By Scott Jeffrey
Bethesda Softworks set out to make a whole new genre of objective based shooter with Brink. Though a lot of the thinking has been taken out of the shooter genre this game seems to grow quite stale and offer little more than a basic multiplayer assault match, with countless squads running to capture command posts and complete objectives before the clock runs out.
The campaign has a simple story line that revolves around a floating installation known as the ark. The ark was built as a conquest for humanity but with global warming water begins to flood the world making the ark a necessity. This game sounds a tad like Waterworld. But to me Brink was equally as disappointing as the Kevin Costner stinker of 1995.
The ark has two factions at war with each other with different ideals. The security faction seeks to unite the ark, and make it a better place to live. The resistance seeks to leave the ark in order to find others and start a new life away from the confinement of the ark.
The opening footage sets the game up for a really awesome sci-fi experience story. Prepare to be let down in the story department. There is little to no character development or ongoing campaign story, just 16 missions 8 for each faction with short cinematics showing each squad right before “stuff goes down”. So much more could have been done with this.
In order to be successful in Brink it is crucial that you have a decent representation of classes on your 8 man team. Even when playing with computer bots for teammates, missions can become cripplingly slow and tedious if a squad is composed of all one class.
Changing up classes is done through a command post, the 4 classes in Brink are Soldier, Engineer, Medic and Operative. Soldiers have access to detonator kits which allow you to blow up and take over base objectives. Engineers can repair machinery and hack terminals to get you access to mission objectives. Medics can help with escort meetings and keep your team up and mobile. Operatives are the spy’s capable of hacking safes and stealing intel, operatives can also camouflage to avoid detection. Though this resembles a Team Fortress Style, it is required to play as each of these classes to finish the game. Each mission usually requires at least one class change.
By playing through missions and in online matches players are able to unlock an armory of weapons and abilities that will strengthen both their character but their characters abilities in an individual class. Appearance options also unlock as you complete challenges and level your character. Its ok to favor one class, as you probably will only have to play the other classes in order to complete an objective and then it can easily be switched out at the nearest command post.
One part of Brink that is particularly interesting is the SMART (Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain) system that they have come up with. Characters in Brink use parkour to get across all kinds of obstacles in the level design. Instead of having to press multiple buttons to jump, there is one button you can hold and the game will then predictively free run across objects as you move along. This is similar to an Assassins Creed free run just from a first person shooter viewpoint.
The character design is also very good. There are many options and certainly an art style that is signature to the game. Many of the characters come out looking sickly and alien like but this goes towards the artistic vision created for Brink. It’s like they had it on the verge of realism, but then took it all back and exaggerated the art style in a cartoon way. Though it does create a very interesting reality for the game, the cartoon style makes the combat seem sort of cheesy and arcade.
I was not impressed with the combat at all. It was fairly simple, there is a wide range of weapons and attachments to help you achieve pwning status. Unfortunately it really just seemed like a lot of people running towards objectives but because of poor map design ended up bottlenecking into a massive horde of dead bodies. Sure you can jump around and avoid stuff while parkouring but it felt very clunky and with the arcade feeling combat it was just very unimpressive.
The online multiplayer is really just more of the same. Though it does help to have a squad that knows what they are doing it is great to have people who are proficient in each class and have the upgrades in each class. With a mixed team there is less switching at command posts for objectives and you are able to get all of the class advantages for your team. One really strange issue is there are no lobbies in Brink, so you can either join a match in progress or invite one of your friends to join your campaign, challenge or freeplay mission, but not match make for one. This is a huge disadvantage in a game where the object is to work as a squad and what better way to do so but with real living breathing players.
Brink set to change up the idea of a modern shooter. I agree with Bethesda, the Modern Warfare and Battlefield system is starting to get a bit mindless. The SMART system and the idea of having to change objectives was an interesting call, but maybe not something that worked all too well. Cutscenes and story in this game are sparse and unfortunately Modern Warfare 3 brought to the table a better cinematic storyline that could suck me in. I think if anything this game could have spent a little more time in the incubator. It seems quite rushed, there is really no connection to the storyline and hardly a sense of purpose. As I was playing I just felt like I was mindlessly jumping over buildings and changing to whatever class it told me to, while getting gummed up in some terrible combat and rushing back to the mission objectives over and over. For something that boasts itself on being a new, “thinking” shooter it seemed a bit too simplistic and a bit too much like a typical multiplayer base assault match which we have all played before.
Sound: 5/10
Graphics 6/10
Gameplay 4/10
Story/Writing 4/10
Replay Value 2/10
Overall: 21/50
Take away thought: Do not pay any money for this game. If you are interested in playing it at all I would suggest you borrow or rent it. The parkour system is really cool and I hope it could be adapted into a shooter again. The combat in this though just feels terrible. Do yourself a favor and pick up another Bethesda game instead. Out of all of the games from Bethesda I have played thus far, Brink has been the only one I did not enjoy.
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