Brink for Xbox 360 Reviews by Gamers

I received this from gamefly on Tuesday and was disappointed.
Pros:
I liked how I could customize my character. .
I liked how i could play in the campaign and multiplayer almost seamlessly.
I liked "the action button".

Cons:
Very short campaign. 2 hours tops.
Repetitive game play. You play the exact same maps in multiplayer as you do the campaign. There is literally 8 maps. Thats it.
Cost: $60?
I could see $30

I bought the game Brand new the day it came out. I really like this game alot but. I know its going to get boring in a week and I wont ever touch it again. Why? The campaign is so short and simple that you can really beat it in 1-2 Hours if you know what your doing. And after the campaign you do the same exact thing in online multiplayer.. AND I mean same exact thing!!! Same maps. same game modes. same teams. Your just playing against and with real people instead of AI and computer. So yes I know this game wont last but its fun game to rent. Its more of a Arcade game really. So not worth $60 but more like $30.

Brink was/is an overhyped game that promised many things and the one promise that stood out the most was that it was supposed to be a good game.

Brink is a first person shooter that feels like a mix between the visuals of borderlands, the feel of shadowrun, the story structure of Unreal Tournament, and the classes of Team Fortress 2. Brink can not stand up to the standards of those games let alone the FPS genre.

Brink is simply said a bad to averge game in my opinion, and many others agree. The repetitiveness that is Brink constantly bores anyone who dares touch it.

Among many of the problems is the lack of definitive information on how to play the game from the get go. In my first game I was confused why I could not plant a bomb but later realized that I had to be a soldier. This holds true for the specific objectives related to the other classes: operative, engineer, and medic. The story is just terrible to say the best, there is no reason to play the game in any order of the two campaigns. The narrator gets extremly annoying during the loading screens, I found that I had to mute the game during those times to stay somewhat sane.

This review is basically just telling you that the game is not worth anywhere close to $60 dollars, perhaps $30 if you are generous. The game is however worth a quick rent, I completed the game in a weekend and recieved an easy 1000 gamerscore.

If i had to rate the game from 1 to 10, i would give it a 5 or 6.

-Reaper

Gameplay 8: Parkour is cool. Shame there is only eight levels and not enough room to maneuver within them.

World 6: Graphically not phenomenal. Spotty at times with poor textures. Places where fighting takes place are varied however

Sound 7: About what you expect. Guns go bang and explosions go boom. Menu music isnt bad.

Story 7 could have been 9: An ark the last vestige of humanity (or is it?) a revoulution between the people who found the ark and the people who are escaping a rising sea level. A great canvas to paint a really good story on. Too bad the only engagement with characters is through audio logs and cutscenes. Terrible execution.

Multiplayer 6: Laggy. only 8 levels to play thorough and only twenty levels to gain, which goes relatively quick. Classes work well though.

Last words: I think the biggest shame about brink is the amount of potiential it has and how much of that potiential remains untapped because of poor execution and seemingly lack of effort from the developers; I dont know personally what was going on maybe the people at splash damage were working really hard and there was just a tight deadline and they didnt get finish their product as they would have liked or maybe there was simply just a lack of effor, but this game could have been so much more than it is. The story is interesting but poorly executed. Audio logs of people who I could care less about and dont encounter thoroughout the game is just a terrible way of fleshing out the story. Why would i become invested in these characters, they dont appear in the game and are basically just archetypes and stereotypes of how you would imagine rich people and poor people would act on the last vestige of humanity but arent real people. Maybe i am expecting too much from a online class based shooter, but it is such a shame to see such a good idea for a story to go to waste. And only 8 levels. A real disapointment. I hope Splash Damage does better next time. If there is a next time

I was really looking forward to this game and told all my friends how awesome Brink was going to be. Now I just look like a complete idiot thanks to this lazy attempt at a online first person shooter.

To keep this short, the main problem with this game is the lack of content. When you start up the game and see all there is to do, right away you will feel cheated out of a full game. There is only 4 short challenge stages and then the campaign which has 6 maps and 2 bonus maps...that is it. You will blow through the challenges in roughly an hour (which by the way unlock all the weapons and attachments) and then you are stuck playing the same campaign maps over and over.

