Splash Damage are no newcomers to the gaming world but if you haven’t heard of them before then don’t be alarmed these guys certainly know their first person shooters. Developers of multiplayer content for some high profile games like Doom 3 and Return to Castle Wolfenstein so when it came to light that they were working on their own project that was pitched to bring more colour to the world of the first person shooter gamers around the world started to play close attention…
The project was BRINK and after screenshots and demos were released the gaming world was a little in awe of the work but has it managed to convince us that first person shooters can look just as good as an Epic RPG? Or is it all flash and no action? Why are you asking questions?! Keep reading and find out!
Brink revolves around a manmade floating city, the Ark, once a cultural hub engineered as a space for the greatest minds to work and develop new technology and solutions to man’s problems but when the threat of rising sea levels became a reality, those who survived the devastating floods fled to the Ark for refuge. Now under constant demands for food, electricity and security, the Ark has become a prison more so than a sanctuary, contact with the outside world is lost, many believing themselves to be the only survivors.
Two distinct factions have arisen from the decay, those who believe the Ark is the only place left on the face of the Earth and our only hope for survival, these people are protected by the Security and on the other side are those who desperately wish to leave the Ark and seek out help believing that some other places must have survived, their efforts to escape are pushed by the Resistance.
War is about to break out in the Ark and you as the player must choose which side and cause you will fight for! Will you don the uniform for the Security and protect the Ark at any cost? Or will you fight for the downtrodden and poverty stricken residents forced to live in slums?
Right from the get go you are thrust into the war but you’d be forgiven for being a little distracted, this game looks amazing! Your typical first person shooter will play off dark colours and shadows and we’ve seen fantastic uses of light in different games over the years but we’ve never seen one to use colour and tones so well. Brink is a feast for the eyes, with everything looking as smooth and fluid as the actual gameplay. The background and environments are given as much attention as your fellow soldiers and weapons with series attention to detail applied to constructing a world that looks better than any other we’ve visited to date…. BUT…. And let’s face it, it all sounded too good to be true from the start!
Brink is by far from perfect, gameplay does as we said, play very smoothly, in particular controlling your character (customising him included) all plays very well. Implementing a brand new system that they developed, Splash Damage use SMART (Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain), this allows the player to analyse situations, player locations and hazard guesses as to what the next move will be all the while allowing them to navigate through complex terrain with relative ease – aka – you can kill people quickly because your movements aren’t hindered like other games, why use a crate for cover when you can vault over it and onto a higher point to help pick off enemies faster!
There are also four different categories of character for you to slip in and out of it – Soldier (damage) Operative (sabotage) Engineer (buffer) and Medic (Healer). Playing through missions will earn XP which can in turn be used to upgrade weapons, characters, unlock abilities as well as opening up new maps and more missions.
Each map/mission has a main objective but will also feature multiple secondary objectives which can be completed for bonus XP.
Well that doesn’t sound too bad! Wait we’re not done yet!
From the start this game is built for multiplayer gaming – the AI in this game is schizophrenic, ranging from a Tactical Trigger Happy Master Mind to a Brain Dead Window Licker! However you will often find your team is made up of incompetent medics, grenade flinging spaz soldiers and less than subtle spies while your enemy is composed of battle hardened tough as nails S.O.B.s!
Playing the game offline is fine for grinding if you can put up with this inherent flaw but for all intents purpose stick to online gaming mode!
The game is a beautiful husk lacking proper substance and even with the several delays we can’t help but feel that the developers were just another six months off an amazing game. It’s a shame that while we can say it is definitely one of the better looking games we’ve clawed our way through it really doesn’t have much else to boast about!
Good Points
Looks beautiful
Interesting gameplay
Bad Points
Dumbest AI
Poor Storyline
Without online mode the game falls flat
Rating: 6.5/10
