» Thu Jul 14, 2011 11:21 pm I got onto the Brink bandwagon late. I didn't actually find out about the game until last December after seeing someone mention it on Gamefaqs in the MAG forum. So I looked it up, and what I saw impressed me. Not so much the game itself, but the fact that a game developer wasn't making a "status quo" FPS. It was different, and that's what hooked me. Not the promises they made. Not the hype they poured into the advertising. The idea behind the game is what made me follow it. As the months progressed, I saw more and more. And as I saw more, I started liking what I saw even more. I didn't fall into the hooplah though. I've never bought a game because of what a developer promises it'll deliver. I buy my games based on if it looks like something I'll have fun playing. So fast forward some months, and we reach May 10, 2011. Amidst the trainwreck of PSN being down, Brink releases, and I purchase it full price...$60, as did many others. That's were the overall division of sides begin. On the PC and 360 side, they're all lambasting the game for being incomplete, buggy and unplayable. Meanwhile I, as well as the rest of the PSN community have to wait to experience the game as it was meant to be experienced...online. In the meantime, I use that time to complete the challenges, level up my 1st two characters, and "train" for the online battles to come. But between that time from May 10th to May 23rd (the day PSN went back online after over a month), I "got to know" Brink. As did a majority of the PSN users. And in doing so, gained a different outlook on it.
What's the outlook you ask? Simple. The game isn't perfect. It's not a "CoD killer" as was stated when they advertised it. But I knew that before I even opened the game. CoD is mass produced for casual gamers with no kind of learning curve. Hence, millions upon millions buy and play it. Brink is a game that forces you to completely unlearned everything you'd usually do in other FPS games. So on that alone, not even including the technical issues the game has, I knew Brink would fall short of the big name FPS games on the market. But that made me want to get better at Brink even more. I can pick up a CoD game, or even my "default" FPS game MAG and rack up a single match bodycount that staggers the mind. But that's only because it requires you to do one thing...point and shoot. Brink on the otherhand brings a whole new element into play...movement. An element that's actually even more important then what weapon you're using. A moving target is harder to hit then a stationary one. That's common knowledge. But a moving and ATTACKING target is even more hard to hit. And that is the genius behind Brink's design.
It all falls back to getting to know the game. And those of us who have find it kinda hard to assimilate back into the cookie cutter FPS games. I can't tell you how many times I've played MAG since Brink game out that I unintentionally see myself trying to jump over objects of use the terrain to get better positions. But on the same token, I also find myself flanking and taking more dynamic angles at enemies they don't usually expect. Yes...BRINK HAS MADE ME BETTER AT OTHER FPS GAMES. Because while you can't incorporate tactics from CoD, BF, Halo or MAG into Brink (no good ones anyway), you can incorporate some Brink tactics into them. My KDR in MAG prior to Brink was 1.25. Since Brink, it's now 1.84. That's a significant spike. Is it directly because of Brink? I can't really say. But what I can say is that Brink has made me a more strategic FPS player. Rather then using brute force, I plan my attacks accordingly, and attack ONLY when I see I have the advantage...rather then engaging and quickly losing my edge do to poor execution. I reload more. I center my aim quicker in hip fire and ADS alike. I'm quicker on the draw now. These are all attributed to Brink specifically, because if you're not quick in Brink, you're dead.
I know I'm going a bit long on this, so I'll close things up soon. In the long run, am I disappointed with Brink? No. I do agree with most in that some of the technical stuff could have been dealt with better, and the lack of content does strain how long I play the game session by session. But I don't feel robbed by the $60 price I payed for the game, because it's a game I have fun playing. And that is, and always will be the driving force for me personally for as long as I keep gaming, having fun. I can understand the reasons why some people might seem cheated, slighted or fooled by the game. But that's really no one's fault but their own for expecting something that honestly can't be done. There is no such thing as a CoD killer. The only game capable of that is the next CoD game. Always will be. What Brink is...is a departure from the norm. A different take on the FPS genre that while isn't perfect, isn't horrible either. Not like other games. (Crysis 2 and Homefront anyone?) On that alone, I'll continue playing, enjoying and having fun with Brink.