Absolutely nothing about this game works really well. The weapons feel flat and weak. The only way to go is running around hip firing smgs which are almost laser beam accurate. The nearly infinite customization promises from the developers are bogus. Bots are hands down some of the worst I have seen. It even lags during matches, quite often I will add.

Bottom line, Brink is not even worth a rental. Avoid it and use your time and money on something more deserving.

Pros
- Interesting story
- Some customization options for your characters look really cool
- Requires more teamwork than other online shooters to date

Cons
- You will probably hit the level cap in a week or less
- The cutscenes feel tacked on and hammy
- The A.I. is so terrible its frustrating and you will always have bots in your games no matter what
- Weapons are flat out boring
- Netcode is faulty, games lag beyond belief
- Parkour is a gimmick and almost never used in matches

Brink is a great idea, poorly realized, and further hampered by awful lag during many online matches. But when it's running smoothly, it's a breath of fresh air in a sometimes stale FPS market.

By adding a Mirror's Edge or Assassins Creed style parkour / freerunning to a standard FPS engine, Splash Damage has created something different. You can still win by being the best shot, but you can now use your craftiness to hurdle objects and scale terrain to flank your enemies.

Another thing separating Brink from the rest of the pack is that it can be played entirely in online co-op. The entire campaign, all the challenge missions, can be played with friends, or strangers. Conversely, the free missions can be played offline with bots - the multiplayer and campaign missions are exactly the same. Unfortunately, with only a handful of maps, this can lead to some repetition.

The class system is different from the usual CoD structure; you create a persistent character and upgrade his abilities, as well as customizing his loadout and appearance. This character can be used across all four class types; Weapons are determined by your body type (large, medium or light,) not your class.

The visual style is unique, but the graphics are often lacking in detail. Paired with frequent lag issues, and it takes the game down a notch. Despite these flaws, it's a ton of fun, and well worth checking out.

Brink was a game I thought I'd play a couple hours and send back, based upon other reviews. My interpretation was totally wrong. The game itself is just average, but something about it makes you keep coming back, wanting to keep playing it.

Starting off, it's very confusing because the tutorial doesn't do a great job, and I really never knew when I won or lost. The objectives are difficult to figure out, until you actually know what's going on. The gameplay is pretty much the same, but there;s some aspect that keeps you coming back.

The things I liked:

Customization - Great! probably the highlight of the whole game, as you can customize with so many different things whether it be the clothes you wear or the guns you use or the abilities you have. I feel like the developers put more into customizing the game than the actual gameplay itself.

Parkour/sprint button - They also did a great job on this. it was so smooth that I felt the jump button was literally useless. I couldn't believe how few glitches there was with this. Another great part.

Abilities and body types - Abilities are like perks for call of duty; they grant you special attributes for different classes. It was very well done. The body types also was incorporated very well. Large bodies were slower and couldn't climb over taller objects, but they could use heavier weapons and take more damage. Light bodies were extremely quick and agile, but were limited to smgs and pistols.

The other stuff:
Graphics - Average, but suited the game well. I felt like top notch graphics weren't needed in this game.

Gameplay - Not bad, but can get tedious at times. Hard difficulty was very challenging. The challenges (game modes to unlock weapons) were either very easy or extremely hard. Big turn off.

Maps - Not a whole lot of variety, but with the new (free!) dlc maps, there are 10 in total.

Overall this game is worth a definite rent, but probably not a buy due to few maps and tedious game modes.

Alright, i know looking at gameplay for this game really makes you want to play it, trust me i know. I still rented it having read the bad reviews. Okay i almost got grounded for screaming so much thats how mad this game gets you. Check this, you cant even put pause on story mode (single player), the game will just keep going, i cant even use the bathroom, nothing. I put the game on easy mode and i die on 1 shot..... What got me really mad is this, you know how its 2 teams against eachother? Well, your team doesnt do anything, nada, they dont help you at all. To hack something i have to tearn into an operative myself cause they wont do it, and if they do, well theyll fail. Then i have to go back turn into an engineer and fix something, then a medic to buff my health cause my time never revives me, its horrible. They give me a team of like 20 people, different classes just for me to do everything.... I beat the 1st half of the game in less than an hour, the other half is as long as the first one.. So short. I havent even tried playing multiplayer, i just dont even want to look at the cd. The videos in between missions about the story are so fast, like if they were in a rush, hardly explains anything. I rated it a 2 because the things you can do, the classes, and the free running, its pretty cool, the concept of the game is good. The company that just made it, well, just couldnt make it.

