A Solid Shooter with great ideas but decent execution.
There's so much great ideas in BRINK. The SMART system that allows you to traverse the game world any way you want. The customization options that allow you to change your appearance right down to the guns you use. The objective-based gameplay that relies heavily on teamwork. BRINK comes together nicely making it a solid shooter thats alot of fun, but there are some things that bring the experience down.
Splash Damage is known for their team objective-based multiplayer shooters (Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars). If you are a fan of those games then you will definitely find something to love in BRINK. The gunplay is solid, but could be better. Grenades don't do anything and the sounds don't really pack a punch on any of the weapons.
I appreciate Splash Damage for trying to weave a story together in a mutliplayer-focused game but the short scenes before a match just feel half-baked and don't really add anything. Also, the SMART system was hyped up to be something revolutionary but it ends up being something not as robust as you would think. I thought I can be pulling some Mirror's Edge style parkour with the SMART system but the map design doesn't really take advantage of this.
I'm having a good time with BRINK. But with only 8 maps there really isn't much value here. If you are still interested in buying this game I would suggest waiting for a price drop. I've also been playing the PC version which had none of those texture pop-ins, blurry textures or lag that the console versions have(or just the 360 version, since PSN is still down at the time that I wrote this review).
It's a shame that the game is getting bad reviews, this will alienate potential buyers and in turn won't allow the game's community to grow. The Call of Duty generation can't wrap their head around something different like BRINK, a game that focuses on teamwork and not their K/D ratio. The game is getting bad reviews, in turn this will lower sales, and because of all this they won't try something new and just try to copy Call of Duty over and over again (Homefront, Crysis 2, etc.).
The only thing that worries me is if the game will get any sort of major updates like new maps, weapons, skins. etc. Splash Damage sort of just let Quake Wars die because they didn't bother adding in new maps or campaigns. If this happens to BRINK as well I will be really disappointed.
I appreciate Splash Damage for trying something new. BRINK is a solid shooter with great ideas but decent execution. It's a breath of fresh air in a sea of Call of Duty knock offs. Try it.
