Brink PC Review - PAGE 1

Long-time gamers should be familiar with Splash Damage, and the studio has a fairly solid reputation with FPS titles. So when Brink was first unveiled, many shooter fans were understandably excited. 

Brink promised something different with its generous character customization and the unique parkour-inspired SMART (Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain) navigation system. Unfortunately, the execution falls short of expectations, where the game’s sole redeeming quality lays in its multiplayer. 

Campaign: Save or Escape the Ark?

At the start of the game, following a brief cutscene, you’re given a choice between saving the Ark and escaping it – join the Security or the Resistance, basically. Don’t feel pressured by your decision, because all it seems to determine is which character you customize first.

Missions are split between the Security and Resistance, but rather than being broken into two separate parts, the campaign is a loose collection of missions that can be played in any order. You may switch sides at any time on a single character, so there is no need to create two guys just to go through the Security and Resistance campaign portions.

The story rests on a firm foundation, but that ample potential goes to complete waste, delivered through brief, disjointed cutscenes and poorly written dialogue. Annoyingly enough, your character rarely appears in these cutscenes, and despite all the voice options you see during the character creation phase, he never actually speaks. What precious screen time your custom badass does have is spent lurking in the background as part of the scenery, while NPCs bicker over ethics and politics. The unusual abundance of accents feels pretty cheesy, but other than that, the voice acting in Brink is surprisingly good, which offsets the stale dialogue somewhat.

Campaign supports single-player and co-op, but its objective-based gameplay is what kills the single-player experience. While early patches were released to improve enemy AI, friendly bots can be a nightmare to play with, due to their inability to coordinate offensive strategies. If you happen to be on the defending team, then great, your bot buddies will back you up with everything they’ve got, but for missions where you’re on the assaulting team, prepare a bottle of painkillers for the inevitable headaches. Your best bet is ditching single-player altogether and find a decent co-op team, though don’t expect any major revelations or rewards at the end of the campaign. Toss in its lackluster story and the equally uninspired dialogue, and the campaign winds up feeling totally unnecessary. 

Building a Custom Character

Character creation is broken down into a general voice selection and preset face. These, along with facial and bodily markings, can’t be changed once you’ve okayed your selection, though clothing may be switched around to your heart’s content. More outfits and accessories are unlocked with every level and rank, and you can dress up (or down) however you like, since it’s all cosmetic.

Gameplay customization involves body size, weapons, and unique perk-like abilities. You’ll start with the default “Medium” body type, then unlock a slim and heavy option early on. This basically affects how well your character moves using the SMART system and the types of weapons he can carry. Everyone has a relatively generous selection of weapons to start out with, but attachments and higher tier firearms remain inaccessible until you step into Brink’s Challenge mode.

Abilities are unlocked as you rank up and purchased with experience points, and for added convenience, Brink allows players to sell off previous purchases to free up points, should you feel the need to respec your character. With 10 general abilities, plus 10 or more exclusive skills for each of the four classes, the variety here is both satisfying and impressive.  Even with the added perks of more high-level skills, there is no disparity between different ranks in Brink, meaning casual players won’t find themselves overwhelmed by the more dedicated crowd. Being able to shoot while down, for instance, is an amazingly useful ability to have, but it won’t exactly win the match for you. 

Multiplayer

Multiplayer recycles the same objectives and eight maps seen in the campaign, though this isn't not quite as repetitive as it sounds. The levels are designed with the game’s SMART movement in mind and come laden with so many environmental objects to hop or climb that every run-through undoubtedly reveals new shortcuts to your objectives.  The objectives are pretty standard but are well-suited to a streamlined multiplayer shooter such as Brink, and you’ll be tasked with various class-specific duties like escorting a VIP, stealing enemy intel, defending a point, and so on. A variety of secondary objectives also pop up from time to time, and completing these may yield team bonuses or create direct routes to the primary objective at hand. 

Since most objectives are class-based, Brink allows players to switch classes using friendly command posts at any time during a match, which is rather convenient in situations where no one on the team fits the required criteria. The obvious downside to all this is the possibility of being forced to play as a class you don’t like or haven’t bothered acquiring any abilities for, just to progress in the match. Having actual people to play with mitigates the class swapping somewhat, but if you’re stuck with bots, the whole affair can turn annoying very quickly.

Multiplayer is also where Brink’s SMART navigation really shines, adding a little extra depth to combat. In a bind, players can leap over the nearest low wall or stack of debris to avoid a messy death, or slide toward an opponent to perform a fancy kill shot. The system is definitely fun to play around with, though it doesn’t actually feel like an integral part of the game, and more often than not, you’ll find conventional strategies and methods equally effective – not to mention less suicidal.   

PC Features

Following the first patch and testing on an older setup (512MB 9800 GT GPU/Core 2 Duo E7300 CPU) with 270.61 drivers, Brink holds about 40fps in the campaign mode, and ranges from 20-40fps in multiplayer, averaging about 30. It's playable enough and doesn't seem to affect personal ranking, though your standards may vary.

On newer gear (1GB 5770 GPU/X6 1055T CPU) with the patch and May 16 11.5a Catalyst drivers, I rarely dipped below 60fps in multiplayer, going as high as about 130 with ambient occlusion turned off (which put a massive hit to performance). In the campaign, the frame rate sometimes dips to as low as 40, though it's usually more or less in line with multiplayer.

Unfortunately, movement feels like your character has two broken legs but insists on running anyway -- the overall effect is far from smooth or pleasant. Gun handling however feels solid, and it's satisfying to pump rounds into opponents. A reasonable amount of graphics options are offered (a community-made config tool is available here if you're craving more), as well as control customization and dedicated servers. The server browser, meanwhile, is reasonably effective.

Final Thoughts

Challenge and Freeplay modes do provide some alternatives outside the campaign and regular multiplayer bits, but neither is particularly engaging, contributing very little to the game’s replayability. Ultimately, all of Brink’s redeeming qualities are discovered through its frenetic multiplayer, where the SMART system and vast character customization are best experienced.

Yet despite its strengths, Brink still seems like an incomplete game. Single-player is little more than a glorified tutorial for multiplayer, and the absence of any females whatsoever just feels weird, especially now that more and more shooters are incorporating women into progressively active roles. Brink isn’t a bad game, and there are certainly things it manages to get right. Even so, the lack of worthwhile content is difficult to ignore, particularly considering the full price tag.