Brink Video Review

Brink has spent some hefty time in video game development. The game was revealed to us back in 2009 at E3. We barely heard anything regarding the new up and coming shooter from Splash Damage. It wasn’t until 2010, that we learned it would be mostly a multi-player experience. Where players would be able to go through an entire campaign with up to 8 other players. Dropping in and out of the experience and combining storyline with free running game play.

Story

What finally came to pass, is something that’s not quite what we expected. Brink’s story revolves around a city that is submerged underwater. Get this though, they originally just created the Ark as an experiment. So… the sea kind of just rose up on its own, just because they made a floating city? You know… without any warning at all. But I digress… two factions are currently fighting on the Ark. The Enforcers want to keep order on the Ark, and the Resistance want to escape the Ark and find other life.

The reason that these two factions are fighting means little to the actual combat. Just before each match begins in the campaign, you’ll get a small glimpse of story from each faction. Each of these little snippets are inconsequential, as after the first video you’ll realize this story doesn’t matter. The intro sequence pretty much tells us that the resistance want to escape. So why not just let them get off the city and stop shooting it up? For some reason the Enforcers feel that killing a bunch of rabble is controlling something.

The whole problem with the story is that it makes no sense. If you’re living on a floating city that’s falling apart, and a bunch of people want to go out and find help. Uh… what’s the point of making that small group of people stay? Since all they’re going to do is go out to sea and probably die anyway, that’s more food for those that stay. The Enforcers instead decide to use deadly force to kill them off. Which will start a war on a ship that’s already falling into pieces. So… instead of concentrating on repairing the ship, they instead decide to blow it to bits with gunshots and explosions. Ridiculous!

Gameplay

Let’s move on to what really matters in this game, and that’s shooting people in the face. Brink fails at setting itself apart from just being a generic shooter. It has the basics from shooters like Team Fortress, and Call of Duty. Where players earn experience points from playing roles properly. Users will be able to unlock new skills, weapons, and wardrobe options. I think that’s where Brink excels the most, in allowing full customization of a character. Even if it is limited amount of clothing and colors to choose from.

It’s actually during the game play where everything falls apart. If you’re interested in Brink beyond the multiplayer aspect. You probably should walk out knowing it’s an F in that department. If you want me to further facilitate why it’s a horrible single-player experience, you’re in luck. You have three options on how to go through the campaign. Solo, Cooperative, or Versus mode. In solo mode, it’s just you versus a bunch of dumb bots with perfect aim. In Cooperative mode, it’s you and your friends versus a bunch of dumb bots… with perfect aim.

In solo play, you will be overwhelmed by a bunch of opponent bots. The A.I. on your team is absolutely worthless. Trying to pass any stage without help is a chore in futility. You will not have any fun watching your teammates die horribly. When you switch to cooperative mode, it’ll just be you and 8 players overcoming the odds. Who am I kidding? There are no odds, there will be a train of robots who just walk into bullets and die continuously. In one level in particular, the bots walked in a straight line into a constant wave of bullets. Sure we won the match, but it was by no means fun.

The final options are Versus and Free play. Here you can actually fight in campaign areas against other players. This is where you will spend most of your time in Brink. Running around hacking, defending, escorting, or carrying intelligence is the main goal. You’ll go through a couple of rounds sitting in corridors guarding terminals. Pretty much playing whack-a-mole with each other, until the round ends or someone completes an objective. Each gun has some potential to it, but all of the gun types are pretty much the same. Most of the assault rifles pack the same punch, and all of the SMG’s have nearly the same feel. It ends up being your choice on which one you think looks the best. 

Now let’s talk a little bit about the parkour movements. Which look more interesting than they actually are. The automation of movement takes a bit to get used to. A lot of the time you’ll just want to do a simple jump, and it will slide you off a wall or force you to get stuck. The sad part about Parkour is that it’s only used to get around the Ark. Players won’t really care to use anything other than the slide. Most of the time you’ll just sprint at someone, knock them down and shoot them in the face. Other times it’s almost worthless to run away from an opponent, and you’ll end up in a strafing firefight like all shooters. The strategy usually means hug a wall and see how many clips each of you can take. Basically, the free running is just a gimmick and not really as useful as we want it to be.

Graphics

The visuals of Brink are pretty gross looking. Every character is a grizzled deformed being, with jutting chins and buffed out physiques. The colors are probably the only thing that will catch your eye. With some very bright tones that aren’t seen in nearly enough shooters nowadays. The problem is that the rest of the environments just look out right nasty. With plenty of low resolution textures scattered about each area you visit. Every location is covered in jagged edges, and cutscenes feature horribly rendered backdrops, and terrible special effects. If Brinks objective was to look like a tasteless abstract painting, it has succeeded in that goal.

Finale

All in all, when you get down to the root of, Brink. It’s a pretty lackluster shooter that doesn’t create anything new. When you get over the bells and whistles of customization and parkour. You will probably take the game out of the console and let it dust for some time. This is a game that focuses purely on how many people you can get to play with you. It doesn’t dare add anything to the multiplayer formula in any way. Which is incredibly stupid when the sole focus is clearly multiplayer. So Brink receives a D from Half-Ass Gaming, it’s the example of a game where potential goes completely wrong.

[gameinfo title=”Game Info” game_name=”Brink” developers=”Splash Damage” publishers=”Bethesda Softworks” platforms=”PS3/Xbox 360/PC” genres=”Shooter” release_date=”May 10th, 2011″]