Section 8: Early Beta Impressions (oops)

So I got some new betas to test out on my PC (I call him Spike, by the way) and one of those betas happened to be Section 8. Now, I haven't gotten as much time to test this game out as I had hoped, but Spike's been kind of finnicky since I gave him a TV Tuner card. Hey, sometimes when you move across the country in pursuit of a career in the video game industry, you have to make your PC double as your TV/DVR because you can't fit everything in the Uhaul...but I digress.
Anyways, what I had originally thought to be a first-person take on Warhawk's "zone" capture points (capturing an area grants you equipment and defenses such as turrets) is actually quite the intriguing and surprisingly tactical effort. So far.
Like I said, it's still early. Section 8 is certainly no graphical beast, Crysis still sits firmly atop its throne, but it's no slouch either. My PC isn't exactly top of the line, but I do like to tinker and I can get S8 to run at maximum settings, so I've seen the full polish. This is actually a good thing however, as system requirements can be a barrier for the casual/not-absurdly-rich PC gamer
Unfortunately, everything written up until this point was done while the beta was still running...and it ended before I got any more play time in. In fact, the game is on store shelves right now.
But I will tell of what I saw while it lasted.
As i mentioned already, there is a lot more tactical thinking involved in Section 8 than I would have originally thought. That doesn't mean you have to be an RTS or Tactical RPG veteran to do well in S8, your average FPS junkie will do just fine as well. The options that exist seem to be there just for the people interested in that kind of thing, the same kind of people that require stat tracking for their multiplayer modes, the kind of people that actually care about the content written here.
One of these facets that offered more tactical choice than originally thought was the game's big bullet point: "burn in." For those that haven't followed Section 8, "burn in" is the game's version of spawning. When you die in Section 8 you don't just magically reappear on the battlefield, you drop thousands of feet from a drop ship to land on the battlefield, in player-controlled real time. When the match begins (or after you've died) you are presented with a complete map of the current level and are able to pick any area as your drop point. You are then jettisoned from the ship and sent screaming to the ground below, with a HUD and audio warning tell you when to hit the brakes adn avoid going splat.
The average player will probably just look for a good spot with teammates around (all your live teammates positions are shown on the map) or an open space and drop right there. Players takign a more in-depth aproach haev other choices, however, and a lot of that plays into the attributes you give your character. Each player can equip two main weapons and a secondary one (grenades, knife, etc.) with no limitations related to the "class" you choose. There's a reason "class" is in quotes. This game makes classes less of a Team Fortress 2 affair and more of a "Custom Slot #" Modern Warfare setup. Several predefined/named classes are available, but they can all be changed in any way the player sees fit, a decent option when one considers the weapons, and openind to countless options when one brings Section 8's "perks" into play.
Aside from weapon choices, there are several slots for the attribute's of a players armor. These involve things like stealth that hides you from radar and turrets, armor plating that gives you stronger shileds, even boosters that allow you to run faster and longer. With the number of options available, the play can truly create a character to suit their play style, and accomodate several styles depending on what role or goal they are trying to accomplish.
These attributes also affects the burn-ins and is where a large part of the tactical aspect sneaks into the game. All occupied bases are armed with Anti-Air turrets to prevent enemy players from dropping right into the center of said base. So depending on what you're trying to achieve at that particular point in the match you can use a character with high levels of the ANTI-Anti-Air attribute which gives you more time before the turrets stat firing at you and even protection from their rounds. One the map, prior to burn-in, the area in rang of these guns is highlighted in red. You can still drop into these areas but chances are good you'll be destroyed before you land if you're not properly equipped. This can also affect when you decide to hit the brakes during your drop. Once you hit the brakes, you your fall begins to slow and you're given free movement in order to fine tune your landing. If you're in range of AA guns, however, moving slower means getting shot at longer. Throw in the decision of "do i drop in with my teammates engaged in a fight with the other team or do i drop back in enemy territory to distract them and maybe capture a base for my team?" along with all the other things that need to be decided BEFORE YOU EVEN START PLAYING and you've got yourself an FPS with a lot more depth than it initially lets on.
As for how it actually plays when on the battlefield: it's decent. The weapons are all appropriately over-the-top futuristic with the only problem being how similar they all look; am I holding an assault rifle or a shotgun? There's zoom on appropriate weapons and a lock-on whose duration depends on your armor's attributes. If you need to get somewhere fast sprinting for a few seconds opens up some kind of afterburner on your armor and your character starts moving so fast the camera's pushed back to a 3rd person view...ok that was probably just a creative decision. Due to the small amount of time i got with the game, i'm going to keep from presentign too much opinion on the gameplay itself, but there are a few things I will mention:
What's going on? there never seems to be a very clear description of the current objective during a match. Things will pop up occasionally like "The enemy has initiated ____" mission" and you'll ned to kill an enemy general or convoy. How these missions get initiated I have no idea. I also have no idea how turrets are constructed or what capturing an area does, but that's also due to my limited time with the game. Basically my issue is how little the game holds your hand but again I had very little time with the game and this was a beta. By the time the player finishes the single-player campaign they should have an answer to these questions. Except maybe: Why does the shotgun look just like the Assault rifle?