I have to say that I am fairly disappointed in the game. I saw the trailers and I almost decided to buy the game without renting it. I enjoyed the customization and creativity of my character but that's about it. The gameplay is confusing and yet simple, and your AI teammates are completely useless. They give you an objective and it seems like everybody is running around without their heads. When shooting someone the "Double tap" comes into effect. They fall on their backs after you shot them waiting for their medics, and unless you want to get shot in the back you have to shot them again. You can attempt to get a headshot but they are almost impossible to get.

They also overwhelm with you so much information of the game. Instead of gradually introducing you to the basics of the game, they kinda just throw in you in the mix, and have a list of tips on the side with some controls of the game. The movements are ok, you can climb almost anywhere. Overall the game had potential, but I wouldnt buy it

When i went to put this game on my game Q i put it at the bottom because of all the low rated comments. Then some how game fly sends me this game by accident. I try out the game and the game is pretty amazing. I love the team work. i love the customization, you get tons of content, So much that it overwhelmed me when i first plopped in the game expecting rubbish.

The people that rate this game truly do not know what a good game is. I hate how a game as undefined as black ops gets on the top 10 game fly list, yet a game such as this which has way better graphics than black ops, more guns, Around 25 in game perks, not to mention 4 different well defined classes, A broad range of character customization, not to mention gun customization.
Look, i could go on forever but what i really want you to take from this comment is to not judge something purely based on what other people say. Try it out for your self before you judge.

I picked this game up from GF for $10 and was quite surprised at how much fun it was. I did most missions by myself and was able to get most achievemnets in a couple of weeks. Game looks great too.

Brink is one of those games that claims to change gaming forever. Brink is not the game to achieve that; However, Brink's unique experience may just be worth the rental. Brink's fast-paced, team-oriented, objective based game play may not be for everyone, but it sure can be fun for others. Brink has many features that have not been implemented in other multilayer first-person shooters. One of those features being, what Splash Damage calls, the SMART system. The SMART, or Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain, system is what makes you use parkour to your advantage. Splash Damage makes it easy: hold one button, and start running, climbing, vaulting, jumping, and wall-hopping. The system actually seems to work most of the time, which is nice. Out the four classes you may choose from (Soldier, Engineer, Operative, and Medic), each has it's own abilities that you may purchase with your level-up credit. With so many numerous features, however, it may seem that your not experiencing Brink to it's full potential, which is true. You tell me, is it more fun to be an Operative who can disguise and (objective) hack, or to be an Operative who can disguise, (objective) hack, firewall command posts, use homing beacons, Comms hack, use sticky bombs, Caltrop grenades, hack turrets, control turrets, use cortex bombs, and EMP grenades? So if you look at it that way, you're actually missing out if you give up on the game early. This game also contains a huge learning curve. You need to know so much in order to win consistently. Communication takes a huge part in this game as well. Don't try to go at this game as a lone wolf, because you will get slaughtered over and over again. Overall, this game definitely deserves a rental, maybe not for the whole $60 at retail. And if you can, try to stick with game to be able to experience it fully.

This is my first ever game review, by the way. If you don't find this helpful than I apologize.

the game is b e a s t m o d e

Okay, so this game inspired me to write my first review for the simple fact that this game is not as bad as everyone is making it out to be. The character customization is really cool and determines how fast you are, how much damage you can take, what guns you can use, and what you can and can't climb. The three different body styles (light, medium, and heavy) affect these each with their pros and cons. If you play this game on singleplayer like everyone is complaining about that's just bad. The objective based and class difference is directly compareable to old wolfenstein on the pc. Each class has it's own buffs it can administer to your allies with some upgrades for each class you can acquire by leveling up. Yes the level cap is at 20 which you do get fairly quickly, but you can make up to 10 characters all with their own set of abilities and body type in case you want to play as a different class than you have been you can select a different character that you have built for that class instead. The achievements are somewhat easy basically just gets you to try all the different classes a few times. The AI can be frustrating at times but it doesn't completely ruin the game by any means. As for everyone complaining about lag online i have rarely ever had any lag playing online. All in all you should at least rent it and make your own opinion about the game because the 5.2 gamefly rating it has at the time is taking a lot of credit away from Splash Damage for "stepping out of the box" that fps have fallen into with every new release.

