Brink (360/PS3/PC)

[Klocker]

Re: Brink (360/PS3/PC)

ok. been playing this for pretty much 6.5 hours straight... really good mp gameplay... excellent features and customization. unique connection system (no lobbies and co-op, versus, SP modes) and fun fun fun... oh and I love the agile body type

[mudtiger]

Re: Brink (360/PS3/PC)

I'm enjoying playing co-op. Tried going it alone here and there when I got fed up with the lag, but quickly decided I'd rather take my chances with lag then have to play with bot teammates.

When it worked lag free I had fun. Even with random people which I don't think I can say about any single game I've ever had. For the most part people sorted out what class was needed to get the job done and tried to help each other.

You definitely should play through the challenges. That is where you can unlock a lot of upgrages and it is a decent tutorial on what class does what.

[Phobia]

Re: Brink (360/PS3/PC)

My Review (Xbox 360 - All online play)

Graphics - The cut scene graphics are fantastic and the art design reminds me of a mix between TF2 and RAGE. The levels are done fantastic in my eyes, I truly don't see the issue some of the reviews are talking about with level design. There is a good mix of different type and they are large enough that they "feel" big. Out of the graphics the characters are by far the stand out. The level of customization is fantastic, once you start the game you are limited to how you can make your guy look. But after several hours you start to open up plenty of options to separate yourself from other characters. It is so easy to run into a enemy you know you have run into before just by how they "look" which is excellent because in most shooters this is not the case so you can never get a feel of WHO you are facing in each encounter. I ran into several encounters where I seen this guy with a long trench coat and thought "Ahhhhh he is going to come at me sliding!" Sure enough i was ready for it and start my aim towards the ground early and lite him up.

Control - I quickly jumped into the online portion of the game with no going into the single player campaign. I am happy to boast about me holding the #1 position on the leaderboard for 4 or 5 maps straight. The controls came very natural to me if you have played any shooter out there. They also felt very responsive but not to floaty. I like the weight of the aiming, reminds me of BFBC.

Gameplay - Ohhhhhh the heart and soul of Brink. Brink is not about fancy game modes, Crysis graphics, or fast twitch based combat such as COD. It is about PURE TEAMWORK. Without it you and your team will quickly get slaughtered. This is where Brink reminds me so much of Left 4 Dead. This is also why I remained at the top of the leaderboard so much. Anything and everything you do in the game to help your team rewards you with XP points to buy abilities. So helping the team is really helping yourself because it helps make you rank up quicker.

Lone wolfs will quickly get cut down and will spend a good bit of time waiting to respawn. Where guys who stick with their teammates and work together will always be progressing the battle. Medics reviving down teammates so they are not spawning 2 min away and keeping people in the instant action. Soldiers handing out ammo like candy so your team and keep those weapons rattling, engineers handing out weapon buffs to help cut the enemy down quicker and pop down turrets for added support, lastly recon guys spotting mines and tagging enemies are all HUGE parts of progressing towards a successful mission.

I will be honest, this is by far the most fun I have had in a shooter in a long time. Because so much team work is required, there is so many different abilities, the missions change though out a round, and it just FEELS different than COD. I have been wanting a game not like Halo or COD, I am tired of the "ME ME ME" mentality in those games. This game is for the guys who want to truly feel like you got to work together to succeed.

Let me give a small example of some teamwork our team used last night in a mission. We lost the mission but we were VERY close to completing the objective, the team we were playing against worked like a team also and that made the gameplay seem AMAZING.

We had a escort mission. Our team split up pretty well, we had 4 or 5 soldiers and couple medics. 3 or 4 soldiers surrounded the escort, and the medics hung back behind them. Me (as a soldier) and another teammate as a engineer went and flanked high up on the right flank. We had perfect position down on the enemy. This teammate was using a sniper rifle which I never saw before. Down below you could see our squad of soldiers and medics trying to push through the line of defense.

As our sniper kept tagging and dropping guys, I would refresh his ammo and he would buff my damage. We then would just steady rip down death from above on the enemy. We were knocking down enemies left and right but also remained in excellent position from return fire. Our team below were making excellent headway because of our actions but they were also in the brunt of the action. With heavy work being done by our medics.

The enemy team was doing a fantastic job of using their abilities. Turrets and mines to slow our advance. After a long hard fought exchange (6 to 8 min) we manage to push through a tough choke point. With the enemy left respawning at different times and showing up in ones and twos we quickly kept pushing forward. With time running out we were right near the end of the escort LZ. But it was not going to happen as the enemy finally showed up one last time in a organized manner and managed to slow down our advance just enough that time ran out.

If it was not for that one looooonnng exchange that one choke point we could of won the mission. But both teams worked well together and created some of the most fun I have ever had working together in a shooter besides Left 4 Dead.

