance, but those who still want more precision can hold down the R1 button to see a throw pattern (ala Gears of War).

The audio is lacking quite a bit. Considering that the game is an FPS, the gun audio sounds underpowered. In S8:P, you’re a walking suit of armor, but the guns you carry sound as if they’re shooting slightly rotund peas. The voice acting, I’d rather not talk about, but is akin to nails on a chalk board.

By far, the most fun is S8:P’s version of “horde” called Swarm. Swarm takes four players and pins them up against ever increasing odds. Sound familiar? What makes the mode interesting is the implementation of currency. You get money every kill you rack up. You can spend the money on turrets, mechs, and vehicles. While it sounds like something that is a bit tacked on, it plays out very well. There is a certain amount of thought that goes into, “Do I buy a turret now or save and buy the mech?”

The other interesting mode is called Conquest. Basically, two teams are vying to keep control of spots on the map. The longer you hold the spots, the more points your team earns. The dynamic is that you can try and take all the spots, but then you’ll have little to no defense to keep them from an attack. Also, you can’t just defend one spot because you’ll easily lose the battle from a lack of points. There is a lot of give and take in that, usually, each team will have a spot or two under constant control while the control of the spots left are constantly changing.

The overall mechanics of S8:P work as well as anyone could ask them too. The few things that are innovative to the universe like overdrive fit perfectly in it. The multiplayer modes, while not inventive, add some new flavor to an old dish. Swarm specifically is some of the most fun I’ve had in a multiplayer session in recent memory. All in all, Section 8: Prejudice is a good game for the price, but lacks some of the components you would find in its competitors.