After having played Brink for a couple hours I have to say I'm suffering serious buyers remorse. It's by no means a bad game, but there is nothing about it that makes it really special, and it has some serious flaws.

Why Brink falls short of my expectations:

1. Customization. Sure, you can customize a lot in this game, but the vast majority of it is cosmetic only. The customization options beyond that are marred by serious balance issues. I haven't seen a single heavy do well in a multiplayer match, because all the heavy weapons are so inaccurate that they are worthless. The grenade launcher is total crap because in a game where everyone constantly moves there is little to no point to a weapon that is really only good for busting enemies out of cover, and requires 3 grenades to hit to actually score a kill. Sniping is incredibly powerful in Brink, even a novice sniper can easily score headshots. I wouldn't say I've played enough to know all the ins and out of how the game is balanced, but even just in about an hour online there is a clear trend emerging. Highly accurate light weapons completely dominate the field, heavy weapons are virtually useless, turrets refuse to fire most of the time...

2. Freedom of Movement. Yea, you can do some cool things in this game, but doing any of it deliberately is difficult. Once your character builds up some speed and you're going over and under obstacles you just have no precission anymore. It's notoriously difficult to accurately jump in first person shooters to begin with, and this game makes it even more difficult. Trying to clear a gap without falling in requires you to press sprint. and jump and then watch the grab-on-and-pull-yourself-up animation, during which you'll be staring at a wall. The really big issue with this is simply this though: It doesn't add anything to the game. All the levels I've run into didn't require this mechanic in the least, nor did they give any meaningful advantages to people who used it correctly. It seems like a cool element to a game, but ultimately its just tacked onto a very basic shooter without coming into its own as a meaningful part of it all.

3. Level Design. This is probaply the thing I have the biggest issue with, the level design in this game just plain svcks. For one, getting your bearings in the levels is extremely difficult because everything looks the same. There are no recognizable landmarks, no clear paths to follow, no notable change of scenery. You're in an aquarium, all the hallways are blue, and there are fishtanks on the wall, and the entire level is like that. You're in a slum, there are shantys built from rusted metal, and the entire level looks like that. I mean, if you play something like Battlefield or Team Fortress it's extremely difficult to get lost. You play a map once and you'll have a decent understanding of where to go, even if you don't know every corner of it yet. What's worse though is that every single level is a labyrinth on top of being devoid of landmaks that make navigation easy and you can easily get lost just heading towards an objective marker, simply because the marker doesn't tell you that the path you've been following is going to loop around behind it, then lead through a tunnel and end up back where you started.

4. General gameplay is just uninspired. It doesn't have the depth of Battlefield, it doesn't have the simple elegance of Team Fortress. The pace of combat, level design and mechanics are more akin to COD, but it tries to have objective based play. The class system is pretty lame too. You dispense buffs, and you have a few special abilities, all fine and dandy, but for the most part you don't even notice what class you're playing, since weapon selection isn't tied to the class for example. I can have exactly the same weapons as a medic as I can as a soldier. Now you'd think this would create greater freedom in the game, but honestly, all it creates is a sea of assault rifles and SMGs with nothing else ever cropping up. Also since you can't actually see what class an enemy character is it has even less bearing on how the game plays. In Team Fortress I'll fight a Scout completely differently than a Heavy or a Demoman, in this game there is pretty much no distinction there, so the end result is: boring.

5. Not in the least intuitive. This games controlls, menus, and general gameplay isn't intuitive. I play team based shooters every now and again, and usually have no problem finding my way around in one, but whoever designed the UI in this game is just not doing it right. For example: when you want to equip a weapon outside of combat you have to bring up the weapon in the selection, then hit a little half faded radio button in the corner of its icon. Who the hell comes up with an absurd UI like that? Why not just have a big fat "Equip" button on the screen so you don't have to look around for how to equip the weapon, or a drag and drop system where you can put the things you like in the apropriate slots. Oh yea, probaply because you didn't think of PC gamers, which brings us to point #6...

6. Tons of technical issues. The game is buggy. The graphics don't display correctly on ATI cards, text in the game randomly appears garbled and out of place, two out of three times it crashes on startup for no reason. I'm not the only one with issues either, tons of people are having these troubles. Did anyone even bother to test this? How about putting a big fat disclaimer on the game "Warning, will not work if you have an ATI card" so people can save their money and buy a game that works.


So, my overall oppinion of this game:

When compared to titles like Battlefield or Team Fortress this game just doesn't deliver. The classes are too understated, the levels aren't interesting, the game isn't intuitive at all, it's full of bugs and graphics issues and the things that were supposed to be the most notable features of this game: High customization and the freerunning are in no way a meaningful addition to the game, which as a result is left as nothing but a second rate shooter.
I bought Brink expecting something like Battlefield BC2, which provided me with 100+ Hours of online entertainment, and what I got bored me aftera mere 2.

I wish I had not bought this game, the only thing that I like about it is that hopefully my purchase will help pay for that extra hour of QA time for Skyrim so it doesn't have the same massive issues with malfunctioning graphics and shoddy UI design.

