Preview: Section 8 Solves Three of Your Favorite FPS’s Problems
They’re not calling themselves a “Halo Killer” but it seems that many of the main features in Section 8 were created in response to what annoyed them, and probably annoy you, about established FPS franchises like Halo and Battlefield.
Let’s go through 3 problems even the best first person shooters have and the ways Section 8 provides a solution.
Problem 1: Spawning Then Immediately Dying
If you spawn near a camping sniper, or in the trajectory of a rocket, or just die within seconds of spawning, it sucks. You probably feel a little cheated by the game, which, I’m pretty sure, is never one of the developer’s goals.
Solution: Let the Player Choose his Spawn Point and Make the Act of Spawning Awesome.
Section 8′s eliminates the annoyance of cheap deaths via their most impressive feature: “Burning in.” Every time you die, you’re taken to an orbital drop ship. You choose the point on the map you want to “burn in” to and the ship torpedoes you screaming through the atmosphere headfirst, in first person view, until you slam into the ground with thunderous force.
There’s a strategy to where you choose to burn in, as well. You can burn in right on the inside of an opponents base, but if your teammates haven’t disabled their anti-air guns, you may not make it to the ground in one piece. Or you could just try to aim your burn in to land on some poor sucker’s head and score the game’s only one hit kill.
No one wants to ride passenger in a real life Warthog either…
Problem 2: Feeling Lame Riding in the Passenger Side of a Vehicle
OK, how many times have you been playing Halo 3 and got stuck shooting the machine gun of the Scorpion or the Wraith while your buddy gets to drive and shoot the cannon? It sucks. It sucks so much that many players will just go on foot rather than rolling like that.
Solution: Vehicles Where Everyone Gets to Do Something Cool:
In Section 8, when you drive a tank everyone gets to do something awesome. So if you’re not driving and shooting the cannon, you’re launching a cluster bomb reminiscent of Gear’s of War 2′s mortar, or you’re shooting the huge caliber bullets of the anti-air gun. Whoever gets in has a job and has fun. There are no back of the Mongoose experiences here.
Problem 3: Trekking across a Huge Map to Get to the Battle
When you’re dealing with the absolutely huge maps of Battlefield or similar franchises, you are often left with a tedious trek across a huge landscape unless you find a vehicle. Even in games without huge maps, the relatively slow pace of your characters movement can be a chore.
Solution: Make Each Player as Fast as a Speeding Vehicle.
Section 8 lets you become the vehicle. If you’ve got a long expanse to traverse, you have the ability to trigger your Overdrive, which shifts the camera to a third person perspective and lets you sprint at ridiculous speeds. This coupled with the built in jet pack for jumping lets you bound across large portions the game map like the Incredible Hulk.
If you want to be able to sprint for longer, put more points into your Overdrive before you spawn and you’ll never again have to experience Master Chief’s slow trot.
Section 8 seems to be made by developers that feel your pain as a FPS fan and want to give you a game that takes the weaknesses of current FPSs and turns them into strengths. They’re a long way off from release but these features look promising.
