BRINK

Had an awesome weekend away, came back and the winner of my facebook poll was... BRINK. With one vote. Thanks guys, really. Well, it's already 2 days late, so let's get straight into it.

STORY
Brink takes place on the Ark, the worlds first self-sustaining floating city, after the Earth's oceans rise and flood the land masses. At first, life was pretty idyllic, but then more and more immigrants came to the Ark seeking refuge. Players take part in campaigns on each side of the conflict between the Ark Security and the immigrant Rebels, who want order and freedom respectively.

Despite not being a particularly story-centric game, BRINK does have an interesting plot. Being able to see both sides of the conflict allow us to have a better view of the big picture, which isn't as cut and dry as each faction's leader would have us believe. It's a shame then, that BRINK didn't have a single player campaign long enough or varied enough to do the interesting plot justice.

There are cinematics to clue us in on how our missions relate to the story, but there are only two named characters who appear, and the rest are uninteresting grunts who:
a) have second thoughts about participating in the conflict
b) whole heartedly agree with their chosen side or
c) don't add much to the conversation, if anything

PRESENTATION
BRINK has a lot of tough competition in the multiplayer shooter market, but few shooters have the distinct visual style that BRINK offers. The exaggerated facial features and visually distinct clothing offer thousands of customization options, and they all look really cool. They're extremely colourful too, but sometimes this can be a problem.

In games like CoD or Team Fortress 2, the teams are visually distinct, whereas in BRINK, the outfits and characters all look very similar during gameplay, despite the customization options.

The sound design is pretty mediocre, with the high point being the laughably racist voice acting that almost all the characters communicate with. Aside from that, not much to comment on apart from the level of customization that still somehow starts to look the same from character to character.
Fortunately, the levels fair a little bit better, ranging from bright, white utopian shopping malls, to dark, rusty cargo ship container shanty towns.

GAMEPLAY
The gameplay of BRINK is fast paced, competitive multiplayer FPS action, but it isn't all awesome. The single player is just the same multiplayer games with bots standing in for human opponents. I feel that an entirely seperate single player campaign would have done the plot the justice I feel it deserved, but whatever.

The mechanics work well enough; the shooting is quick and easy, with a similar feel to CoD. The problem with this is that BRINK lacks the variety that CoD, or other competitive First Person Shooters. Almost every gun handles the same, with difference solely between Sniper rifles, assault rifles, pistols and shotguns. There are multiple varieties of each type of gun, but they all feel exactly the same, and I haven't noticed much in the way of damage differences.

The SMART (Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain) movement system implemented in BRINK is a fun way to get around the maps, but I feel it was under-utilized. The maps are hardly big enough to need a parkour system to traverse them. That's not to say it isn't fun. Picking a light body type and wall jumping past enemies while shooting them is certainly fun, as is sliding under barricades while unloading into the opposition.
What we learnt from Mirrors Edge is that First Person Platorming doesn't work too well, simply because we can't see our feet. BRINK uses the parkour mechanic quite well though, if only because failing a jump won't send you plummeting to your death.

Since the game is a primarily multiplayer shooter, it should be said that I found it extremely difficult to find a match online. That may just be me, but I'd like to give that warning anyway. If you can get a game with humans, it's certainly preferable over the AI alternative.
The AI in BRINK is a little schizophrenic; sometimes dominating a match, other times more or less laying down their arms and curling up into the fetal position. It's always glaringly obvious though, because when the enemy AI is acting brilliantly, your teammates start to suck a big fat one. And when your teammates actually help you take on the objectives, the opposition can't seem to aim or do anything right. Still, I ended up having to do most of the objectives myself.

REPLAYABILITY
If you're blessed enough to find a decent connection, and actual people playing the game properly, then a good time can be had with BRINK. Hell, you can have a good time playing BRINK by yourself, but it won't last very long.

Otherwise, BRINK has heaps of customization items, as well as unlockable perks for each class. That should take quite a while to do, so yea. BRINK at least has some stuff to unlock. Past that, there isn't a whole lot to do on the Ark.

OVERVIEW
The mechanics of BRINK work fine, the problem is there's a lack of variety when it comes down to it. You'll always be running somewhere to mash the action button against one thing or another, killing anyone who gets in your way. While this is fun for a while, it's not really enough to warrant a full price buy. If you'll play online alot, then I can whole heartedly recommend this to you, but with the warning that you may have trouble connecting with others.

It looks cool, and it plays well, but there isn't enough of it here to keep it interesting. Thats the final point I really need to hammer home here.

So, next week will probably be Red Faction: Armageddon. Not doing a top 5 this week, as BRINK really doesn't have a whole lot to countdown. See you next time! That's Sunday, by the way.