We Just Played Brink (in multiplayer)
By
Maxwell McGee, Editor
We catch up with Splash Damage CEO Paul Wedgwood and try out multiplayer in Brink.
Brink is the next team-based shooter from Enemy Territory: Quake Wars developer Splash Damage. Just like its predecessors, this game is another first-person shooter where players have to do more than simply score kills to win a match. During our brief multiplayer session, we got our hands on the character-customization tools, the SMART parkour system, and received a crash course in teamwork.
Our session began with a brief introduction to the world of Brink. The oceans are on the rise for unknown reasons, and humanity's last, best hope for survival lies with the Ark. This self-sufficient habitat floats above the endless blue, which is both home and prison to thousands of refugees. Humankind is facing its darkest hour, so naturally, everyone has started killing each other. The end of the world is pretty stressful after all. On one side of the conflict are the security forces, Ark's keepers of the peace, and on the other are the resistance fighters, who are jerks.
We started by creating a security force character using the game's extensive customization tools. Brink's bright, high-contrast style was instantly reminiscent of Mirror's Edge, but it had a fresh coat of dirt and bullet holes thrown on top. From the dozens of faces, character voices, and articles of clothing, we built a hulking machine gunner decked out in a heavy explosive ordnance disposal suit (something you would never, ever want to fight in). We also hooked him up with a beard; you've got to have a beard. Once everyone had finished creating their characters, no two members on our wildly diverse security team looked alike.
Once our multiplayer match started, the first order of business was choosing our class. There were four available: the soldier, the medic, the engineer, and the operative. Because we were still in unfamiliar waters, we decided to go with the straightforward solider class. Each class has a special ability to aid the team. The solider is basically a walking ammo dispenser, which is of vital importance because everyone's primary weapon ammo is extremely limited. This ability takes a moment to refresh after each use and may be spent to either refill your own ammo or a teammate's.
Soldiers also excel at shooting things, but that won't do you much good if you can't see your target. The SMART system is activated by pressing a single button, which manages all your jumping, ducking, sliding, and other acrobatic maneuvers to get you around the battlefield quickly and easily. No longer will you be restricted by an insurmountable, four-foot-high gate. Using SMART near a low wall vaulted us up and over; using it near a short gap made us jump. Once again, we got a definite Mirror's Edge vibe from the proceedings.
When we were actually locked in a firefight, the action didn't feel far removed from the developer's pedigree. Skirmishes weren't accented by the quick, one-hit kills found in other first-person shooters, such as the Modern Warfare series. Instead, they were battles of attrition, with each class aiding others with health, ammo, turrets, and whatever it was the operative does. Each character had a decent amount of health, making it much less punishing when we stumbled out into enemy crossfire.
Teamwork pays off in Brink. You earn experience for aiding your teammates, completing missions during the match, and (of course) for scoring kills. For team security, our mission was to escort a maddeningly slow-moving robot across the map so that it could recover some sort of sample. As a solider, it was our job to run around and plant explosive charges on anything we couldn't shoot through. Team security emerged victorious in the end, only to have our victory cut down when Splash Damage revealed we had been playing on the easiest difficulty. Check out Brink on May 17 on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
By
Maxwell McGee, Editor
Maxwell McGee earned a degree in Journalism from the University of Arkansas, and has contributed to The Escapist, GamePro, PC Gamer, and more. His introduction to video games was Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Sega Genesis, and he has never looked back. He welcomes your feedback through the site, or Twitter.
165 comments
I really like the fact there are different roles you can play, I like that a lot. Reason why is because I'm tired of just being up on a scoreboard of how many kills I made,than helping out my team during a battle. This looks really enjoyable.
This game caught my eye do to concept of other games that are in it. There are at least 20 popular things form other games in this game. That is amazing. No matter what the rating is this is a game for all FPS gamers and I can't wait to meet all you fans online.
