Musings on ... Brink

Brink is good. That’s it really. If you wanted a post which built up to a stunning conclusion, sorry to disappoint you but tough. It isn’t great though, which is, perhaps, a bit of a shame, and I’m having some trouble attempting to pin down just why it isn’t a great game. I mean, with the notable exception of Portal 2, it’s probably my favourite game of 2011 so far.

For one thing it’s a very refreshing departure from traditional first-person-shooters which we’ve become used to (looking at you Halo: Combat Unevolved and Call of Duty: Generic Subtitle). It’s a game which requires some thought, not a lot, but at least some. You need to be playing as part of the team, buffing allies and helping out at objectives. You can’t just go for personal glory, because you’ll just die repeatedly. Admittedly, you will look cool dying though.

Combat isn’t really based on twitch shooting, as even the light class has a decent chunk of health at their disposal. It often boils down to weight of numbers, which could certainly be considered a failing, but on the other hand it could be seen as a bit of a triumph. If you can’t win battles on your own, you fight with allies. Teamwork forms not because the game tells you to (although it does), but because you have to work together to win.

Whilst weight of numbers often works, exploitation of the maps, and the use of the new parkour SMART system is crucial in many cases. Assaulting from unexpected angles can often make the difference between a short and brutal life, and a short yet heroic life. Dropping in behind a few turrets, throwing grenades, shooting some engineers in the back, and then escaping by vaulting over a rail guarding a fifteen foot drop makes you feel brilliant, and helps out the team at the same time.

SMART is great, but it can’t save what is other-wise a very choke-point heavy game. Which is a shame, because on the whole the level design is great, but it is somewhat ruined by certain sections. Sometimes it’s a corridor which you have to brute force through, and sometimes it’s the last bloody objective of the map which you can’t quite secure. Hacking objectives are the most egregious offenders in my opinion. They require Operatives (one of the four classes available fact fans) to first plant a hack-box on the objective, then stand near to that whilst under heavy fire from enemies, until a little percentage in the top-right fills up. The closer you stand, the faster it fills. This is already annoying, but it gets worse. When an enemy engineer gets to a hack-box they can use their blow torch to undo all of your progress. Percentage. By. Percentage. Imagine how mind-blowingly infuriating it is to reach 95% completion, only to be killed and then having to watch as the counter rapidly decreases all the way down to zero. Now imagine that when you have 30 seconds left to win. Yeah, great design decision guys.

So, I guess that the objectives are probably the main reason why it isn’t a great game, which is a shame because there are some good ideas, and not all of the objectives are terrible. On the whole, then (happy now you have a conclusion?) Brink is awesome, and should become the new basis for shooter games. It won’t, but it should.