Brink promised a great many things. Among them were an extensive and near limitless character creator, an innovative movement system, outstanding gameplay, riveting story, and stunning graphics. sadly, it seems to have dropped the ball on nearly all of these objectives.

The character creator starts out very limited, with only one or two options over the entire person. when you start the game, you are not even given the promised classes of Heavy Medium and Light, you are instead stuck with medium. The ingame classes such as "Medic" or "Engineer" or "soldier" do not seem to make much difference on gameplay either.

The SMART (smooth movement across random terrain) aspect was extremely hyped before this game was released. while using it in combat, i cannot say i am impressed. you may be able to move over a small barrier while running, but unless you are using the "Light" class (which is at first unavailable) you are unlikely to be able to do anything that feels different or new to the player, just a slightly more fluid movement system, which does not work at times and does not live up to the hype.

The core gameplay is hampered by weak team mate AI, advanced enemy AI, and frustrating objectives. unlike most shooters, brink will give you a number of objectives that have you guard a door, or take a command post, etc. etc. these objectives are not properly explained and are very difficult to execute. your teammates will do almost nothing to help you in battle, and your enemies will kill you easily. multiple times i would unload a clip of ammo into and enemy and then melee him. instead of actually dying, the enemy would stand up, and kill me with a single bullet. combat this unbalanced is NOT ENJOYABLE.

even the promised story is not engaging. you are on a ship, trying to get off, or you are on a ship, trying to stop people getting off. that is it.

the one thing brink has going for it are the graphics. this game may be frustrating to play, but it is also beautiful.

This game is freakin amazing and not to mention the first expansion pack is free. The lv cap seems a little low at first but once you get up there it takes a while to level. I like the four different classes fps are way better when you add the customization of an rpg. Plenty of weapons and add ons for each one and three different speed/health types that can be switched at any time. Each class also has different sets of abilities. Its a great teamplay game there is no way to win alone so it never really gets boring repeating the same thing over and over its always different. When the clan dlc and tournament dlc come out it will just be even better. I would recommend this game to anyone

this game is a game that focuses mainly on objectives. If you do not like objective shooters then this game might not appeal to you. But for those of you gamers that enjoy objctive based shooters this game is a must have. Pros: First, the amount of customazation you can have is incredible. You can customize everything from your apperence, your abilities, to your guns.
Good graphics. Not the best but good.
Entertaining multiplayer.
Cons: Can be a bit laggy at times. To fix it get a better modem or change your NAT type.
This game isnt for everyone but its definetely worth a try.

Pros:
1.Easy to adapt to controls & multiple control schemes.
2.Massive character customization
3.Fairly expansive weapons list
Cons:
1.Team AI has the collective intelligence of a group of fish. (They tend to move in schools, but not in any useful way)
2.Enemy AI is ruthlessly aggressive even on the easier settings; though this could seem worse than it is due to the choke-point filled level designs.
3. The weapons, while varied, didn't really feel that different; and the "starting" machine-pistol was about 60% more effective than any of the full sized guns I tried out.

This could be a good game if it the AI were a bit more intelligent or if you could issue any directives at all to your AI teammates. The combat is fluid, though annoying, since the AI will constantly run into the same death filled corridor they just died in. Dying again and leaving you alone against a wave of enemy bots.

The objective system is novel, but unfortunately will probably make this a "niche" game as the bulk of current FPS players seem to prefer "kill-count" over successful completion of an objective.

The Parkour style movement wasn't horrible, but is a learning curve and not as intuitive as you would think it would be. A "training level" that was unscored or at least a practice arena that would walk you through how to tell what could or could not be moved across and how to best utilize the "parkour" feature would have been a good addition.

Summary: This game has issues, perhaps they can be fixed via patches later. I feel sorry for anyone that paid the full $60 for this game as it does not feel like a triple-A $60 game. The online community wasn't bad, but felt very "clique-ish" and it would have been better if I had brought a full group with me of people I knew.

All in all, I say a 5 as it has some interesting ideas and for that reason alone worth a rental just to see them in action.

