In Defense of Brink

We live in a gaming time of triple-A titles, where a company is made or broken on the success of its tent pole release. Alas, much like the film industry, this leads some companies to lean on established franchises and brand names in order to get those coins rolling in. The casual cynic’s first target is usually Nintendo, who perform an almost predictable cycle of Mario, Zelda and ‘Random Misc. Character From Their Back Catalogue’ for the likes of the Wii and (3)DS. However, fingers can also be pointed at the annual Call of Duty games that are churned out, as well as the resurrection of old classics, long since forgotten (Duke Nukem, Max Payne, etc.). There is a fear to produce a new IP in case the gaming masses snort in derision at your attempts, or write you off as just another Halo Clone.

In the last year, however, we have seen some innovation in the retail world, but with that has come some backlash. Despite its unique way to play, Bulletstorm was derided for its use of bad language and general storyline. Alan Wake got mostly back-handed praise, but again found itself floundering against the ‘big names’.  These got off lightly, judging by the likes of Homefront, Mindjack and Bodycount, which got slated by gamers for various technical and gameplay reasons, but the one I couldn’t help noticing getting a violent stream of vitriol was one that I think deserves to be lauded by all those who handle a controller: Brink.

Brink sold itself as a team-based, objective-based multiplayer shooter with billions of customisation options, however it suffered from the greatest problem a game focusing on multiplayer could have: lag. And it wasn’t just the odd glitchy jump in space and time which caused an inadvertent death, it was crippling, game-breaking, smash-the-controller lag. This left most people who bought it on release with a very bad taste in their mouth, and Brink was widely condemned by gamers across the spectrum, left to rot in the bargain basements of your local supermarkets.

But wait! As you may have guessed from the title, I am here to defend Brink, and defend I shall. Starting with something that will earn me a few shakes of the head and pithy remarks from the learned internet masses… Brink is a surprisingly good single player game. Naturally, the game is best played with others, but there is a certain intensity when playing by yourself. You adopt a lone wolf personality, aware that your team mates don’t share your adept skill and cunning, and instead are the run and gun types you’re fighting against. You can choose to either go for the objectives yourself or diligently defend one of your automaton teamsters to glory. Yes, there are moments of frustration, but the AI isn’t bad enough to see bots running full steam ahead into a minefield of death and bullets. Even without the shouting voices down your headset, you do get a sense of teamwork that adds to a thrilling experience.

One of the main selling points of Brink is its style of play. It’s not about how many of the opposite team you can kill, or how big your guns are, it’s about getting the job done. While it would be easy to break these down into simple attack and defend generalisations, there is a multitude of different things to do in Brink. When on the offensive, this can range from protecting a engineering buggy, to hacking into a computer, to simply breaking down a wall to create a shortcut. The variation of tasks is also split across the different player types that you can be. While they are the standard Soldier, Engineer, Medic and Spy classes that we see in most multi-shooters, each one’s skills and objectives are intriguing enough to put them on a level with games such as Team Fortress.

And that’s not to mention the fact that you play as both factions. As both the Resistance and Security, you see both sides to a mission via the game’s story. So while you were tasked with blowing up the gates as the Resistance, as Security you find yourself on the other side of the fence, making sure they stay in tip-top condition. As noted in reviews for the game on release, neither side is ‘good’ or ‘bad’, making both stories interesting enough to keep along with.

In the end, Brink didn’t have a fair shake of the dice when it came to entering the world as a new IP. The controls weren’t as sharp as most games, the cartoony graphics were seen as ugly and the lag all but killed it for most players. Hell, even this gamer will admit that the customisation levels are fun, but ultimately shrug-worthy at best, and that in single player the game does bottle-neck in places, meaning it is a war of attrition to get your objective completed. But it is a good game! And most of all, it is a fun game. What’s more, the level of patches that have since been released have meant that the lag, while still present, isn’t as terminal as it once was. Most of all, due to the backlash, Brink is now so cheap that you can pick it up for next to nothing.  Given the quality of some low-class games, Brink is a diamond in the rough, waiting for you to jump in and make your own Easter Island look-a-like and shoot your way to glory. Okay, Splash Damage, I’ll take that commission any time now…

• Welcome to the Multi-Shooter-Verse
• In Defense of Brink
• Nintend'oh!