A really fun online focused shooter, at least when the online side actually works.

Brink is a team objective FPS from the developers at Splash Damage, with a heavy multiplayer focus ala Left 4 Dead or Shadowrun. While there are campaign missions, the game is clearly designed to be played with other people, and if you choose to play offline, your team and enemies are populated by bots, which aren't the smartest group of AI controlled characters in the world. If you're even planning on picking up Brink, then you better be planning to play it online.

There are a lot of things I enjoyed about Brink, but the game does have a couple serious flaws as of this moment. I waited to type up this review because there was a day one patch promised on the 360 that was scheduled to fix a couple graphical issues and some network problems, and I also waited because in the week prior to release I rarely ran into enough people online to get a full 16 player match going. Having now played a decent amount of MP after launch, I'm pretty glad that I waited, because that patch didn't seem to do the job when it comes to the network problems.

First, let me run over the positives. The maps in this game, 8 in total, are all pretty well designed. One big component of the gameplay involves the SMART system, which is essentially free running or parkour style movement, performed by holding down the run button or tapping it, allowing you to vault over objects, climb ledges, do some limited wall running, and sliding. This makes dodging enemy fire far more interesting than simply ducking behind objects, which it seems most shooters nowadays incorporate as their major mechanic. Most of the large scale firefights I got into were a lot more fun because of this, simply because while I could just pop out from cover or from around a corner and take potshots, I instead could use the SMART system to find different paths to flank the enemy from, or dash into a firefight by sliding, and pop off a few rounds before they knew what hit them. It's definitely more dynamic and interesting, and map designs make use of the SMART system extremely well.

Working hand in hand with the SMART system is the ability to choose between three body types for your character, light, medium and heavy. Light obviously gets the most mobility on the map and you'll run far faster than the other two body types, at the expense of survivability. Medium is what you'll start with; allowing you to get a feel for the system, but it doesn't take long to gain enough experience to unlock the other two body types. Heavy is a beast, and is able to carry the largest guns, like the minigun, and can take a whole lot of damage, but won't be leaping over lots of gaps and objects like the other two. Along with the body types, the game offers up a whole lot customization options for your character, and as you level up you'll constantly unlock new outfits, hair styles, facial hair, tattoos, and so on. There are also a lot of color variations for everything you unlock, and for the most part I've seen a lot of different looking creations online. There are a few types that seem exceptionally popular, like the cowboy hat for the Security forces, but I'm sure that will change over time.

The actual objectives on each map are pretty well placed, usually allowing the defending team to put up enough of a fight that stemming off invaders for fifteen minutes or so can actually be plausible. But there are also enough routes to the objective that the offense isn't screwed by being stuck in a single corridor. Also, the objectives throughout each map change up the class required to complete them often enough that most players will get a turn to be helpful, and ideally, you won't have to switch classes a lot. I say that as a good thing because as you level up you'll gain points to spend on abilities for your character, and there are a number of skills spread out across each class. You'll never have enough points to buy all the skills, but you will gain enough to max out one class and roughly enough for a second. There's also a general skill list for all characters too, so you're pretty much going to want to pick a class and stick with it in order to be useful and competitive. Also, the skill upgrades between classes are pretty useful and specific, so I didn't feel like I was dumping points into something wasted.

Now let's cover the bad stuff. The bots are pretty awful, and if you're stuck playing a match with a team that's mostly populated by bots, well, good luck. Sometimes they'll manage to try and tackle an objective, but I found myself often needing to switch to the main class for whatever objective was active, so that I could perform that actual task needed to complete it. On occasion a bot would kick in and help, but the only time that was ever consistent was if the objective required something to be picked up and carried to a different point on the map. If anything required a bomb to be placed, or something to be repaired, I pretty much had to do it. The bots seem content to engage in endless firefights without actually tackling objectives, or occasionally they'll peel off to capture one of two optional command points, which can provide a bonus to your team but rarely did the bot actually finish capturing the point. There were plenty of instances where I'd catch a bot standing still until I approached it, and then it would pick up on me and follow me around. I always wondered if I never crossed paths with the bot if it would still be standing where I found it.

Now the bot situation you might not run into a whole lot, but I had plenty of time to play against and with them prior to the game's release. Now that the game has released you'll probably run with a team that's mostly made up of actual people, which would be a great plus, but the game has some serious lag issues. When I was offered a review copy of the game, there was an email given about how there would be a day one patch to address some network and graphical issues. Prior to release, where I'd play with about three to four actual people, I almost never ran into a match with lag. Now though, with the game live and populated with lots of people from all over, the majority of the matches I've played have been like playing the game through a viewfinder. Simply walking up stairs or in a straight line becomes a chore, and forget about completing objectives or aiming at an enemy. The fewer players involved the less the lag seems to kick in, but that kind of takes away from the intended experience. I'm seriously hoping it will be fixed though, and soon, because otherwise my interest in the game is going to fall by the wayside. I imagine that will be the case for quite a few folks too. The day one patch was there on Tuesday, but for the network side of things, it seems to have accomplished little.

I'd say that Brink still has some promise if the lag can get ironed out soon enough; I certainly enjoy the online matches that run smoothly. If I can get into a match with a full 16 players and have it run smoothly, I could easily get months of enjoyment out of Brink. It doesn't take long to max out your levels though, so hopefully there's some DLC planned that will add a little more content outside of customization. I'd say you could probably give the game a rental, just to give the game a test run, but I'd seriously think twice about buying it until some of the network problems get fixed. Once that happens, then I'd highly suggest checking it out. Hopefully that happens soon enough, or else Brink will be dead in the water after a few other high profile titles release soon.