Brink

Brink can be awesome and annoying, euphoric and inexplicable, all in the same breath. Unfortunately, fist pumps are followed by fits of controller throwing all too regularly to make this one score much higher.

Interesting but unpolished, ambitious but too weak to lift the weight of these ambitions. What bothered me most was that the brilliant idea of bringing other players into your single player mode was not realized properly. [June 2011, p.80]

The hype around Brink was huge and the game doesn't live up to all of the expectations. The campaign is extremely short and so it's the online gameplay that saves this game from demise. With the right teammates you'll have a ton of fun online.

The thing is that when everything does work, Brink is a fantastic fun online shooter, with just enough stolen ideas all rolled into one package that it ends up feeling very unique.

Brink really is a mixed bag. Stick with it, accept it for its faults, love it for its ingenuity, and there's a lot of enjoyment to be had here. Perhaps that's asking too much of today's gamer though, and inevitably, many will be put off by its short campaign, somewhat generic gameplay, laggy online experience and ultimately, the failure to deliver on its own hype.

If you have a gang of friends to play with regularily, Brink is fantastic. Proper communication makes solving the different tasks a wonder, and at times, this is one of the best games I have played in the genre. However, you never truly know what you get with Brink, due to the rubbish bots and uncertain online team composition. As a game it is simply too unpredictable.

In the end, Brink is another of those games that we see every so often; the games that have incredible potential and truly unique ideas but fail in their implementation. This could have been a great game, it could've been a hit and it could've given shooter fans a reason to return to a genre that has lost much of its originality over the last handful of years. Unfortunately for us and for its developer, the keyword here is "could've", because there's little here that makes Brink the genre redefining game some of us hoped it would be.

Brink tries to present many good ideas, but it falls short and, in the end, it's just the same gameplay mechanics we've seen many times. The SMART system is not as dynamic as it should be; the game modes are all the same; the feeling, overall, is that we have a fun and interesting multiplayer game (even in its Campaign mode), but users are left without new emotions. Many customization options that, in the end, are nothing new.

We were promised a nice mix of everything from Battlefield and Borderlands to Mirror's Edge. And while we do get some of that, the Brink experience just doesn't feel smooth and after a few hours of playing, there isn't enough that will make you come back for more.

Brink is a shooter suited exclusively for lovers of team-based online play; it's got a solid gameplay and good class differentiation, but it lacks a proper involving single player campaign, reduced to a mere sequence of botfights in the same few multiplayer arenas.

Brink has quite a few flaws, but the most frustrating one is the spawn-die-spawn-kill-die repetition in single player mode. At best it's a little banal and tedious, and at worst, it's downright rage-inducing. Your AI teammates and enemies often act strangely, exhibiting poor awareness of their surroundings, but they will unleash laser-accurate gunfire once they notice an enemy. This makes playing the game, especially at the start of the Security campaign, a real chore.

Brink is about two or three updates from being one of my favorite shooters of all time, but I'm not reviewing the game I want it to be. I'm reviewing the game that it is, and what it is is something just short of being the awesome experience that I want.

Brink is a good multiplayer game dedicated especially to online gaming's addicted. A well-implemented objective/class structure is a bit ruined by the lack of precision in the shooting component of gameplay.

As the product stands as of this writing, BRINK is a tough recommendation, but not a complete overlook. The game has its fun moments and clever gameplay. Unfortunately, frustration does come around the corner with a shovel and hits you in the face.

Brink is not a bad game. If Splash Damage can stabilize the performance and fix some glaring omissions (like a pre-game lobby) with a patch, I'd gladly spend more time with it. But with only eight multiplayer maps, 20 progression levels, no clan support, and average gunplay, it's not a good value proposition. Especially considering many Xbox Live games offer a similar amount of content for a fraction of the price.

The game has left us feeling in the middle of the road, admiring certain things like weapon classes and gameplay tweaks, but dreading online lag and unfair AI. It's worth a rental to see if it's something you'd enjoy in the long-term, but don't be surprised if, like us, you're left wondering how much better it could've been.

I'd say that Brink still has some promise if the lag can get ironed out soon enough; I certainly enjoy the online matches that run smoothly. If I can get into a match with a full 16 players and have it run smoothly, I could easily get months of enjoyment out of Brink.

Brink shoots for the stars, but unfortunately comes up pretty short, mostly because of design issues.

