Brink

Brink has promised a lot and at least kept some incredible features.

If you play Brink as the multiplayer-shooter it undeniably is (despite the possibility to save or leave the Ark alone, which should simply be ignored), it's a real winner. Great character-customization, well balanced maps, good handling, awesome graphics and a surprising depth thanks to the huge amount of abilities make this a MP-Shooter that has come to stay.

Brink is destined to be a cult classic (on PC), for us fans of Quake Wars. Has no single player value but high entry difficulty due to tight team focus and sprawling maps. Good, but not nearly as damn good as Quake Wars. I like Brink but it is no wonder that most gamers don't. [June 2011]

A daring proposal that, if succesful, is a step forward for a genre prone to stagnation, as it mixes altogether campaign, multiplayer, cooperative and competitive. With good ideas well executed, it may be liked more or less depending on the player, but deserves an opportunity.

And that is Brink in a nutshell: the potential to traverse the digital battlefield in an entirely new way that affords the player more combat options. Couple this with the well-balanced classes (including the higher-level abilities) and the distinct lack of camping equipment (there's really only one sniper rifle in the game), and this is a different breed of first-person shooter: faster, sexier and made for online play.

Give yourself and the game some time. Learn how to play, study the maps and objectives, look for competent friends to play with and Brink will open up to a great game with tight matches, non stop action and a ton of fun. Unfortunately there´s a handful of issues that Splash Damage needs to patch quickly, such as a poor server browser, sound bugs, lags and the poor fact that you can´t switch characters and body types in game.

Despite these issues, all the elements are in place for Brink to become a terrific multiplayer shooter. It handles well, offers customization options galore, and challenges FPS players to do more than just pull the trigger.

It's not without its faults, some of which are more serious than others, but Splash Damage achieves the impossible: a game that feels fresh in the stalest of genres.

Flawed brawling in a beautiful world you never quite get to explore. [July 2011, p.90]

Suitable just for multiplayer users, as if played offline it won't be able to deliver even a third of it potential. That, among other minor issues, make this a somehow wasted chance.

Brink has lots of interesting ideas, but most of them are only half-done, like the mix between bot-matches and multiplayer, which is a good idea with a very bad AI. Brink could and should have been better.

Play the game the way it asks you to and you can have lots of fun, but Brink can be a bit too needy for pick-up-and-play.

Brink's unique visual style and great customization options save the day. Although its core gameplay needs some polishing, it's a solid multiplayer-only experience nevertheless. [July 2011, p.81]

Overall, Brink is a game which could have been a genre favourite at launch, but due to some developer oversights, such as the lack of an extensive beta, the unfinished nature of the initial release have turned many potential fans away.

Brink definitely doesn't live up to our high expectations and hopes but it's still a game worth checking out by all shooter fans. Gamers who prefer single player experiences won't find anything for themselves here but online matches are really interesting. Despite all the setbacks, the developers have managed to create a unique game with its own identity that doesn't resemble other popular first person shooters.