As the topic reads, my friends and I are interested in Brink but are a tad uncertain. The 8 player drop in/out co-op sounds awesome, the SMART feature looks great, the customization is awesome, and the clear emphasis on teamwork has been long forgotten in most games. However, we are a tad uncertain regarding a few areas.

So campaign = co-op = multiplayer, right? The only real difference is how many characters are controlled by AI and how many are real players? Nothing wrong with that but seems a little odd, hopefully it won't make the game feel like the same old thing over and over again.

I haven't heard any number at all regarding how long its supposed to last if you play through every level or even how many levels there are. Has this been revealed or does no one really know? As far as I know there's only the airport, container city, and the aquarium. Also, anyone know how long the matches are suppose to last. The Container walkthrough is three 10 minute parts, so I'm guessing half an hour on average?

About the maps, they look very linear. Maybe I'm wrong, but from what I've seen it looks like everyone is funneled down the same hallways and it makes for little strategy. The enemy will always be right in front and you know exactly where they will be coming from. Hopefully I'm wrong and the maps are more open with multiple routes into all the areas, but not from what I've seen.

Thanks for any responses! Except the rude attempting-to-be-funny ones

1.8 large maps in the game, 16 missions. Should take ten hours to beat all together. 10-30 minutes to beat each mission.

2. I've seen plenty of large areas in some of the footage I have seen. Also soldiers can blow holes in walls and stuff to make extra paths.

Well, if you haven't already, try reading the Brink bible (or compendium) here:
http://www.fragworld.org/frag/brink/the-fragworld-brink-compendium.html

But, I think I can answer your questions...

As for the campaign, you have a 8v8 match, your friends will be on the same side as you, unless you play Matchmaking on opposite teams, or even freeplay. But the AI will fill in any empty spots on either teams.

There are currently 10 maps, and I believe 16 missions per faction campaign.

The maps can be altered by any class opening a shortcut from any area into the enemy territory, the maps are actually rather open such as Container City as you've no doubt seen already.

Thats about as much as I can remember at the moment.

Light characters = way to open up movement opportunities.

According to the Brink Bible (linked above), the gameplay footage so far has only included medium build movement, not the extra jump height, speed, etc. you get when you're a Light character.

Somewhere in that "Brink Bible" it said you won't be able to wall climb with a light body type?

Correction, the light body type can climb walls, and is the only body type to be able to wall-hop.

You wallclimb HIGHER with a Light body.

You have MORE options than we've seen in gameplay footage (which is all Medium build)

Its exactly how Left 4 Dead was set up. You can play with computers against computers, with humans against computers, or with humans against humans.