Dont like it, don't play it. I like it personally.

+1

Well, numbers 4 and 5 are your own preference and yeah, it didn't live up to my expectations either, but it's alright.

Also, it's pretty easy to gun down an enemy in this game..easier than I thought. I expected something closer to ET, but this is not too different from CoD in which the guy turns a corner and just blasts you immediately.

The Heavy minigun is amazing. I don't care what anyone says. :rock:

Yea obligatory really devoted fan your ability to like whatever is set before you without question and relentlessly attack those that demand improvement is the fire in the heart of mediocrity. Soldier on!

Also, I'm not going to play this game, but I already payed for it, which I regret. This topic serves two purposes: 1. Letting Bethesda know that they screwed up. 2. Hopefully saving some other people their money.

:flamethrower:


cmon the poster deserves a better reply then this. Alot of pc players cant return a game after spending the last dollar on a game, so its a decision to make when buying.

I've gone back and forth on the issue and finally settled on the "it needs a patch" point of view. The game is very close to being what it was promised to be, there are just a few (some would call them critical) bugs preventing me from completely immersing myself in the game and enjoying it on the level that was intended.

1) Numerous lag issues regarding the master server list; I often cannot join games as they 'time out' or report are full (when at 10/16 players), this is never updated in the server list and games that reply with preliminary information about the server (to end up on the server list) completely fail to connect repeated attempts. I, and several of my friends of differing internet connections have experienced this issue.

2) Map problems; It seems that on some maps, completing objectives can cause server-wide sound problems for all (or most) players. I'm not exactly sure how this bug got into a release. I do understand that no Quality Assurance Environment can mimic live play with real players across the world, I'm just thinking that for a release date that was rolled forwards (for perhaps the first time in history), a little more QA could have been done.

3) Control 'Clunkiness'; Yes. SMART is a little clunky right now, but it has very good potential, perhaps tweak the way weapons work together with it, maybe changing the player's momentium a little bit; I understand that how it is now more accurately reflects Parkour videos with the constant stopping-and-starting, but using the terrain to your advantage is difficult under the best of conditions. I myself have only been able to use downhill-terrain to my advantage coupled with the SMART system, and perhaps that is how it was intended to be.

I have further thoughts that I will reflect on, collect and likely post to a separate thread when they're all well and together.

How did Bethesda screw up? It was hyped up by other players, not the publishers themselves. Personally, it's a game worth playing. I don't understand why things like the above mentioned bother you guys so much.

Customization is pretty basic in this game and as noted by the first poster, it's mainly cosmetics, but it's still customization isn't it? Point out a FPS that allows you to change the color of your jacket/shirt let alone allow you to change the type of jacket/shirt. You've seen videos before the game was released so maybe you just need to do a bit more research before buying.

I've also been in many matches where parkour was essential to reaching areas quicker especially when attempting to disarm a hacking device or dynamite and they're not bad when you just want to scale the map quicker. Dubbing it "meaningless" is all personal preference and true, it's your thread and it's your opinion, but is it really enough to bash the game as a whole?

The level design seems fine to me.. don't expect to memorize every nook and cranny after the first few days. It took me a good week or so to fully memorize BF:BC2's maps and CoD's maps (some of them). There are actually two maps that I memorized already from Brink and they're not all that complex. You seem revoltingly bias in your post.

I can't say anything about your complaint on the classes. I've been an ET enthusiast and they shared the same system. ET had the medic, engineer, field ops (air strikes and ammo packs; similar to soldier in Brink), covert ops (similar to operative; ability to disguise), and soldier (not the same as Brink's soldier). Most of them have VERY similar abilities to the classes in Brink and none of them really had exclusive weapons give or take a few. The soldier had access to a "panzerfaust" and other heavy weapons, but isn't that similar to Brink's light, medium, and heavy body types? This system is fine for many players, but I guess it just isn't your cup of tea

Thanks for this information, I am really only going to buy this game if I can find it used so that if I don't like it I can return it. Seems like you have a 50/50 chance of liking this game right now lol.

Prett much this. I could really forgive the actually gameplay, except there is something about it that I just cant. While I have binges for a fast, not thinking about what im doing game like COD, and slowed down games like BF, this game just doesnt hit a balance at all. I feel that Brink had alot of potential, but became braindead half way through development and ditched that idea. I may actually feel tempted to try and push through and keep playing, but the terrible aliasing and badly rendered textures just doesnt make it possible, coupled with the bad fps. If my guy is shooting his gun, why would he pause to zoom in. Honestly, on the surface this game just looks like game of the year material. But after youve sat down and played, it just feels sloppy, which is pretty embarrising considering the development time. It pains me to say it, but if a game like Blops could be slapped together in 1 year, and be moderatly good, its a shame it took 2 years to create Brink, anoverall underwelming game. And now I wait for the onslaught of "dont like it dont play it" or" you have to like objective gameplay to like it". I can tell you that I ADORE objective-teambased games like battlefield and TF2, but Brink really is just a huge disappointment. If you have not bought the game, then I really do urge you to pass this one up and not spend $60 on a game worth $20-$30. Ive been following the game since container city walkthrough in 09, and I am thoroughly upset with this game. I know there are some people who can look past the small flaws and see the good shooter gameplay behind, but there are just so many of them that they build up. 1 mosqueto is annoying at most and eventually goes away or you forget about it. But if there are 15 of them buzzing around your head your going to want to scream and run in agony wishing for a repreieve. This was actually the fastest Ive turned my box off on a new game.

