Most people I know are really torn as to whether or not Brink is worth their money and have heard mixed opinions from everyone they've asked. I'm making this thread to try and present an unbiased list of pros and cons and help those of you who can't make up their minds as to whether or not to purchase Brink. If it means anything to you guys I'm a battlefield really devoted fan and I used to play Rainbow and Ghost Recon games at the highest levels of competitive play. This is all based on the Xbox version of the game.

Pros:
The gameplay in Brink lives up to everything that was promised by the developers, there's no room for anything aside from teamwork. The gameplay is purely objective-based and while the first few hours are nothing less than painful, when you finally get past the learning curve brink is a lot of fun. As far as public matches are concerned, there's in-game stat tracking of any form and kills really don't feel rewarding relative to completing objectives, it does a great job of keeping people focused on objectives. You really don't see those players running around with their heads cut off looking for nothing but high K/D ratios like you find in CoD and recently in Battlefield as well. For those of you looking for a new competitive game there's a significant skill gap in brink although it comes in the form of movement more so than gunskill. As far as the shooting goes, hipfire seems to be the most effective method of getting kills and the aim assist does every bit as much work of staying on the target as the player. However, characters move very quickly and when you come against good players jumping off of walls and the like there's no question why the auto-aim is there. As I stated before the game also revolves around teamwork, there is no question who the better team is at the end of the game and Brink doesn't treat the losers too kindly. The losing teams often has to endure playing target dummy for the winners for time spans of up to 20 minutes and the game is in no way forgiving. I guess the best way to put everything I said is if you're stupid Brink isn't for you, be honest with yourselves when you ask that question.

Cons:
Brink really doesn't feel like it was finished, in the game's current state I can't help but feel like I just got my $60 stolen. There's a myriad of lag/graphical issues and when you consider that the release date was pushed forward because "production wrapped up earlier than planned" it feels like a slap in the face. The current graphics on Xbox 360 are far worse than what I've seen in youtube videos/trailers and while I'm aware most of that is PC the old Xbox gameplay's look lightyears better than the game I'm playing now. I've been in quite a few firefights where if I took a screenshot half the people who looked at it wouldn't even be able to identify that blob I was shooting as a person. Textures just simply don't load and the environment looks like a series of single shaded blocks which never seem to look finished. Additionally, objects start looking pixelated and unidentifiable at distances of roughly 20 yards in game, many maps are designed for gunfights to take place at those ranges. I'm aware there's supposed to be a patch to address this (unfortunately I believe it was the day one patch I already downloaded) but the problems seem so sever that it would be a miracle for them to be addressed within a month let alone before everyone lost their patience with them. Additionally, there is unacceptable lag in nearly every multiplayer game I've played. I've spent about 6 hours looking for a standard 8v8 match with no luck. The only games I've been able to play were in the 5v5 competitve playlist and even those were hit or miss. This game is very unique and enjoyable but the glitches/lag take away from that and then some.

My suggestion to those of you who are still undecided is to wait a week. If you come back to these forums and the [censored]ing and moaning has stopped go buy the game, all issues aside it's one of the best games I've ever purchased. However, if a week from now the game's in the same condition it is now don't waste your money. I don't see many people with the patience to wait for these issues to be addressed for any longer than a week and while I hate to say it there's only so much that can be done with an update, not to mention the Microsoft certification process which would basically guarantee we won't see that update for at least a month. Brink really is a great game and had they held off on the release for a few months of testing (I'm not sure why they didn't have a demo or beta to catch all of this) it could have been very successful. But as it stands now the game was made with a focus on online multiplayer and that multiplayer simply isn't even playable.

First honest, and well thought out post in a long while.
:bowdown: :cookie:

QFT.

Well said, OP.

Very honest thread here. Well done.

However, you shouldn't take the early release as a slap in the face. Brink is like the Motorola Xoom of the videogame market; it was just trying to get ahead by releasing earlier.

Bethesda and SD both have good reps. I'm confident that it will be polished soon. Even if it isn't, who cares? It was certainly more entertaining to me than Portal 2.

It really wouldn't have anything to compete with even if it came out two months from now. The big three multiplayer shooters of the year seem to be Gears 3, BF3 and the new CoD, whatever the hell it's name happens to be. All of these games aren't scheduled to release until November and it's been that way for quite a while now. On top of that the Xbox ( I can't speak for PS3/PC) hasn't seen a good game in about six months. The game just feels like it was rushed and there doesn't even seem to be a logical reason for rushing towards an earlier release.

For those of you interested in my original post I forgot to mention anything about the recent Brink reviews. I've yet to read a positive review on Brink and I've yet to read a review by anyone who doesn't deserve to be shot. Half of them are based off of gameplay against only bots and they really shouldn't even be taken in to consideration.

Splash Damage is traditionally a PC gaming company. Brink was in competition with LA Noire on Steam. This game also took 3 years to develop, which I definitely don't consider to be rushed, but then again, this is what happens when you don't have a public beta.

seems all the smart and reasonable people come out at night. great job with this. this should be stickied, but that wont happen. very well thought out review man, great job

Welcome the forums, OP. Here is your turtle: :turtle:

I read the title and expected some [censored]-y, pretentious rant like the mounds we already have. Intelligent, informed and positive response to the flaws that have made most others [censored] and moan. It does seem like 360 got the shaft with release performance since I've heard very few complaints for PS3 players: on GFAQs, the average user rating for the 360 version is about 6.5, whereas for PS3 it's 8.2.

People should read this!