Brink Play test

[Falcon]

I managed to get a play test of brink on the xbox 360 (first time it was played in the UK) at the UK's biggest LAN event and it was a blast.

Here was my rundown of things:

 

It's feels like a mix of TF2/CoD4. However it leans a lot more to the former because of the heavy emphasis on teamwork, sure kills make you look good but you physically can't win (or at least not on the games modes i was told about) just by kills, the most interesting part of the game mode was the aspect of multiple objectives and the map design.

 

So i was playing a map called security tower and my team had to infiltrate the base by blowing up a lock and protecting the operatives (players who were in the role of a hacker/spy) forcing our way in, so we could free an NPC and then protect him on his escape (he walks slow like a biatch lol).

 

I started out on the customization screen, and this game has awesome variations of...everything. You can customize so much, it's kinda like Black Ops but better because you can alter nearly every aspect of your character including hairstyles, jackets and their colour combos etc etc. Gun customization also looks really good and there was a fairly decent set of unfamiliar weapons that I could use and quite a few unlockable ones.

 

The map itself was really well designed imo, it allows you a choice of a few paths to one area and it makes things hard for both teams. E.g. the slow walking NPC get's into an area which is really well locked down from the upper catwalks but there were 2 or 3 paths up there where we managed to flank them.

 

The classes were fairly standard, Operative, Engineer, Medic, Soldier. And each of these has special abilities they can use with a simple button press while in the thick of action which is a nice touch, for example an engineer can buff your weapon to increase the damage, and medics can buff players life or toss a friendly a syringe so they can ressurect themselves (you are downed every time you hp hits 0, then you can choose to wait for medic to toss you a syringe, or respawn after a few seconds). And classes aren't limited to just their own 'style' of weapons. Every class can use the tampa smg etc and this keeps the fight fairly well balanced.

 

I was playing on a fixed sensitivity (a bit higher than what i would use), but i found the actual aiming itself to be a bit difficult. It uses auto-aim but it's not lock-on like CoD style on console, it drags your aim if its decently close to be a bit closer but not enough for you to start firing and getting a kill, in addition to this gun recoils are fairly big and so you can't just unload your weapon like a maniac. Also there is a slide function which was fairly useful for avoiding fire but of course it only lets you go a short distance. Oh and grenades aren't spammable in this game you'll be glad to hear, you can throw one but then it goes on cooldown for a decent period of time.

 

So in my actual play, i died...a fair bit. I was trying to flank a bit which was successful but other people always trying to flank our team and heading nearby resulting in a fair few shoot outs. The other team did fairly well in sticking at least 2 people together and slowed our push. I swapped to operative and snuck my way in, whilst being protected by 2 or 3 teammates and with another operative we managed to hack the door, this takes a fairly long time so it was vital to have some guard.

 

We proceeded to the next part after a short cutscene, and this is where it got messy. The NPC only goes one route (as far as i could see), and so we gathered around, but the other team used the balcony's and high area's really well stopping him (by depleting his HP bar which regens after a while of being clear from fire) and we got murdered in many of the narrow areas. As the time ran down, i went for flanks more often picking up a few kills but i just couldn't do enough and none of my teammates really joined me in these attempts resulting in time hitting 0 and the Security team winning (we were the resistance).

 

All in all, it's a very balanced game with a big exclamation mark on teamwork. It's fairly fun and I'm pretty much sold on it.

[Theos Sairin]

You've made this game sound awesome. I WANT.

[Reckoner]

I've been looking forward to it for while. Can't wait.