I agree with you 100%!

What platform did you buy Brink from, because honestly, I find myself not wanting to parkour in this game because of how bad the fps and vision becomes whilst parkouring to the point where I really just sprint most of the time.

They screwed up because they have developped a system that allows free running in a shooter, which would be an amazing and powerful addition to the game, except they didn't pay enough attention to the shooter part to make it equally good as what's out there already.

If they had started with a game that was on par with Team Fortress and then added free running to it this game would be amazing.

Problem is, they didn't. They started with a bare bones shooter with a half assed class system, and free running just doesn't make up for that.

Bethesda is only the publisher.

If you don't like the Heavy weapons, then use Medium/Light weapons on a Heavy character? I know I plan on using a Heavy SMG-toting setup. A lot of this sounds opinionated, and I'm sure I'll think a lot differently from you when my copy arrives in a couple days. I've seen a lot of official and leaked footage, and I can appreciate the level design, gameplay and UI as it is.

I play heavy and totally dominate with the Minigun WHILE completing objectives. Not sure what you're talking about. The Nade Launcher is also really good, I guess you just dont know how to use it. I also disagree with a large percentage of your complaints. I play PC and have no problems. I use ATI/AMD and I have no problem. Maps are easy for me since it doesnt repeat anywhere. You just have to get use to where everything is it.

I play on the PC

I have a laptop with an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 and have had no issues with graphics, random text, or crashing. So apparently it isn't affecting ALL ATI cards.

yea, what we really need is MW2 all over again where everyone who svcks at the game can just flail around with noob tubes /sarcasm. noob tubes being bad is a GOOD THING. i'd bet anything there are more people who like the fact that you cant just shoot a single noob tube to get kills than people who think they need to be more powerful. most people want to play a FPS game where people actually *ghasp* try tho shoot BULLETS.

and, in all honesty, i really dont think an HOUR of gameplay is enough for ANYONE to accurately judge gameplay. initial impressions are 'cute', but you really dont know what you are talking about because no one does (outside of people who have been playing the game for a WHILE like the developers).

i do agree with 'buyers remorse' its not because of weapons, or balance, or anything like that, its because i have yet to play a game that was playable due to the massive amount of lag in this game (360).

The gameplay is choppy. The multiplayer is just [censored] repetitions of the single player campaign. The bots are all completely stupid and you can't coordinate with them in anyway. The weapons feel like firing airsoft guns that just make a loud noise. The menus are garbage (One should not have to read a manual to find your multiplayer). And the amount of resources this game pulls of PC is WAAAAYYY much more than it looks like it really does, and if you want to lower settings (or turn them off) to increase your performance you can't.

My opinion, the game was utterly disappointing, I wish I could get my money back and have bought something else with that 60$ I set aside. But sadly that's not gonna happen. So I'm stuck with a [censored] game I can't even sell or gift to someone who actually wants it because I have it locked into my steam account.

The fact that Bethesda put their name on this (coupled with the issues and shoddy quality in every game they've ever made) is really making me consider boycotting their future games entirely.

:shrug: I don't know what you're talking about, I love this game. I can't think of a single thing I'd change other than getting rid of being able to remove HackBoxes, and just making the hacks take longer, but your percent is permanent. I'm not just nut-riding Bethesda and SD, I just genuinely love this game, it's everything I expected it to be.

You can turn texture settings from low, medium to high. It basically changes all the graphics. You can also turn off other effects and lower shadow quality. All of this is found under the Options -> video -> advanced menu.

1-4 are personal opinions imho and I couldn't care less.

1. Customization cosmetic only --> No unfair advantages (QQ he had better equipment or a better ability for completing objective x )
Grenade launchers are crowd control weapons in this game, not killing machines. This was known before release. Deal with it, because it rocks (Burn the noobtubes!)
Highly accurate light weapons --> Increase in overal gameplay pace.

2. Freedom of Movement: Just learn and adapt. Don't say it's useless if you don't even know when or how to use it. You probably don't even know half of the tricks you can do with it. (Took me years in W:ET to know the majority of the tricks of which I could only perform a minority)

3. Learn the maps by playing... It's fun to play a map without knowing the best spots from game one. I love to get lost the first time I play something, that's what makes a game exciting.

4. Doesn't have the depth of BF? I'm not even going to start on this one.

Are these my opinions: Yes they are. What do I accomplish by saying all of this: Point 1-4 are invalid because they are opinions and therefore shouldn't be liked by others in the first place.

Actually I can't, my settings only got as low as medium.