I like barricaded shootouts in weird environments. I sounds like this could be a good one. I have avoided every modern FPS so far so this (togther with KZ3) might help me to continue that path :)
I'm very happy to see that a good number of people don't like what they see in relation to the bullet damage. I hope this makes Brink's community all little more mature than other big FPSs. I like when people say they prefer the OHK and two bullet deaths from COD, all it does is show their age and that they have never played anything else before. You COD nuts are NOT hardcore gamers or whatever the media calls the sheep that buy the same game every year. But on the other hand, without all these greasy tweens buying consoles and feeding money into the industry, innovative games like Brink would be hard found.
@ watchawant, Give him time he will get better, but yeah the guy is awkward to watch ATM especially at the end when he gets that WT look from paul lol, His article writing is where he shines through!
GOD I really hate watching Maxwell McGee. He is so f***ing awkward, and I'm not sure if he has a neck, but maybe he's just so nervous all the time his head has sunken in...
I really want this game. This could be really sweet, and the Art-Style is really interesting.
@grey_fox1984 I agree with you, I prefer the realism in games with blood, but the fact remains that blood does not necessarily mean an M rating. And that a lack of blood doesn't necessarily detract from the overall experience, it's all about the quality of the content not wether or not it contains blood and gore or wether it's rated E, T, or M.
@ilovewarhawk Personally I find shooters without any blood at all WAY creepier. It only makes sense if the people being shot are robots.
@holtrocks What difference does it make what it's rated? A game doesn't need contain massive amounts of blood and gore and other graphic content to be enjoyable, and if you think it does you have some issues.
@ IevildirkI "looks pretty terrible i bet its only popular for a month and only with angry little children" Gotta agree with this a little (a little, so take it easy with the thumbs down, fanboys) . All run and gun because the weapons are weak as can be? I think thats lame. I know that's the idea of the smart system, I just hope people die when i shoot them. Thats why people like black ops (i think). In mw2 i could drop 5 or 6 people with a 30 round clip of a TAR. In BO I'm killing 2 or 3 out of a 30 clip and i can't kill two people if they round a corner at the same time. I guess what the point is i need to kill and move on quickly. The longer a gun fight lasts, the more enemy's seem to show up.
:( I like "the quick, one-hit kills found in other first-person shooters, such as the Modern Warfare series". I figured they'd remove auto aim so hitting moving targets would be difficult, not nerf the guns...
@progamer-Andrew from what i've heard, you play all the same maps either Co-op, mulitplayer or singleplayer
looks pretty terrible i bet its only popular for a month and only with angry little children
multiplayer seems like a chore especially when you're looking for a pick-me-up kinda shooter
i doubt it will ahve destructable enviroment since they are living on a floating city. besides it shouldnt need to... it has enough features, overloading it with more will only make it not so unbelivably awsome.
Looks and sounds amazing....but will there be destructible environments? Also will the weapons feel authentic/cool/powerful,rather than peashooters like the weapons in Clive Barker`s:Jericho(which is a really great game I revisited a couple of weeks ago just to be disappointed by the sound effects!)?
@Latarax It does have an aim reticule if you look at the gameplay videos they are there, there just not in your face like other games.
i am not getting anything else this year besides this, and skyrim, and im preordering from best buy for the fallout addon. ive read about this game, and nothing like heavy customization of your character, your guns, a combination of single-player, co-op, and multiplayer, and pretty good graphics to make a great game like this.
for you people who wants 3rd person actions .... go play deus 3 this one looks really really good to me the way it is ... hoping for a good single player ..too ......
@Gelou and nick_Ste_22 it would be better in first person because its different yes it would maybe be better in 3rd because u could see the stunts but in 1st it's a totally different gameplay.
okay so brink is a cocktail of two games COD and AC both considered to be great games but if you marry the two together would they make a catastrophe of a game or another great game?
ZOMG! thats Lochi!!! the guy being interviewed used to be hard out in the Quake 3 Arena scene... wow that takes me back!
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