Brink

It blurs the line between single-player and multiplayer styles, introduces an effective new movement system, and finds ways of discouraging all the obnoxious behavior common in most multiplayer shooters. The campaign is long, and the different classes allow you to play each mission over and over without getting bored.

If you love playing team-based shooters with strong team elements and multiple objectives, plus you have the patience to work through some clunky game choices and technical issues, Save Brink. If you're the exact opposite from above, Escape while you still can.

Brink does have challenge modes and a two-sided singleplayer campaign, but obviously it is multiplayer that shines brightest. Brink supports 16 players in multiplayer – get ready as I'm about to lay down some prediction as well as some very heavy compliments.

Brink is a game that provides massive amounts of customization for its gamers, including some unbelievably fun abilities. If you can excuse some of its offline play and lack of NPC A.I., then you'll find a game that encourages friends to come together online to share a deep and fulfilling team-oriented experience. Brink is a perfect example of how an online experience should feel and play out.

The ideas have been strong within this one, but the awful AI and the campaign that isn't worth its name may not exactly be helpful. For online players, however, it's a blast.

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.

Combat is consistently and gratifyingly chaotic, as the objective system organically builds choke points, and maps reward (or require) a good range of classes. Still, the game isn't frustration-free: Bulk, unlike class, can't be adjusted on the fly, escort missions are ludicrous, and the soldier class is underpowered. But a combination of good looks, heavy customization, and frenetic, fluid gameplay gives Brink the edge.

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 doesn't quite live up to the narrative potential set up by its compelling setting and production values, but it does deliver a tight, well-polished team multiplayer experience. The SMART movement system saves Brink from being just another pretty face in the crowd by adding some much-needed mobility to the FPS formula. If you're looking for a creative new take on the Enemy Territory-style team multi shooter, Brink fits the bill.

The game is lovely to the eye because of its artistic decisions, has a gameplay that supports cooperative working, and has huge customization variety. But its lack of contents, poor performance and its online-only focus makes Brink not so great.

It offers a new angle on the genre and one that will excite fans. [Issue#73, p.84]

Splash Damage has evolved its compelling formula to offer some of the best multiplayer thrills in the business. Unfortunately technical problems still plague the game and prevent it from becoming a truly big player in the online shooter market.

Brink needs some time to unfold, especially during the multiplayer matches. But if you get across some early frustrations, the game really rewards you for your patience.

I like Brink quite a bit, but it's definitely not for everyone. The cumbersome interface is the antithesis of the modern streamlined shooter. If you can get past all the obstacles the game puts in your way, there's a lot of fun to be had here.

What also makes Brink interesting is that it provides players different options for approaching the game, with four different roles available: soldier, operative, engineer and medic.

A genuine triumph as a team experience, mind, Splash Damage has proved that it has a serious knack for creating videogames that require so much more than becoming skilled with a trigger finger. Smart, robust, exciting and always ready to play with the original template, Brink is a welcome surprise in a genre that has started to become very close-minded.

If Brink grabs you, it'll grab you hard. Even though the lack of polish is at times a disappointment, beneath the occasional annoyance is a fantastic and refreshing shooter that offers something different to the norm. It's standing on the precipice of true brilliance.

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.

A very original and stylish team-based shooter. Once you figure out the Parkour-based SMART movement system it's a pleasure to use, and the gunplay is very satisfying. The singleplayer game is weak and boring, mostly due to miserable AI, but go online and Brink has plenty of fun to offer especially after the latest patch.

The great unknown with Brink is whether a strong online community will form and maintain itself. And that's the crux of the matter. Blazing through the Campaign takes little time and earns a good number of achievement points but the game is lumbered with awful AI. I had limited online play with real people and found Brink to run smoothly enough but this is before a thousands of people jump on to find a game.

A meticulously designed Live shooter...Few multiplayer FPS games furnish you with unique anecdotes about valiant last stands and over-the-trench assaults but Brink is full of them.

Truly an original offering: it's got all the requirements of a solid class-based shooter, it injects some story into the mix, and it forces you to work together with your teammates, be they AI or human, to win.

It's only disappointing that Brink feels so confined by its own premise. Its innovative mechanics far outdo its lifeless, confining story, and, while respectable, its pure focus on multiplayer, team-based objective matches confines it further...Brink is still a very good game, and it deserves notation - just below Team Fortress 2 - as an exemplary team-based shooter.

Brink deserves to be ranked among the finest co-op games available. As a multiplayer experience, it is exquisite. But as mentioned earlier, it falters if played solo. While all the modes can be played in single-player, the bots that act as a stand-ins for other players are a poor replacement.

But the clean menus and HUD have a slickness and simplicity of interaction that elevate the squad-shooter genre to a new level of style and polish. Likewise, in moment-to-moment play, this is often a more engaging, tighter experience than Valve's Team Fortress 2. For those who can leap that first hurdle, Brink should run and run.

Billed as a game that will blur the line between single-player, co-op and multiplayer, Brink actually does the opposite and reaffirms the general consensus on Xbox Live that multiplayer is king. Frankly put, unless you're playing Brink with and against human players, the game is mediocre at best. Get into a game with players that want to co-ordinate as a team against a group of like-minded foes, and Brink will almost certainly satisfy on every level.

A familiar class-based, objective-based multiplayer shooter that is immensely rewarding when played online with others.

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.

Despite failing to live up to some of its bold promises, Brink lands on its feet with an enjoyable class-based shooter that most anyone with a true taste for teamwork will take to. You may find a few hurdles to jump over, but if you're looking for a solid and fun team experience that isn't Team Fortress 2 on the consoles, you could do worse than Brink.

An interesting experiment in online shooting, dedicated to hardcore genre fans, possibly with premade groups to enjoy it with. All the others should at least try before buying.

Brink is a good game, totally devoted to co-op play and tactical gameplay. It works when humans are thrown in the battle, but it fails when bots are enemies and allies. Single player is definitely important in the package, and unfortunately A.I. is not as smart as it should be.

However, Brink is unified by its art direction, its smooth presentation and a fine user interface. Even if the maps lack some visual variety, their structure is incredibly difficult to fault. Players who can look past the hyperbole and ignore the fat will find underneath a sleek, highly refined multiplayer shooter long on balance and tactical gameplay.

Critics, business types, and your mom and dad don't understand that multiplayer is much more important to you than single-player these days. Head-to-head content gets the wealth of gaming time and Brink comes well equipped for hours and hours of gunplay.

It is a wonderfully complex game that has the potential to steal hundreds of hours of your gaming time if you have enough friends to enjoy it with.