Brink Review (360)

Now before I begin, I think it's important to mention. That I, just like most of you really wanted Brink to be awesome. I thought this game would be the Shadowrun sequel I never got. I wanted so many things for this game, maybe I should have limited my expectations.

Lets see, where to begin? Well it's only fitting I start with what immediately frustrated me. A lack of a party or matchmaking system. Can someone please explain to me why developers still create multi-player without the use of these crucial features? I almost want to blame Microsoft because they don't force it be implemented.

Rolling right along with what caused my second wave of semi-frustration. During the promotion and previews of this game they really drove home their S.M.A.R.T. feature. Which was supposed to take movement in modern video games make them look like we were playing in 2D all along. Well, you won't hear a lot of this from this review but, this feat they actually accomplish. SMART is fun and an awesome way to get around. It even manages to feel comfortable. Yet, there's a catch. None of the maps really allow you to take advantage of the advanced motion capabilities. So great feature? Yes. So this is why I'm semi-frustrated because it actually works but you never get to take advantage of it.

I could go on and on about what plagues Brink but, the quickest route to the core of the problem is, the game doesn't do anything well or unique. For a game boasting it's individuality, it's a pretty underwhelming experience. Being Heavy isn't really effective, You become really slow (which is expected) but your health seems to deplete at the same rate as any other body type. The engineer's turrets can't kill anything until you reach it's highest level. The soldier is probably the most utilized class because every gun has such a shallow clip. So having a trusty soldier supplying ammo is crucial. It's almost as if they didn't want any one thing to be too effective. In this process of scaling it back they completely neuter the overall fun.

I'm not going to sit back and say the same as every other review, that oh this game just isn't for me and it's probably for somebody out there. I'm willing to try and accept just about everything game wise. This game just doesn't cut it. If you feel you MUST try it, please I urge you. Rent it.