Obviously Brink isn't the sequel to Half Life.

However, what made HL great is that it took all the elements of fps games in it's day, and either perfected, reworked, put a new twist on, or averted them.

Does anyone else get the feeling Brink is going to do that?

Any explanations why?

Most definitely but its not the new Half Life....

In the sense of doing for the modern state of the FPS genre what HL did to the genre at the time it came out, yes.

In terms of being ANYTHING like HL, no..

The amazing thing about Half Life (And the rest of Valve's works) is that the plot isn't forced upon you. You don't magically know that an evil wizard is attacking your town. You aren't told via hologram that X enemy is conquering Y planet. You learn about the plot through people who are directly involved, and small details like wanted posters and blood-scribbles.

The people who just want to shoot stuff can shoot stuff and never be interrupted by plot. The people who want to understand exactly what's going on aren't forced to move on, and they can investigate and learn more every stage of the game.

BRINK's doing that too, with minimal plot interruptions and the thoughts of the victims scrawled on walls and archived in audio logs.

If anything I'd say it has a good chance of becoming 'the new Counter-Strike'.
I don't really have time to list the cons on both games, so I won't.

I just know you can't really compare Brink to a game like Half-Life.
Oh and, it also depends on which HL you're talking about. Because there are several.




- :flame:

I feel like Brink is more of if Counter-Strike and Team Fortress had a baby.

Every game back in the day was an arena shooter, even Goldeneye (it just had you die faster and you can't jump). It did make the market. When I started playing Deus Ex, I couldn't believe how stiff everything is (though its still fun and playable, on top that the game is mainly an RPG) for a game in the 2000s, and that's all because of Half-Life.

Running through all the shooter types in my head is difficult, but I say, its way too many elements are like most games (not the drastic change seen in HL), but I bet it can have its own feel.

if it has a crapload of replay and we could make our own maps and share em that would epic sickness.

I really enjoyed Half Life and I like how the narrative was incorporated in to the game play. However the actual gameplay, while fun, didn't feel ground breaking so much as very well done. Brink is not a run-of-the-mill multiplayer FPS that has been buffed to perfection and given some sprucing up, it has much more focused and specific gameplay, so for me the Half Life anology doesn't work.

Look at it in a more general sense.

Half-Life took a massive amount of existing concepts, and did them well, then piled a handful of well-selected new ideas (or ones which had fallen out of favour, but were still good ideas). Then the whole package was put together into something amazing (for its time). A HUGE amount of gamers recognised its blend of uniqueness and familiarity as a winning combination, and as a result, it became a new standard on many levels.

That's what Brink is doing, too.

I think there is one gameplay similarrity, which is raising the bar for AI.

I'm just saying Brink might affect the genre similarly to how HL did, I get the feeling it'll refresh it and show other developers how things could be, so the industry can progress.

I do agree. However... I don't honestly feel like Half-Life was 'very well done'. And the older engine HL vs the Source Engine makes a huge difference.
I could give several reasons but it will just end up being tl;dr. Brink, in my honest opinion is a next-gen shooter, while sadly, Half-Life is being left behind in the dust.

I know they are working on HL3, but it better be damn good after seeing the previews for Portal 2 (which looks awesome). I think that if they can't step their game up, they will get left behind.
All the people of the HL generation are growing up and a large majority of us want more. Or less for that matter. Its all about finding the next best thing.
If I don't like a product, I'm not going to play it because my 'friends' do. I'm going to play it because that is the game I get the most fun out of.
And I definitely don't buy/play games just to support the development teams pockets. I buy/play games and shell out quite a bit of money in hopes that the game will grow.
Valve just, doesn't cut it for me. They used to, but I grew up.

Edit: And don't get me wrong, Ive stuck with Valve for a long ass time and supported them. It may just be that Ive become impatient, possibly.




- :flame:

Of course HL is being left behind in the dust, that happens to all games, even the classic ones, that doesn't mean we should be ignorant of their impact back in their day.

Yeah, I understand this completely. Half-Life 2, in my opinion, had a gigantic impact on the industry.
In a good way.

I was more referring to the older Half Life, which was a great game at heart, but it was everything that spawned after it that really made everything come together.
In the case of HL3, I have the concern that it won't make it's place where it should be made.
And tbh, I'm not sure what Valve's plans are for the future. I'm still kind of at the point where I'd say, "We shall see."

- :flame:

So was anyone else thinking that it had been revealed that there was armored bodysuits and crowbars when reading this title?

What about a Gordon Freeman archetype?

It's the new TF2 for sure

Hats.

I'll make a Freeman character. Who's with me?

Failing that, Adrian Shephard.