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    Brink

    Game » consists of 10 releases. Released May 10, 2011

    A multiplayer-focused, class-based first-person shooter running on id Tech 4, in which oppressive soldiers and anarchistic terrorists battle for the few remaining resources on a failed paradise known as the Ark.

    ultimasta's Brink (PC) review

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    • Score:
    • ultimasta wrote this review on .
    • 29 out of 50 Giant Bomb users found it helpful.
    • ultimasta has written a total of 3 reviews. The last one was for Mass Effect 3
    • This review received 15 comments

    A Regretful Purchase

     Succumbing to the hype of BRINK's trailers and boasts involving parkour and a near-limitless set customization options, I decided to pre-purchase it before any reviews were posted. My first reaction to BRINK was a mixture of confusion of what the game was truly about and concern about my spending of fifty dollars.

    BRINK's story is a series of empty transitions from one mission to the next as the missions themselves have no more story to them than any multi-player shooter. Given special titles to disguise the lack of creativity, the missions involve objectives like capture the flag, capture point, or defending a point. These are the same maps for single player campaign or multi-player online, adding to the lack of story or creativity. The backdrop of a post-apocalyptic civil war has been used before but was completely unused in BRINK.
     
    The second point that caught my interest was the massive amount of customization that had given BRINK much of its hype. The options for outfits all look rather bland and the same goes for the other customization options in the game. There is no length or detail slider in the customization options and the huge number of the options comes from the different colors you can choose for your clothes and hair.

    The gameplay was fair and the controls were manageable but the parkour involved nothing more than sliding or jumping onto a knee-high ledge. The environments were bland as I felt like I was walking through the same room with every new area I entered.

    In closing, BRINK had so much potential and does not seem to live up to any of the expectations that Splash Damage set for its audience. I regret that I bought BRINK only to be given a basic shooter with no memorable qualities. I hope that my review will make at least one person think twice about buying BRINK before it's too late. Most of all, I wish I had my fifty bucks back.

    15 Comments

    Avatar image for jessej07
    jessej07

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    Edited By jessej07

    Thanks for the review, for whatever reason the hype has been working on my and I was very close to buying this game on Steam last night.


    Glad I resisted!  I'll wait and see if the game picks up any more traction after patching or updates.
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    TheCheese33

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    Edited By TheCheese33

    Let's agree to disagree. I bought the game and I absolutely love it.

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    Font8

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    Edited By Font8

    Still waiting for my preorder to be shipped to me. I'm nervous. Lets hope I'm with "TheCheese" on this one.

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    Agent47

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    Edited By Agent47

    There was never any real hype.

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    Rolyatkcinmai

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    Edited By Rolyatkcinmai
    @Agent47: Yes, there was. Quite a bit of it.

    That said, I'm still undecided. It's just kinda meh.
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    Synchronatic

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    Edited By Synchronatic

    I wasn't sure about it at first but once I got into the rhythm and started working with my team and using the parkour stuff I fell in love with it.


    Also, are you really posting a review of this game at half of a star after having played it for a portion of a day?
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    MaddProdigy

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    Edited By MaddProdigy

    "...have no more story to them than any multi-player shooter..." 


    I DEFINITELY disagree with this. Games like Halo and Call of Duty are massive, extensive epics on the level of The Odyssey compared to the bullshit that is Brinks "story". As you stated it is literally a list of missions on a menu, with two cutscenes per mission and a couple objectives lasting from 5-20 minutes. Other first person shooters have detailed stories and even some character development. This has nothing.

    Otherwise, everything you said is true. In fact, you were a little generous in describing the controls and game play as "fair".


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    Maurdakar

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    Edited By Maurdakar

    occassionally one will come across a review that summarizes everything they want to say about a game, and even details ones own experience with a game. Thank you, now I dont have to relive the painful memories of Brink, by writing my own review, instead I can simply refer, to your own.

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    Deukalion

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    Edited By Deukalion

    Great Review!

    I think you summed it up nicely.

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    Ultimasta

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    Edited By Ultimasta
    @MaddProdigy: True. I did not explain myself as clearly as I intended. I meant that the "story" is as fulfilling as playing a series of deathmatch modes or the like. Sorry for my lack of explanation and i should have written that part better. Next time I write a review it will not be late at night.
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    Agent47

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    Edited By Agent47
    @Rolyatkcinmai: Nope you are probably referring to people wanting to play it.There wasn't really any media hype.All they did was put out gameplay trailers and tutorials.I highly call that hype.It's not like they said "Oh MY GOD BRINK COMING OUT MAY 10TH GET READY THIS IS GOING TO REVOLUTIONIZE GAMING FOR EVER!" then they play a catchy rap tune in the back.
    Avatar image for rolyatkcinmai
    Rolyatkcinmai

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    Edited By Rolyatkcinmai
    @Agent47: Actually they said exactly that almost word for word. Go read some interviews/videos on the game.

    On top of that, Brink was by far the most played and longest lined game at PAX East, besting Mortal Kombat, Portal 2, LA Noire, Duke Nukem, SOCOM 4, etc. They had to cut the line at the two hour mark so many people wanted to play it.

    I would say the hype leading up to Brink was pretty considerable. Apparently you just missed it all.
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    sammo21

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    Edited By sammo21

    This is the worst game I've played this year I think

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    Captainlunchbox

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    Edited By Captainlunchbox

    I bought it despite reading this review and even recommending it. I recommended it because it was just enough to get me to see how bad the game really was. I bought Brink. It's rough. When it works, it is a total blast. The synergy of everyone working together on an objective and winning the as a team is completely and utterly glorious. But when Brink is laggy and full of texture pop in, it becomes virtually unplayable. It's upsetting.

    If you can take the good with the bad, then get it.

    Other reviews for Brink (PC)

      Not quite what was expected, but a nice callback. 0

      If you have had played Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, you will be extremely familiar with the objective based gameplay that Brink pushes onto the player.  I was a gargantuan fan of Enemy Territory so this may be one of the reasons why I enjoy Brink so much so take this small review with that in mind.The combat is what you would expect from Call of Duty, lots of hip-shooting and aiming down the sight.  The weapons all seem to be very similar and it appears to be like this to accentuate the weapon ...

      19 out of 24 found this review helpful.

      Brink's exhilarating online combat is held back by a few issues. 0

      Multiplayer-centric shooters have recently staked their claim as industry giants with titles like Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and the Call of Duty series being a very good indication to that. Splash Damage's team-based shooter opus Brink tries to carve it's own niche on this landscape and in doing so it offers seamless online integration, parkour elements and an objective-based structure, all wrappe...

      2 out of 3 found this review helpful.

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