Brink Review
Publisher Bethseda
Developer Splash Damage
Platform PC,PS3, Xbox 360
Release Date Out Now
With the market saturated with realistic modern day shooters Brink aims to be a game that offers something different by introducing some unique concepts such as team work, fluid movement over obstacles parkour style, tasked based missions, class based objectives, with characters with literally millions of unique combinations, but sadly it never reaches the promised heights. 
Brink is set on a fictional creation known as the Ark, initially created to show sustainable living was possible it soon became a floating refuge. As the population grew and grew the Ark was split into two to try and help police it. Now the two sides are fighting for control, as the game begins you are asked to choose which side you wish to fight for.
Although the game technically has a solo campaign, a multiplayer and co-op side to it they are all very much the same. Brink is split up into 16 missions that make up the campaign, within each missions the teams are set tasks. The attacking team must carry out the task while the defending team must simply prevent them. The solo campaign is populated by other players if you are online which ruins the point of having a solo campaign, it can be played with AI bots but they are pretty awful and it’s hard to find any enjoyment in it. The multiplayer is where the game comes into its own, but as with every online multiplayer it depends on your team mates and organising people on the internet is as difficult as herding cats.
Teams are made up of 8 players on each side, each player has a choice of 4 different classes, The soldier, the Medic, The Engineer and the Operative. Each class has its own unique abilities and each class is required at different stages within the game to carry out different objectives for example an operative might be required to hack a computer. Having the right class at the right time is important but luckily you can change your class within the game using the command points.
Each class can also ”Buff” their teams mates this is basically helping them out, the Soldier can throw ammo, the medic can buff others health etc. These are nice features and if used properly will make all the difference to your team in the heat of battle.
All that stacks up to sounding like a great game but I quickly ran into problems, first the PSN was down, when that came back I was met with serious lag issues, when that was updated (somewhat) I found the map designs led to a lot of congestion points where both teams would simply get stuck into a fire fight with no real movement either way. The attacking team could break through and the defending team just dug in.
I do hope Brink can get it together and the developers do sort out the issues but for the moment it’s falling short of the high hopes it had set itself. It does have huge potential though, the movement does work well, the objectives and class systems are well worked out and if you do happen to get into a good game it is very enjoyable. Sadly for Brink those good games are a very random affair at the moment.
Overall: The game looks good and has some nice idea’s but it has been met with so many issues in the first week it’s hard to really get into it and find your feet. The lack of a proper solo campaign is disappointing but this is really a multiplayer game and it’s there that it comes alive. In the right hands it’s great, in the wrong hands it’s very frustrating.
SCORE “C” Very Good Game
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