At the end of the day, Brink for the Xbox 360 is a game best left for gamers who really want to immerse themselves in some objective based online missions with some buddies; and I have to note, Brink is not intended to be played alone nor is it a game first person shooter fans will necessarily embrace. Brink is a unique game and does not follow the typical shooter template we have become accustomed to. In many ways Brink is an acquired taste. Unfortunately, my taste buds didn't exactly warm up to this one, but your experience may not be the same.

Brink's PR did everything to make people wonder just how the eight-versus-eight multiplayer-focused, story-based shooter would change the genre. The short answer lies in the clever tweaks it brings to the formula, whether it's your character's body type or the vast weapon customization options, all the way down to the teamwork needed to succeed. The SMART system feels more like a gimmick, and when it gets down to the actual shooting, it's nothing that we haven't seen before. Top that off with the issues it tries to parkour over, both off- and online, and Brink isn't so much of a revolution as it is a suggestion of where it wants to be.

Brink breaks my heart. It has all the ideals and elements to create a balanced and enjoyable multiplayer experience, but just lacks that final coat of polish that puts the shine on the packaging. Playing multiplayer with a group of your buddies might be good for a few hours, but in the end, you will go back to the Left4Deads, Halos and CoDs.

Sadly, there are a lot better FPS and tactical-RPG games out there for the Xbox; far too many to recommend Brink to anyone unless they have already played all the rest. If you're curious give it a rental but avoid a purchase until it drops to $29. Maybe, by then, they'll have patched the remaining bugs.

It feels like Brink is trying to take Team Fortress 2 to the next level and while it has many of great ideas, it's the perfect example of why mashing a bunch of different ideas together doesn't always work.

Brink is a mine of good ideas ruined by some technical flaws and some bizarre design issues. If you're looking for a great teamplay FPS, Team Fortress 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 are still your first choice.

Brink feels like a breath of fresh air in the shooter genre, but turns out the victim of its own ambitions. That's mainly due to the large amount of potential that Brink holds, which is why it fails at other essential shooter-elements. Nothing's wrong with the way it plays and the class-system, but the lack of a decent amount of game-modes and maps, the below-average artificial intelligence and the constant network-delays, make it so that the qualities of Brink only show themselves very sporadically.

It looks unique and it has got some great ideas. It's just too short and not polished enough.

Loaded with shortcomings, not really generous in terms of content, Brink still remains an FPS with some really neat ideas, mostly in the way it promotes good teamplay. If you have several buddies with whom to share the experience, and take the time to organize your strategy, you won't be disappointed. But even so, the clear lack of polish, the not-so varied environments and average technical side prevent it from being an excellent FPS; it's only a good one.

Brink is not revolution. It might not even be evolution of the kind the FPS needs. If anything, it's an ideas board: a fun enough game in the short-term, but more valuable in the long run to better and brighter thieves.

After several hours of play, Brink conveys the feeling that it could have been much more. It's one of those games with huge potential, but it doesn't take advantage of it.

On the lively and intriguing battlefields of Brink, technical deficiencies and design issues can be as deadly as enemy soldiers.

Its visual style might be attractive, but Brink feels rushed with many technical flaws and has almost nothing that can justify its purchase in a genre populated with much better alternatives.

Brink has occasional flashes of brilliance and fun moments, but on the whole it just feels like a game that needed more time in design and development.

Brink is an extremely confused piece of software, that isn't quite sure exactly what it is, or what it's meant to be doing. When it gets into its stride and the gameplay flows, there are moments of beauty to behold. For the most part, however, it's all a bit irksome, as you battle with server issues, single player modes that aren't really single player at all, and a severe lack of direction.

I'd love to see more of the parkour gameplay, but one mechanic isn't enough to carry an entire game. Brink has heart, but the overall package is lacking.

If you like Enemy Territory enough that you're willing to play another somewhat flawed version of it, you may enjoy Brink.

With a few patches, it's certainly possible that Bethesda will clean up the network problems with the game and it will certainly be worth your time. As it stands right now, with laggy network performance and an abysmal single-player experience, this is a game that will push your patience to the brink. Take a pass, at least for now.

Overall, Brink was a disappointment.

Quotation forthcoming.

The AI makes playing on your own a pain in the arse and the netcode ruins the multiplayer. The story is actually pretty interesting but at the end of the day you don't play these sorts of games for the plot, and Brink doesn't deliver where it should.

There are some innovative ideas here but poor balancing, restrictive matchmaking and too little content overwhelm the positives.