» Tue Apr 19, 2011 8:28 am This is all my personal opinion and should not be taken as anything more then one single player offering his feedback / review. I already know my grammer / spelling svcks :tongue:
*Everything should be taken with a pinch of salt because this is all my humble personal opinion*
My system: PC
1600 x 1200
Samsung 630 series 40" 1080p LCD
Logitech Z-5500 505 Watts 5.1 Digital Speaker System
GeForce GTX 460 Hawk
4GB ram
Intel Duo E8500 3.17GHz
Vista 32-bit
Fiber Optics at 15Mbs
On with the review...
GamePlay (single) 6/10
GamePlay (online) 8.5/10
No suprise here... much more fun playing with humans then with the AI, then again can we not say this about 99% of the games out there?
Single / Solo play is not super bad, its just that your AI team mates will have you yelling at the screen. They at least try to be helpful but most of the time you will find your team 100% soldiers and zero medics but maybe just maybe 1 engineer. You will also find that the AI will very easily make a choke point where both teams are just running at each other with guns blazing without any thought to the objective. Most of the time the enemy AIs are very bad players and are to easy to fight against but then again sometimes they will drop you in a heatbeat from several hundred yards away without warning. Its like the AI skill level is 3/10 85% of the time then the other 15% of the time they get some sort of super boost and become super hardcoe for a few minutes before going back to being dumb. On rare occasions when the AI does have a medic on your team, if your laying on the floor on the 2nd level the AI medic will run around in circles right under you on the 1st floor. On rare occasions when the AI goes engineer they will spend a few seconds doing something engineer like but are much more interested in shooting the enemy then doing the objective. 20% of the time your AI team mates will wonder off to somewhere on the map that has nothing to do with anything. Also, if you pick to go do a objective... over half your AI team with automaticly do the very same objective and now you have to race / compete against your own team mates.
Multiplayer / Online play is where you want to be. This game is really a team game where you have no choice but to play with other people but we all know this in the very beginning so once again... no suprise here. I love the fact that the game really pushes everyone into the team work area. For once when playing online FPS the whole team is really working together. Everyone throwing upgrades at everyone, everyone backing each other up and really working like a team. So far after playign these last few days I have not had one single bad experience while playing online. For the most part this game really rocks in the multiplayer area. The normal FPS jerk is not found here, the haters and bashers are very rare too. Everytime I play online... I have a blast playing!
You will want to play online with others, its just the way the game is. Even if your not the type to play multiplayer and had bad experiences in the past with other games... you will still want to play this in multiplayer because its really alot of fun. I say they did a great job in making a team base shooter and trying there hardest to remove all the bad things that are far to common in todays shooters.
Stability 8/10
I would say if you play for 4 hours, you will either lag to death or crash to desktop once. Most of the time this game is very stable, the engine runs very smooth with no jerk or shatter or graphic lag. At times you will find games that for some reason have high amounts of lag but most of the time you will not have any problems finding games that dont have the lag issues. Now when I crash once per 4 hours of study play, I always crash to the desktop with an error message about nvidia opengl error, yes have everything up to date.
Graphics 7.5/10
I love the graphic style but the graphics to me seem dated and old. When I'm looking at my character in the appreance menu changing outfits... WOW!!! looks freaking amazing!!! but when I'm playing the game the graphics look older. What you see at the customizing screens is NOT what you see in game. If the in game graphics where the very same as in the creator... I would never stop playing LoL
Try to explain that... in the character and weapon creator the graphics are extermly sharp, beautiful, amazing, super high detailed and makes my Samsung really shine! Now after you get into the game, you will notice right away that the graphics are not up to todays standards. Its like the difference between SVCD and Blu-ray.
Sound 9/10
All I can say is... oh... my...gewd... Sweetman you da man!!!
The music is lackluster, I have my background music at 40% so that I can barely hear it but it really does fit the game. Also its very normal for ME to turn down the background music in all games... expect for ridge racer LoL
Now the sounds are excellent. The guns sound so very good, the bullets whipping past your head, the foot steps, reloading and just about everything else is really great.
Customizing 6/10
at the risk of being flamed... the customizing is very weak.
