Brink - Flawed, But Fun!

Over the last few years the multiplayer shooter scene has been consistently dominated by a few titles that are almost impossible to dethrone. Those looking for fast-paced battles usually flock to the likes of Call Of Duty and Halo while Battlefield and Team Fortress 2 continue to dominate the team-based arena. Enter Brink – a hotshot new IP from developers Splash Damage, the team behind the well-received but, criminally underplayed Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. And much like ET:QW, Brink is something that you’ll either become a loyal follower of or quit and boot up another session of your favorite online shooter.

If you’ve been following the title since its official announcement in 2007 you’ll know that Brink’s claim to fame has always been its ability to seamlessly integrate single-player, co-op and multiplayer. It sounded like a next generation concept, one which many games could potentially follow. Does the actual game really live up to that promise? Well let’s just say that in theory it works but the execution is disappointingly lackluster. What actually accounts for single player is offline matches across the game’s eight maps (with an additional two “what if” scenarios) with AI-controlled bots while co-op simply means other players can join your session. Each of these “missions” is punctuated by short story cut scenes that attempt to create coherent plotlines to go along with the map objectives and an overarching story focusing on each side of the game’s two factions.

Thank God ofr parkour

As you’d expect its very barebones stuff and the story is simply there to provide some background for all the running and gunning. In a nutshell, the game is centered around a floating futuristic city known as ‘the Ark’ which is on the brink (hehe) of civil war. You have the option of playing as either the hard-as-nails Security officers who want to maintain peace in the Ark or the Resistance – a bunch of rebels whose sole mission is to escape the Ark. Each side is portrayed neither as good nor bad; the Security force is seen as a fascist organization by the Resistance while they themselves could very well be terrorists. While not a terribly original setting it still had potential to be a decent story-based shooter but the lazily tacked on narrative and offline-multiplayer-style missions make it a throwaway feature. I bet most people will simply skip the single player mode altogether and straightaway head online.

Fortunately the game fares much better when you go online. The objective based structure and the character classes are quite reminiscent of Team Fortress 2. A lot of effort has been put in to make the game a completely team-based affair so much so that it doesn’t even give you any kill/death statistic after a match. Even the objectives themselves are something that can only be achieved if you play together as a team. You have the option of switching your character’s class at any time. You can play as a soldier, a medic, an engineer or an operative. Each class can do something which others cannot, a soldier can plan explosives to blow up blockades an operative can hack terminals, and so on.

Is he in for a surprise or what?

While in the game, your character constantly earns experience points which are used to level up and unlock new skills & abilities. You are free to choose abilities from any class and if you wish to specialize in a particular class you can dump all your points into that. If you’re not satisfied with your choice Brink also allows you to sell your skill points back and invest them in other skills. The XP you gain carries over across all game modes, which is a neat feature and makes almost all matches whether online or offline quite rewarding. You’ll also notice that carrying out team actions (such as buffing up a team-mate or completing an objective) nets you far more XP than simple kills further emphasizing the game’s team-based structure.