It had potential, but the lackluster maps and progression system just take away from the experience. Brink is at its core a multiplayer game and to play it any differently means playing it with your AI buddies who are as smart as a rock. if you do play online then be prepared for lag, EPIC LAG, in the more than 30 games i joined since Wednesday i have been unable to move due to lag in 6 games.

Pros:
Great concept
great customization

Cons:
only one game type (co-op or VS campaign)
not very unique maps
story? what story?
LAG
terrible AI

Verdict: if you havent rented it yet save your slot for LA Noire

This game was a letdown at first with horrible teammate A.I and connection problems. But with updates it was all improved. The character customization is top notch and I always find new combinations to use. I currently have 8 different characters I am leveling up all looking completely different from one another. The graphics blew me away and the guns look and feel fantastic. The levels are really fun to explore but I feel like they could have had much more parkour. Using the different classes and body types can drastically change the way you play. I bought this game when it first came out and I am happy I did because I've had so much fun with it. I love playing private versus matches with my brother because we both feel like we are the leaders of our own armies of AI trying to attack or defend. We also like to play co-op and battle it out online. Better than most first person shooters out there! Try it!

when i first got the game i rushed home and put it in, judging from the character and weapon customization i thought it was gonna be an awesome game, in fact the only reason i gave it a five is because the character customization and easy achievements, if it wasnt for that id give it a 2, when i played the story mode i got bored of it during the 1st MISSION! your A.I teammates are completely stupid,all they do is run around. and all the missions are is go do this go do that protect this destroy that, theres absolutely no story to it, the graphics are so terrible i felt like i was playing an original xbox. they said that the multiplayer was gonna smash on COD and other FPS, but when i looked for games thered only be like 3 other players and the rest would be A.I, not to mention how much lag there was, and the multiplayer is EXACTLY the same as story,so that was boring too.. all in all good customization, but HORRIBLE and i say

dont listen to people with poor ratings, it takes time to like a game, not 5 minutes. and I have spent a good 3 days with it.

Ill start off with the bad, the graphics are so good yet dark so its hard to adjust from like CoD or Halo. The online is very laggy and it feels like sometimes my aim is off, it might be though.

now time for the good, The customization is great, the graphics and dialog is amazing. each weapon is diffrent in its own way. Team work is a huge part of this game and it works very well. The parkour is GREAT, and its hard so if your up for a good challenge...

So there are flaws but if i knew about all the flaws before I bought it, I would still buy it. So if you want something fun, fast paced and team centered, then you have to at least rent it, you have nothing to lose.

I give it a 9/10, would be a 10/10 but some issues just need to be fixed. Overall its in my top 3 best games, next to Borderlands and Portal.

Brink creates a lot of very new designs for an FPS title; too many for one game to chew, I think.

First off, its class design is totally different than what players are used to. Four standard classes but body type affects them all. Negative aspect: Once you select appearance/body type its for ALL class not just one.

Gameplay is awkward. You essentially play the campaign as if its multiplayer -- there is NO difference between the two. You select whether you want others to join or not, then launch. Which brings me to another negative aspect: The mixing of bots and players makes the game frustrating to play, especially at higher difficulty levels. There is no lobby system, so you either get others to join or not within a span of 30 seconds. Furthermore, those of less rank, not wishing to play the same map, different difficulty, etc all impact if someone will join. All-in-all, its too narrow a criteria to get others to join you -- especially after rank 3.

Controls are unique, and not very well-thought-out key layout. Holding the sprint action allows your character to interact with terrain/climb/sprint/etc. Sprint key mapping (Xbox is LB) is uncomfortable because you constantly use it.

Campaign mode was fun, if you play Resistance first...up until you play Security. You essentially switch perspectives on the exact same maps you just finished, and it gets a WHOLE lot harder. It was literally like playing 2 different games: somewhat fun and unique went to frustrating instantly.

The storyline was so choppy and unoriginal, it felt like a cheap version of Waterworld part 2. Not to mention uninspiring characters and bland cutscenes and hardly any replay value beyond your 1st character.

All-in-all, I rate the game a 5. You can tell the developers had high goals and wonderful ideas but the realities of budgets and timelines took their toll on the end product. Rent it, don't buy it.

This is the first game I gave up on. The idea is great, but it fails miserably. Your A.I. Is horrible and the enemy A.I. is much better. I enjoy challenging games but this game isn't challenging or fun, it's just frustrating. I wouldn't bother renting this game.