Lag - I played for around 4 hours last night. I played around 6 to 8 missions. I encountered 2 games where the lag was really bad. I quickly exited out and restarted a new game. Then that game ran smooth and fine. I then played for several maps back to back with no lag. Then another instance of bad lag and I exited right out and rejoined new game. Then did the same and played smooth for rest of night.

If you know me I am a stickler for having to wait for load times or laggy games to get a game in. I don't have a ton of time to play and when I do I want it to be easy to play. I can honestly say lag caused no frustration for me last night. It was so fast to exit the faulty game and rejoin a new one that I quickly was back in a good match. I think it needs work of course but it did not seem as horrible as some reviewers are making it out to be. It is not perfect by any means. I did get 2 laggy games out of 10 load attempts. But that means 6 to 8 games were lag free and that equaled to hours and hours of lag free gameplay.

Bottom Line - FUN FUN FUN!! If you are the type like me who are tired of the COD or Halo type of games where everyone runs around and does their own thing and there is very little objectives other than kill the other team. Then Brink is easily for you. It is a game built around balanced gameplay, teamwork, and fantastic customization. I am extremely happy with my purchase and look forward to getting home and playing some more tonight.

Graphics - 7 (Great graphics but in this gen are lacking some)
Sound - 7 (Guns are meaty and varied but nades have weak sounds)
Gameplay - 9 (Balance balance Balance, Teamwork, Teamwork, Teamwork)
Controls - 9 (Any control you want, everything is custom to you)
Replayability - 9 (Teamwork and how deep gameplay is makes this great)
Online - 6 (Some issues with lag right now, but looks like it can be fixed)

Overall - 8 ( Great game in current shape and could be stellar with better net code and DLC for new maps and missions. But in current shape is still extremely fun and different take on the shooter style)

[Pete1210]

Re: Brink (360/PS3/PC)

Thanks for the review.
I was most concerned that the lag would make online unplayable, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

[Phobia]

Re: Brink (360/PS3/PC)

Oh and a quick airing out of the issues the reviews have talked about as negatives.

1) No lobby - The entire game is the lobby and there is no way this should of lowered the score on some reviews. The reviewer did not understand how the system worked and quickly jumped to conclusion that it OMG HAD NO LOBBIES. You can easily start a game with Friends Coop, Solo, or Versus online. Then if you want to play with your buddies it is as simple as starting a Coop game and switching it over to versus so the game populates with other players.

2) Lack of Game modes - The entire game is made up of many different types of modes. It is not in the sense where you load a single match type and you play through that match type. Brink does away with having to RESELECT a new match type and then spend more time reloading the game etc etc. Instead you start a game with 3 to 6 different match types.

One match type might be a Attack & Defend match type where one team is trying to prevent the other team from breaching a certain point. Then there is the escort mission which is similar to the Capture the flag match type. Where you must transfer a "object" from one point on the map through the defending team across the map, Similar to football.

What Brink does different than other games is you don't have to keep reloading games and switching match types. There are multiple types per map so you get these different forms of matches each time. This again should not of been a knock on the scores. If anything it is a very unique approach to keeping the action flowing from one type of game mode to another.

[Phobia]

Re: Brink (360/PS3/PC)

Thanks for the review.
I was most concerned that the lag would make online unplayable, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Honestly Pete, I played from around 6pm to 10pm central time. Since it was the first day you would expect the game to be loaded down with server issues like most games have on release day. I encountered very very little lag through out my games. Once I got into a game that was lag free it did not pop up here or there, I could tell instantly the game loaded if it was a good server or a faulty one. Then the game played good through out.

Now I am also on a Fiber connection. My internet is faster than 99% of the US so I don't know if that will help much. But do take into account that my internet is VERY fast.

My Connection

[msufanatic]

Re: Brink (360/PS3/PC)

Phobia, thanks for taking the time to review this. I'm excited to play my copy tonight. I really think Bethesda will handle some of the lag issues soon enough as things get worked through.

[iLLosophy]

Re: Brink (360/PS3/PC)

Overall - 8 ( Great game in current shape and could be stellar with better net code and DLC for new maps and missions. But in current shape is still extremely fun and different take on the shooter style)

Thanks for the post man. Provided a more comprehensive review than most of the review sites.

[LingeringRegime]

Re: Brink (360/PS3/PC)

Good review Phobia. The differences in this game is what makes it unique and fun. Seems that a lot of review sites will always judge FPS based on, "How much is it like COD?"

It's complexities make it refreshing, but to many it will probably turn them off. Which is too bad.

[fishepa]

Re: Brink (360/PS3/PC)

Honestly Pete, I played from around 6pm to 10pm central time. Since it was the first day you would expect the game to be loaded down with server issues like most games have on release day. I encountered very very little lag through out my games. Once I got into a game that was lag free it did not pop up here or there, I could tell instantly the game loaded if it was a good server or a faulty one. Then the game played good through out.