Pick from a few different faces, pick from a few pants, a few shirts, a few jackets, a few hair/head items and a few face items. Then you can pick from a few different colors of each *YAWN*
I'm the player that can spend hours customizing things in game, love having that one look that I truly want. In this game, you can somewhat look different but I am already seeing LOTS of players that are looking the same.
You can customize about everything but you will only find a very limited number of items to pick from. They really need to add tons more items to the game.
Challenges 8/10
Yes... playing single will make you beat your head against the wall so I recommend playing with others when you do these. They are great for breaking you into the game and I find this much better then some lame tutorial. I do like the fact that these are the only way to unlock weapons and other items. Made me swear at my screen for about an hour but finally got thru them and now I can pakour so much better LoL
Maps 7/10
The maps are good and well designed. The maps look good, I have never "fell threw the world" and have never got stuck somewhere that I could nto get out. Plenty of things in the maps to keep you busy, and lots of ways to cross the map. The size of them are medium but this is good because it keeps the players close to each other. The maps look and feel different from each other. My only complaint is that here is only a few different maps to play on. Once again they need to add MORE to the game.
Weapons 8/10
There is only a few weapons to pick from in each group but they all feel very different from each other. One AR will very, sound and play much different then another AR for example. I do like the weapons and the way the feel and play but once again... they need to add MORE. Most weapons have 4 add-ons but not all weapons have the same add-ons and some weapons have no add-ons... guess they did this for balance. When you switch from AR to shotgun, its a night and day difference just like it should be. My biggest complaint... if you look at the STATS you will only pick one single AR, one single SMG and so on because with the stats there is one weapon in each group that is way better then the others. Once again... they need to add MORE.
Overall 8/10
I can not complain about spending the $50 for this game.
I have told my friends to buy the game.
I play the game every single day after work.
I can not get enough of Brink.
I normally avoid multiplayer FPS games but love playing Brink multiplayer.
I for one say "Great Job Splash Damage!"
Small patch for a few minor problems will take away any problems, which are small and minor to begin with.
Game needs TONS of items added (clothes and weapons)
The Good---> very addicting team play that will keep you hooked.
The Bad-----> very limited number of clothes, weapons, add-ons and skills.
In closing and if any SD peeps are reading this I say to you...
Great Job, Thank You, Brink rocks and PLEEEEEEEEESE start adding more clothing items, more faces, more weapons and more weapon add-ons... please add more items!
Edit---------
SMART 8/10
First note that I am not the "bunny hoper" type and normally laugh at players in shooters jumping around like hamsters on coffee.
The SMART feature of the game is good and I hope to see this sort of thing in more games in the near future. You can either hit space and time it or just do what I do... run and hold down the left ctrl well using the mouse to see where your going. I seen some reviews say bad things about SMART, I disagree with them. Its very very rare that I think I can jump somewhere and not be able to. Most times I go dang I made it up here that easy?
Body Types 9/10
I really like this... does not matter what "class" you are, just matters how your body is. I played with all 3 and must admit to being a fan of the Heavy :biggrin:
Skinny boy darting around, the average Joe or a big boy with big toys and more health. Makes perfect sense to me and I beleive it works great within the game.
Addiction level 8.5/10
Any old gamer will tell you the best measurement of a game's "value" is the addiction level.
When I was at work today, I could not help but think about Brink. Kept thinking about a new outfit, what map I would play and the game play I did yesterday. Got home from work and the first thing I did was fire up the PC so I could get Brink up and running :biggrin:
I would say that it will be months before I slow down on playing Brink. Example---> Dragon Age 2 = 1 week / Metro 2033 = 1 week / Shift = 1 week (see the pattern?)
Touch base on the AI
I see lots of debates about this one... The AI compared to other games, this AI is what I would consider normal. Its always better and always more fun to play with real people. Its been like this since pong, yah I'm an old dog :tongue:
Do i think the AI should be patched ASAP? Nope
Would I like to see a patch somewhere in the future that makes the AI better at some point? Sure
Does the AI have a factor for me and my playing? Not really
Touch base on customizing
Is the customizer good? Heck yah! You can make some really super cool looking characters in Brink. I like the creator, love the fact I can keep changing, enjoy the fact I must unlock better items and think they did great with it.
My complaint? I just would like to see a larger selection is all but who does'nt? LoL
Would I recommend Brink to my real life friends? I already have!
Ok... I cant forum anymore... MUST PLAY BRINK! Now! :gun:
