Good Impressions

• SMART system provides one of the easiest ways to move around your environment in a first-person shooter
• Weapon selection is pretty big and varied well between primary and secondary
• Character customization makes some badass character designs
• Art style is pretty
• Gameplay is definitely right up the alley of those who love Enemy Territory, yet simple enough for new players of the "genre" to learn quickly
• Voice acting is diverse and interesting
• HUD provides you with every piece of information you could possibly need
• Going against Hard bots can actually prove to be a challenge for about 2-4 people
• Versus mode (and subsequently Stopwatch mode) are fucking great...when there's no lag

• Like any form of government or religion, it's a great idea until you put people into the equation
• id Tech looks a bit muddy on console, which is kind of saddening
• Weapons take some time to find one you like the feel of, and for me, that has become "SMGs that I can hipfire"
• There's only 8 maps with a finite amount of preset objectives; rotating objectives per match would keep things fresher
• HUD is busy as hell, meaning that the information you need could also be distracting you from something else you should pay attention to
• Ranking up is super quick and easy, leaving no forward progression for later
• LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAG: it cripples the game to a near unplayable state when it hits
• Ally bots are generally unhelpful in most cases...like the escort part of Security Day 1 in the campaign...but it's a good indicator for what it'll be like playing with the Call of Duty crowd

"  Art style is pretty "  

Good thing I cancelled my preorder when I had the chance, then.

I can see what you're saying about the art style, but at the same time, my character has a Glasgow smile and sword scars all over him...and he's an old geezer that whoops ass. Totally satisfying to me.

As for purchasing the game, I've been taking advantage of Gamestop's 25% extra trade-in towards new games (including Portal 2 and Mortal Kombat), plus the 10% from my card and the $10 extra from my three games at once. Hell, Black Ops got me $43 in trade-in alone. Therefore, I can say that I'm not really in a position to comment on the game's worthy if you are plopping down cash. I will say that the recent trend of games like Portal 2 and Mortal Kombat going down to $40 a couple weeks after launch says to me that Brink might easily do the same thing. It's something that I would pay full price for, but again, I loved Wolf ET. It's something that appeals to me greatly. For those that are merely curious to check it out, I would suggest borrowing it from a friend or waiting for a price drop.

I just kind of feel like the general reaction that Jeff gave on the Bombcast and the Quick Look was a bit unfair in some ways. Sure, the game is about trying to make seamless single player and multiplayer, but the bots on higher difficulties are not nearly as bad as he has made it out to be. Yeah, the first mission on Security seems nigh impossible with bots, but I also think that mission's escort portion is very poorly designed. I finished the entire Resistance campaign on Hard with bots, and it was quite enjoyable for me. I will say that it feels like they could've added some Freedom Fighters-styled squad mechanics to make the bots do stuff more along the lines of what you want. However, I did not find it nearly as unbearable as Jeff has stated.

The real issue with the game is the people you play with. If you have a bunch of noobs that think it's some kind of deathmatch, then you are fucked. If you have a troll, it's just as bad. It is definitely a game that will find a small community on consoles that are dedicated players, much the same way that Red Faction Guerilla was. If the community an end up like that, then Brink has some good staying power behind it.

People need to PLAY the game. Reviews are going to be tough, as it's a game that will be better judged once people find the game and get dedicated to it.

" "  Art style is pretty "  

Ok. I know Art Style appeal is entirely in the realm of opinion.  Said so Brink Art Style along with the awful "Mucho Acento" voices are the things repulse me the most. Brink models are like some mutant breed between Ronaldhino and Jar Jar Binks.. In fact I despise the Brink Characters so much I care to elaborate:

"

I got my copy on Amazon for $45 (-$10 for preorder -$5 due to a price drop.) which I think is reasonable for a game of this caliber. Its definitely a niche title, and one that will probably do better on PC for people who put time in it.

So far i do like it but its the lag that is really killing this fucking game. The matchmaking also not the greatest thing ever. you can choose from a list of pre set filters but you cant pick your own? also Bots... i hate them and even setting your matchmaking filter to competitive does not always eliminate them. People quit often im guessing because of the lag.  other then that. i agree with most of your positives. exsept i feel the gun stats lie. i have picked up weapons that say have great range but suck and then pick up a shitty SMG with less range but some how works better? i dont get it. 

I really, really like it. I wish the netcode was better but, dammit, it's loads of fun.

I was never really that big fan of the Enemy Territories games so I'll just avoid Brink if it doesn't have a significant story or single player in the first place.

"I can see what you're saying about the art style, but at the same time, my character has a Glasgow smile and sword scars all over him...and he's an old geezer that whoops ass. "

I'm glad I was never interested in Brink from the start.

"Unfortunately, Brink is not the kind of game where banging your head against the wall will eventually lead to a euphoric occasion of Halo-grunt-headshot-leads-to-confetti-and-children-cheer-as-candy-pours-out-yo-head smiley time.  It's a game that demands you to check out the maps, learn the different routes and areas to attack an objective from, and work AS A FUCKING TEAM!  Essentially, it's like Left 4 Dead in a lot of ways:  people on PC are the ones you'll want to play with if you actually want to get anything done without having to half-heartedly rely on bots to help your ass. "

@Malakhii:

@Malakhii: That means the only thing I need to test for is the new image placement system. Sorry Jakob for hijacking your blog to test the new editing tools, but I know you can forgive me. The reason why I wanted to use actual posts is because the only things I have worked on for testing so far are my own blogs. I needed to see if the new tools would work in everyday comments for any old thread. This is not to imply that you are anybody with no personality. You were just convenient to locate my testing on. Why am I rambling on now? Because the new image placement system finds the best location for images, and avoids text overlap for large paragraphs. So I need to make a nice chunky paragraph like some of the wikis have. So how about I use a picture of you Jakob? That actually turned out better than I expected!

   Well, I do appreciate your input as always. Even if the game functions (as in no crippling lag), I don't see how the game can justify its price tag. I'm sure the price will drop soon, but basically the game is the equivalent of the old Unreal Tournament assault mode, and that alone isn't a compelling package. 2 game modes and 8 maps just isn't acceptable for a full retail release, and that's even assuming every last bit of it worked perfectly.

But hell, if you're having fun with the game, that's what's important. It just bums me out that Bethesda can't publish a decent game that's not an RPG.

@ZombiePie: You had to pick one that shows my missing tooth, didn't you?  Couldn't pick the one on my profile of me being all dapper and such.

Also, here's an updated picture of me in the last four weeks that I've been relatively MIA:

This one was literally taken last night after a 6 hour session with Brink: