I only got my Xbox just after Christmas and one of the first games that caught my eye was Brink. Like many I tracked it’s progress during development and forked out the readies when it finally came out on day one release. I have spent a lot of time reading through these boards and have found that people fall into two camps. Either they love it but know it has it’s faults or they are angry over the way it was hyped and spend their time moaning about the game. People are of course entitled to their opinion but if you are just going to complain without offering anything constructive then don’t be surprised when nothing happens.

Brink is far from perfect but for those of us who have stuck with it and played for some 20 or so hours until we have got our grove on we know that at it’s core there is a great game here. I really don’t see the point in all the talk about the game being overhyped and whether COD is better. The game has been released and it is what it is. We can’t turn back time but we can offer Bethesda our feedback and offer ideas to improve it.

The making of Brink in the long run will depend on it’s support through DLC and updates. Bethesda has a very good track record of supporting games with DLC such as the Fallout series. We can only hope that they support Brink just as well and that the developers feel as passionate about it as us core fans and take the time to read our suggestions and make comments (hint hint guys if you are reading this. We like feedback too!).

If you hate the game or felt let down then fair enough but moaning about it won’t help you go back in time and change the situation. Instead lets offer suggestions as to what we would all like to make things better. Here are my top suggestions but feel free to add yours or comment as you see fit.

1. Levels - unsurprisingly we need more of them. Lots more if we are honest. Only 8 maps just doesn’t cut it. With other games offering twice that amount before DLC Brink has some catching up to do. I have no doubt that there are some more on the way but really we need at least twice the amount we have now at least. Playing the same 8 over and over is starting grain. Most players play online so this is the way to go rather than worry about adding extra story or cut scenes.

2. Weapons - There really isn’t enough variety between the weapons and while you can customise then it never feels that you have something unique or different. They are all basically guns after all. It would be great to see some other weapons make the grade. How about a flamethrower, an electricity gun that disrupts turrets, some melee weapons for close kills, a crossbow, a shield, a missile launcher or countless others (I’m sure we could get plenty of ideas on this). Player like to feel that there character is unique and while abilities help this weapons make all the difference.

3. Abilities - Again no surprises but a few more would be nice. Having increased supplies or armour doesn’t really make you feel that you character is anything beyond the norm. It is unique abilities that make the difference. How about a clocking device for operatives, a bayonet charge for soldiers, deployable cover for engineers or the ability to pull downed players to cover for a safe revive for medics. The level cap at 20 is good idea as it stops you from creating mega characters who can just do it all but if you are going to make us specialise our characters then make it worthwhile. Oh and while I am on the subject a cap at 20 is good but please keep counting my XP score even if I get no new points for it. We all like to feel that we are still increasing our score.

4. Character appearance - Of course some new outfits and gear would be nice. The ability to choose custom colours would be nice too. The ability to add custom logos to the back clothes or badges to denote clans would be a nice touch. However what would be really great is if your appearance effected the game play. I’m thinking goggles to protect from flash bangs, boots that increase your speed or protect from a large fall, trousers with panels that increase you slide distance etc. You get the idea.

5. Freeplay - To be honest it doesn’t feel much different to the Champaign mode. Knowing the structure of Brink it is unlike that custom objectives or map editing could be added like Halo but we live in hope. The ability to create custom game rules would really add to the game. Where teams where made up of players who are a fixed class and can’t change would add to the need for tactics and teamwork. There just isn’t enough options to make it anything more than a random version of the main game. Add some more options and game types please. We don’t want another Halo or COD but take a look at the variety of options they offer and Brink does look a bit bare by comparison.

6. Stats - Yes we have the stats website up and running but really it would be nice have some more in game stats especially on freeplay. Kills, accuracy, deaths and alike are must and it does feel that the use of the stats site has been used to fill this gap but really who wants to play a game and then go online to see how they did? We want instant results. Clearly the game does track this info since it appears on the stats site so lets bring it in-game. Leaderboards and likewise a must.