Now I am also on a Fiber connection. My internet is faster than 99% of the US so I don't know if that will help much. But do take into account that my internet is VERY fast.

My Connection

Ummm yeah your internet definitely is not the issue.

[ChaseB]

Re: Brink (360/PS3/PC)

I want to try this out, but just haven't had time yet to unwrap it.

[Phobia]

Re: Brink (360/PS3/PC)

Thanks guys. I just wanted to give a honest take on the game. I understood the direction the game had in mind before purchasing it and knew it was going to focus on team play. Which to me is always lacking in the FPS genre, mainly because they make it where each guy is a one man army who can wipe out 30 guys without blinking.

Brink focus more on working as a team to complete objectives AND also having dozens and dozens of ways to do that.

For example. In a attack and defend mission. If you are on the defending team, there is multiple ways to try and hold that position.

1) You could have a team of 4 or 5 Engineers all popping down turrets and have a wall of incoming machine fire. With the engineers behind the turrets repairing them while a couple soldiers and a medic keep the enemy at bay, while the medic keeps guys on the front line alive and kicking.

or

2) You could have a mix squad of 2 engineers with turrets and mines, 3 or 4 soldiers to do the grunt work, couple medic to keep everyone on the front.

or

3) Couple recon guys behind the lines tagging enemies so you can see them coming with the red outlines. Multiple soldiers and medics at defend point to handle the oncoming soldiers. With Recon guys stealing identities and taking out single stragglers who are coming in to attack.

and on and on. There is just so much different play styles and options that each battle is going to be different because of all these different variables and the way different people will play.

@Deft - I agree man. But it is so easy to pick up and play I don't see how anyone could be turned off. With that said, the game is not for everyone. I could see the COD freaks hating big time on the game and I think that is what is happening with some of the reviews and on the Brink forums. Guys don't like the fact they cant run into a room of 5 enemies and wipe them all out by themselves. Me personally love the teamwork aspect and the fact it is objective based. I have never seen so much teamwork in a shooter before. Everyone is handing out ammo, buffing power, healing teammates, etc because it helps them earn XP.

[LingeringRegime]

Re: Brink (360/PS3/PC)

I love that their is no K/D ratio nonsense. Just XP.

[Phobia]

Re: Brink (360/PS3/PC)

I love that their is no K/D ratio nonsense. Just XP.

Yea, basically says DID YOU DO ANYTHING TO HELP YOUR TEAM! that could be anything from killing people, supporting guys, completing objectives, etc. In the end you really don't miss the K/D at all. I never felt like "ahhhhhhh how many people did I kill?" I was always thinking "Damnnnnn I raked up on the XP, I knew I was trying my best to help the team as much as possible!!"

[Sausage]

Re: Brink (360/PS3/PC)

Thanks guys. I just wanted to give a honest take on the game. I understood the direction the game had in mind before purchasing it and knew it was going to focus on team play. Which to me is always lacking in the FPS genre, mainly because they make it where each guy is a one man army who can wipe out 30 guys without blinking.

Brink focus more on working as a team to complete objectives AND also having dozens and dozens of ways to do that.

For example. In a attack and defend mission. If you are on the defending team, there is multiple ways to try and hold that position.

1) You could have a team of 4 or 5 Engineers all popping down turrets and have a wall of incoming machine fire. With the engineers behind the turrets repairing them while a couple soldiers and a medic keep the enemy at bay, while the medic keeps guys on the front line alive and kicking.

or

2) You could have a mix squad of 2 engineers with turrets and mines, 3 or 4 soldiers to do the grunt work, couple medic to keep everyone on the front.

or

3) Couple recon guys behind the lines tagging enemies so you can see them coming with the red outlines. Multiple soldiers and medics at defend point to handle the oncoming soldiers. With Recon guys stealing identities and taking out single stragglers who are coming in to attack.

and on and on. There is just so much different play styles and options that each battle is going to be different because of all these different variables and the way different people will play.

@Deft - I agree man. But it is so easy to pick up and play I don't see how anyone could be turned off. With that said, the game is not for everyone. I could see the COD freaks hating big time on the game and I think that is what is happening with some of the reviews and on the Brink forums. Guys don't like the fact they cant run into a room of 5 enemies and wipe them all out by themselves. Me personally love the teamwork aspect and the fact it is objective based. I have never seen so much teamwork in a shooter before. Everyone is handing out ammo, buffing power, healing teammates, etc because it helps them earn XP.

Phobia, you may have really sold me on this game. I was quite disturbed with many of the early impressions, but I may just try it.

One thing I enjoy about some shooters are "Hardcore" modes where it doesn't take a ton bullets to take an enemy down. In Brink it seems to take a full clip, what are your experiences with shooting enemies and how many bullets it takes?