[E3 2010] Brink Hands-On
We finally get the chance to see if Splash Damage's shooter will play well with others.
Published: June 25, 2010
Though we were treated to a trio of promising outings at this year's BFG event in Vegas, the one we were most interested in, Brink, was MIA due to the Volcanic Ash Cloud of Doom hanging over the developer's native UK. Sure, we got to view presentations on Hunted: The Demon's Forge, Fallout: New Vegas, RAGE -- the latter of which was especially mind-blowing -- but none of those games was meant to be something of an upset to first-person shooters.
For those that haven't been following Brink's inception, we'll catch you up quick-style: it's the future, and a former utopian experiment called The Ark is now a shadow of its former glory. Years after the fall of the idyllic, supposedly self-sustaining escape's shutdown, a sort of constant tournament to the death between all manner of nasty baddies has been going on. Using a system called SMART -- Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain -- one need only point the view at an object while holding the SMART button and the appropriate action will be taken; look up and you'll climb or vault over objects, look down and you'll slide under them or jump down.
All of this is wrapped around one hell of an engine built in part by one of the chief tech heads formerly at Ninja Theory, creators of Heavenly Sword. Not surprisingly, Brink was being showcased at E3 this year on PlayStation 3s (still a fairly rare sight if we're being honest) and we jumped at the opportunity to dig a little deeper. Though our play session with the game's multiplayer against a few local and online opponents was brief, a few things were made quite clear.
Chiefly among them was the fact that SMART is aptly-named. It took a bit of getting used to, holding down a button to help traverse various bits of cover, low-hanging obstructions and things like railings, but the class-based shooter gameplay was undoubtedly improved by allowing the player to very easily keep moving -- important because the various ultra-customizable combatants weren't hyper-agile ninjas, they were slightly bulky and had something of a languid gait.
This meant firefights were less twitchy and, once the level design was learned, became more about using those SMART transitions to move past objects and quickly change heights during duels rather than just jumping behind the odd crate for cover. We spent most of our time with the medic class, learning the level while pumping fellow combatants with "super-charged" health perks (and of course healing ourselves with a dedicated button after a firefight).
It's important to note that while we were playing against other actual people, the boundary between single- and multi-player modes is nowhere near as structured as in other games. Co-op, competitive and single-player modes operate on the same basic rules, gameplay speed and, perhaps most interesting of all, XP. XP drives the entire customization part of the game, allowing you to adjust gear and body types, but also rework your weapons loadout. Given the various classes (Operative, Engineer, Medic and Solider -- think support, infiltration, heavy weapons and all-around), plus all the various weapons options and scopes, ammo types, stocks and so on, there's plenty to keep players going in any of the modes.
We didn't get to play nearly enough of the game, but with almost a year before the Spring 2011 release date, we're guessing we'll have at least one more crack at it before then. Rest assured that when we do, you'll know all about it.
For those that haven't been following Brink's inception, we'll catch you up quick-style: it's the future, and a former utopian experiment called The Ark is now a shadow of its former glory. Years after the fall of the idyllic, supposedly self-sustaining escape's shutdown, a sort of constant tournament to the death between all manner of nasty baddies has been going on. Using a system called SMART -- Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain -- one need only point the view at an object while holding the SMART button and the appropriate action will be taken; look up and you'll climb or vault over objects, look down and you'll slide under them or jump down.
All of this is wrapped around one hell of an engine built in part by one of the chief tech heads formerly at Ninja Theory, creators of Heavenly Sword. Not surprisingly, Brink was being showcased at E3 this year on PlayStation 3s (still a fairly rare sight if we're being honest) and we jumped at the opportunity to dig a little deeper. Though our play session with the game's multiplayer against a few local and online opponents was brief, a few things were made quite clear.
Chiefly among them was the fact that SMART is aptly-named. It took a bit of getting used to, holding down a button to help traverse various bits of cover, low-hanging obstructions and things like railings, but the class-based shooter gameplay was undoubtedly improved by allowing the player to very easily keep moving -- important because the various ultra-customizable combatants weren't hyper-agile ninjas, they were slightly bulky and had something of a languid gait.
This meant firefights were less twitchy and, once the level design was learned, became more about using those SMART transitions to move past objects and quickly change heights during duels rather than just jumping behind the odd crate for cover. We spent most of our time with the medic class, learning the level while pumping fellow combatants with "super-charged" health perks (and of course healing ourselves with a dedicated button after a firefight).
It's important to note that while we were playing against other actual people, the boundary between single- and multi-player modes is nowhere near as structured as in other games. Co-op, competitive and single-player modes operate on the same basic rules, gameplay speed and, perhaps most interesting of all, XP. XP drives the entire customization part of the game, allowing you to adjust gear and body types, but also rework your weapons loadout. Given the various classes (Operative, Engineer, Medic and Solider -- think support, infiltration, heavy weapons and all-around), plus all the various weapons options and scopes, ammo types, stocks and so on, there's plenty to keep players going in any of the modes.
We didn't get to play nearly enough of the game, but with almost a year before the Spring 2011 release date, we're guessing we'll have at least one more crack at it before then. Rest assured that when we do, you'll know all about it.
