Section 8 PS3 Review - Sci-Fi FPS for the PS3 - Is It Worth Downloading?

Section 8 PS3 Review

Section 8 is a first person shooter from the makers of the F.E.A.R. series of games. It’s a decent shooter with some futuristic elements that make it seem like it was inspired by the Halo series of games, but many of the game’s features are staples of most FPS games. You can only download this game from the PlayStation Store, and the regular price is $29.99. However, as of this writing the game is on sale for a more reasonable $14.99.

Gameplay and Features (4 out of 5)

What I did like about Section 8 was that it combines many of the best elements of other shooters that helps add to the otherwise standard gameplay. It’s still the type of game where you run around shooting opponents with various weapons and such, but there’s a few extra to make it interesting. For starters, there are some vehicles you can drive in the game, and that’s always a plus. You can also briefly fly through the air in a way very similar to Crysis and that adds a whole new element of bullet dodging when you can go airborne and keep shooting at your opponent.

The maps are of pretty decent size, which is always nice because I prefer large scale maps. I always felt like the maps in games like Call of Duty were entirely too small while some of the Battlefield: Bad Company maps were almost too big. The maps in this game fall somewhere in between, so I have no major complaints for this Section 8 PS3 review. While playing online, as with most shooters, you’ll quickly find certain key areas where a lot of the action takes places, especially when trying to capture an area. Balancing seems to be somewhat of an issue when it comes to the weapons, and that’s because sometimes you have to shoot opponents repeatedly to take them down. It can be a bit frustrating.

Graphics and Sound (4 out of 5)

The graphics and sound in Section 8 are good, and it’s all very fast paced and still runs smoothly. I didn’t think the graphics were quite on par with bigger games like Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and all its subtle effects, but this game did still look pretty good. When it comes to first person shooters, I am more concerned with gameplay than graphics, although I do expect the game to still look good. As far as this Section 8 PS3 review goes, I’d say this game looks as good as any other shooters made for the PlayStation 3. I will also add that I am usually more impressed by human characters than robotic ones, as it is much easier to make something mechanical look good than it is to simulate human faces. The sound effects are what you’d expect from most shooters where it all gets to be pretty repetitive after a while.

Overall (3 out of 5)

Although I think Section 8 is a cool game, but it doesn’t have much to make it stand out from other first person shooters on the PS3. For the $29.99 price tag they are asking, you could go buy a used copy of one of the Resistance or Call of Duty games and get much more for your money.

I have serious concerns with the idea of premium download-only content for the PS3 console. Being able to download and play a game without having to leave your home is convenient to some degree, but then you have a game that you can’t lend to a friend or resell on eBay or trade in at your local game store. Basically, it’s disposable content. In the case of this Section 8 PS3 review, it’s almost $30 worth of disposable content.

I don’t so much mind spending $5-10 on some of the games found in the PlayStation Store, as I have bought several of them. What I don’t like is the way that Sony and other game manufacturers milk gamers’ money with expansion packs and other things that can only be downloaded and have no resale value. I’ve heard it called ‘software as a service’ and I don’t like it at all. If you were to buy Section 8 and not like the game, you can forget about a refund or recuperating any of the cost of the game since you can’t do anything but delete it from your PS3.