Brink Review

I've followed this game for two years during its development. Was it worth the wait?

Story: 7/10

Like most first person shooters, don't expect a great story. I didn't, at least for Brink. You either play as the Resistance or the Security forces, each with their own reasons to fight to flee the Ark, or to save it. The Ark is a floating man-made island built as a last resort to save humanity from the depths of destruction. It's your choice whether or not you want to flee it or save it.

Gameplay: 10/10

Here's where the bulk of the game is. I just absolutely LOVE the gameplay. Combining parkour elements with a first person shooter, is genius. There are three body types to choose from including heavy, medium, and light, combined with four classes to fight with including medic, soldier, operative, and engineer. Each has its own weaknesses and strengths, and there's technically no wrong way to play, as it's just a matter of your own preference. Gameplay is very team-based. Going lone wolf will do nothing more than get you killed. You pretty much get experience points for everything that you do, from killing enemies to carrying out objectives, to capturing command posts. As you level up, you can unlock different outfits for your character, different weapons and attachments, and special abilities to use on the battlefield. There are many objectives that you can accomplish on the battlefield and they change dynamically as well, so you're not stuck just doing one objective for the entirety of the fight. Body types matter a lot. A heavy dude can withstand a lot of damage, but a light dude can trek the battlefield, leaping left and right and flanking his enemies with ease. Also, your body type determines what kind of weapons you can hold. If you're a light, you're only limited to light weapons whereas if you're a heavy, you can carry pretty much any weapon of your choice.

Now there's been a lot of mixed reviews with Brink to say the least. And I'm just going to address it with one line "If you play it like Call of Duty, then you're going to be disappointed, and that's a fact." Don't play this game expecting to down opponents in one hit kills, or being able to camp without them seeing you, or just going Rambo. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Play it like COD, and you'll suck.

At one point it was me and three other resistance members running together in a pack with a stolen can of gasoline. Damn it was epic. You don't hear anything other than footsteps and grunts as we vault over objects, slide under stuff, and wall-hop trying to get that can of gasoline to the vehicle. This was when, I was like "Damn... this is the game I've been waiting for."

Presentation/Performance: 9/10

The graphics look similar to Borderlands because of its comic book style art, but it's not cell shaded, so it's not completely cartoony. I'm getting between 45-60+ frames per second, though I heard it isn't so friendly with AMD/ATi cards.

The Good:

- Gameplay, it's freaking fun
- Parkour elements are great
- Customization is immense
- Objective-based and team gameplay promotes teamwork

The Bad:

- More maps please!
- More customization options please!
- Already looking forward to new DLC

FluffyBunnyPwn gives it 9/10