7. Stats site - Like the game the use of stats site is only going to work if it is supported further. The addition of clans and such is a good idea especially if this is supported through torments and leaderboards. However it needs to offer more than just standard stats which should in all honest be included in the main game (see above). Give us detailed maps of the levels, offer level guides, let users comment on the levels and offer tactic advice such as placing makers or drawing out routes. They need to grow the social aspects of the site and not just give us a load of numbers. Take a look at the new COD Elite site to see how it is done.

So these are a few of my suggestions. What do you think? Got any better ideas or something to add. Lets make our voices heard and make Brink a better experience for all of us that love it so and developers lets get some feedback on here please and lets know that you care.

Asking for Kills and Deaths is a bit of a touchy subject.

They specifically advertised NO K/D tracking as part of the game's team focus. Stats site shows kills, but not deaths, and tracking K/D encourages camping and non-team-focused behaviour - people are used to putting WAY too much emphasis on this number in other games, so they'll do the same here if you let them. I'd like to see number of kills, but no concern for deaths - I often behave like a suicide Medic running in and getting killed without firing a shot - BUT my team survives because of it, and I often get patched up by someone who realises my death wasn't in vain.

All I have to say is if you want something done, don't go and complain to the Publisher, Bethesda, complain to the developer that can actually issue an update, Splash Damage. It was nice of you to type all of that other stuff out though.

This.

People are already playing differently with the stats site up, adding in game stats, particularly of that nature, is asking for trouble.

On the rest, more levels and abilities yes (no level cap increase please), and extra appearance stuff would be nice as well. As far as weapons, there really are a lot of options, and while I don't mind more I also don't think there's a lot of uniques stuff to add. The more differences there are that's more textures and what not that the game must load, which usually means more lag.

Here's hoping for a level creator.

I don't see an issue. You get so little points for kills that I don't think we will suddenly see loads of camping. It would just be nice if at the end of the match it would give a little more feed back on how well I played rather than just the XP or awards. Even if the stats are just tracked on a game per game basis. How about assist counts, objective complete %, revives used, number of buffs given out....you get the idea.

The story and the cut-scenes are vital to each map. Yes we need more, and we will get more, but I hope that SD is smart enough to give each map its own cut-scenes.




Well, they are bringing a shield with the next DLC. I would like to see more weapons but Im not keen on the more eccentric ideas people are bringing to the table. The flamethrower would work, but only as an extremely close range weapon, and that would mean that a heavy could only really use it while defending Terminal or some other close quarters area.



I like the deployable cover idea, but for the medic idea, wouldnt it be easier and/or safer just to toss the syringe, if you drag someone to safety then you are exposed and will be slowed down, bad combo in this fast paced game. They will be giving us more abilities, how effective they are and how unique they are is yet to be determined. I will say though that when I have a pure solider and a pure medic, they do feel completely different as is.




I like the logo idea. I don't like the affecting gameplay idea. That would just negate all the cloths that do nothing. I would rather they add more options to the face-paint and/or customizing the colors




As long as the game modes fit into the style of Brink Im all for it, I don't want generic game-modes but Im sure the devs could come up with some very cool and unique game modes if they wish.



Leader boards, sure, K/D no. W/L is useless with the current option to switch sides, take that away and then add a W/L




I think they should focus on a way of incorporating the Meta-game they currently have into the game itself, if they do that then it will add a huge dynamic to the game that hasn't been seen before and make Brink truly revolutionary.

Fair point. I kind of saw them as the same thing but you are right. For Bethesda read Splash damage.

I see your point but do you play Brink online as a multiplayer game or do you play solo on story. Expand the sorty by all means but I would rather see a 1GB updated filled with new and expanded features then the bulk of it taken up with cutscene data. If you have the VO at the start of the level do you then need a cutscene too? Brink is not exactly story driven.

