Section 8: Prejudice Review

[Rebel Rouser]

Section 8: Prejudice is a must-have title for your collection. If you don't pick it up, you'll be missing out on one of the most definitive XBLA games available. With its superb multiplayer, it goes to show that XBLA games can really give full priced titles a run for their money.

Multiplayer in Section 8: Prejudice is an absolute thrill. It is without a doubt the #1 Multiplayer XBLA this year. While the game lacks any form of co-op for the campaign it makes up for it with the abundant game modes it offers for you and your friends to play. The three modes available to you are Assault, Swarm, and my personal favorite, Conquest.

Assault is a gametype that pits two teams against each other in an epic battle that has one team defend their bases while the other assaults them. The game ends when the timer runs out or if all the bases are captured.

Next up is Swarm. It’s your typical "Horde/Firefight/Zombie" gametype. This gametype has you defend a single base for a set amount of time. It's best played with friends and is the most lackluster of all of the available gametypes.

Finally we have Conquest; a gametype that is strongly reminiscent of Star Wars Battlefront mixed with a bit of Battlefield and Halo. This gametype has you fight with your team to control all of the bases. With the enemy team trying to accomplish the same objective, it can go back and forth very rapidly. Your team can gain points in three different ways: by taking control of your enemy's bases, destroying their weapons systems, and taking them out. The first team to reach a score of 1,000 wins the game. This gametype is what makes the game such an absolute hit. Nothing can go wrong by copying and expanding the Star Wars Battlefront formula.

All three modes share common features. They all have weapon, tool, and ability customization, which is nothing to scoff at. They let you customize many combat related details of your players, allowing you to fight how you like. The game, like its predecessor, has the game defining ability to drop from a high altitude onto anywhere on the map, provided the enemy doesn't have AA guns in said location where you want to drop. Prejudice also brings back the Dynamic Combat Missions; these allow you to earn extra points by doing things like escorting an A.I. General, a convoy, or defending a valuable position.

A key feature of multiplayer is the money system. As you get kills, destroy enemy base weapons, and enemy portable weapons, you get money. This money goes towards buying your portable supply depots, turrets, a tank, and more! These drops can drastically change the outcome of a match. Throwing down an AA gun to stop people from dropping or getting the all powerful tank can buy you the extra time and kills you need to win the game.

The other key feature of multiplayer is that Section 8: Prejudice offers a level system, which unlocks new weapon attachments, abilities, tools, and more. While this system is reminiscent of the Call of Duty or Battlefield system, I wouldn't consider it to be a bad thing. Ranking up adds to your feeling of achievement and pride, and helps give you that push to play the game more (some of the unlocked additions are amazing).

This is where Section 8: Prejudice fails to deliver. The campaign in Section 8: Prejudice is a relatively short one. While it does offer a fairly solid experience and continues the story for the fans of the original Section 8, the story is fairly bland with poor voice acting and tedious mission objectives adding to the overall let down. It’s good for one play-through, but I just don’t see it as having much replay value. I wouldn't recommend that you run out and buy the game on the merits of the story alone.

Another minor disappointment includes the outdated graphics. While the game certainly looks fine, it seems like they put no extra time or effort into improving the original Section 8's already lackluster graphics. Another small issue is that the game only launched with four maps. The lack of maps can cause the multiplayer experience to degrade a bit because you are playing the same maps over and over again. They have recently released a map pack which solves this issue, but it costs money to fix a problem that should have been included with the game itself. My final major gripe with the game is that they offer additional weapons packs. For the low price of 240 Microsoft Points you can get some weapons that should have been in the game in the first place. While the game is quite inexpensive, I am not fond of developers releasing silly DLC packs in attempt to pinch every last penny out of us.

For the low price of 1200 Microsoft Points (about $15 US) this game is a real bargain. It’s a definitive multiplayer game for XBLA and a real multiplayer gem, but if you're looking for a great campaign you should look elsewhere. So what are you waiting for? Drop on into Section 8: Prejudice.

8.5/10

[Nightrise]

From the demo I know it is quite good, may wait for it to go on sale though.

[Sorarules20]

It's either this or Saints 2 next time I get money.


Oh the humanity!

[KillerOfCereal]

It's either Saints Double Pack or Saints 2 next time I get money.


Oh the humanity!

Fix'd, and I would suggest going with the double pack because you'll get more joy out of playing Saints 1 & 2 than Section 8.

Great review Rebel! And I agree that some arcade games need to bring more maps into Multiplayer.

[Kathanis]

I loved this game's demo, definitely gonna buy it when I ever get Microsoft points again