You should be able to get an idea of how well you played based on the amount of XP per round and if you won or not, being that it is an objective game.



I like this idea though.

Just to clarify, I'm not saying "don't track kills" and I'm not saying "don't give us stats"

I'd LOVE to have a load of in-game stats, and I'd like for "kills" to be in with those stats - but in a context where your kills aren't made to look like they're important, and other stats are more relevant to look at.

Most important point I'm making is don't track DEATHS, and don't track K/D. Those two things WILL, and DO lead to camping and ignoring teamwork. Huge amounts of players are used to games which reward K/D focus, and it's seen as a necessity by a lot of people because of that, not because of any legitimate reason - there are clans in most games which let people in based on K/D and ignore everything else, there would be people doing the same in Brink if you give them the numbers to work from. If we don't get K/D, we don't get K/D *****s. Keep the team focus where it is.

I agree. Like I said then give us team based stats then. How about assist counts, objective complete %, revives used, number of buffs given out. Give me a rating of how well I played as a team member. Was I the bond that kept the team together or a thorn in their side. With the addition of clans tracking how well a team works together could be a great feature and shift the focus from the K/D ratio that dominates other games. It would be a nice shift if Brink offered teamwork ranking based on this kind of stuff. No one wants to see all out deathmatches here.

Actually, Id argue that Brink is very story driven. Most people don't like the story because it makes your character seem like just another solider, whereas most games make the pc the star of the show. I enjoy that fact immensely. It adds to the whole "team-work" motif that SD was going for. Both sides of the conflict have different intel on the situation. CC for example, one side says its a cure and the other says its a bio-weapon. I think that people dismiss the story too easily, it give you context for each battle, something that I don't know if any other game has ever done.

It is a nice touch but like I said I would rather new features and improvements than more cutscenes. Most DLC these days is about 1GB or less. Cutscenes take up a lot of memory. Would you rather see six new levels without cutscenes of two with cutscenes? The VO at the loading point of a level tends to give you the bulk of the story and the scenes themselves don't really tell you anything other than the grunts talking. You mention the bio weapon on CC. That is explained in the VO not the cutscene. in fact the cutscene tells you nothing. Adding new VO which expand the story takes up very little memory unlike cutscenes.

I would prefer two levels with cut scenes, but maybe thats just me. And yes the voice overs do cover the gist of it but maybe Im vein, I like to see my character just chilling, preparing for battle. I would even go so far as to say Id rather have two levels if my character gets some talk time in the cut scenes. I really just wish they'd fix the bug that puts the wrong character in the cut scenes. I do love when it works and you see everyones created characters, I think it adds to the game way more than it detracts.

It is not vein. I guess it just depends on what you want for you money. If I am forking out ￡8 ($16 approx) for some new content then I want new content not extra cutscenes. I play Brink for the gameplay not the story. If I wanted to watch Brink the movie then I would stick Ultraviolet in DVD player. lol.

Well, what if they gave you 6 levels with cut scenes? Your proposing that they would intentionally skimp on content to cash grab, now a lot of people on this forum would readily say that they have been doing this with the game itself, but I don't think thats the case. No company, the size of SD, can afford to "play" their audience like that. It may work with Activision, and their countless yearly releases ( Im not just talking Cod but all the sports titles, Assasians Creed, Guitar Hero etc. as well) but SD is nowhere near the size nor does it have the "weight" behind it to do that, I think they truly gave it their all, with whatever constraints (time, money, etc.). If they were to give us 6 levels, in Brink fashion (voice overs, cut scenes, intricate level design) then would you say, "well Id rather have 10 levels and [censored] the cut scenes" or would you be rather please with the fact that you got, IMO, 6 true Brink levels.

I don't think they can rightfully take away the things that the levels are based around, because each level is intertwined with the story, and if they were to just drop the story, I think that would be considered a cash grab, "selling out" if you will, because it wouldn't stay true to the game, it would be them taking away half the work involved in an attempt to make money.