So, I was playing Brink again today out of a bit of boredom, and rollin' my Light Operative like I normally did, that little damn hitch that bothers me quickly hit up. The parkour is just kind of, clunky and choppy. Climbing over thing isn't as fluid as what I would like, and wall jumping feels incredibly jerky, and really unresponsive at times, making the could-be-awesome parkour into a hindrance rather then a way to get around freely.

And, I was playing offline as normal, so it wasn't lag. I was just curious what some of you guys thought, and if it was just me that felt the movement is a bit choppy.

Plus I was kind of hoping to talk about how I think of that was smoother, and the characters flowed more. (Best example I can give is Ninja Storm, like, watch a bit of the gameplay from that and watch the character's clothes as they move around.) It would have benefited the game immensely.

S.M.A.R.T. isn't a refined system of movement by any means. But compared to the movement of damn near every other FPS game on the market, past and present...it's an evolutionary leap in locomotion in a shooter. Yes, the movement is somewhat sluggish, and that sluggishness makes it hard to really use it in a combat situation outside of sliding. But as I said before, compared to what's out there now, it's better then the rest. The concept is second to none...it's the execution that needed work. But the same can be said about Brink in general. But one thing can be said: SMART has forever changed many of us Brink vets ideas on movement in FPS games. I actually find myself better using terrain and positioning in BF3 now because it's force of habit for the hundreds of hours I've logged in on Brink.

It's a step in the right direction for FPS games that I hope developers will start adhering more towards and improving in the future. I don't find it to be choppy, if anything it seems kinda sticky at times, but also quite weightless as though the characters weigh barely as much as a feather... which feels quite surreal.

its movement and parkour is good, but it could use some polish to make this better

Another thing that hopefully they take into consideration for a Brink 2 is developing maps that actually enable you to use SMART in combat. The map designs for Brink are rather uninspired as far as using SMART for anything more then show and to reach obvious areas. It took most hardcoe players all but two months to figure out all of the secret spots in most maps...which weren't many to begin with. I'd love to see SMART incorporated into more of a necessary part of combat rather then a gimmick. The only way that happens is if the maps have for areas to actually use it on. Prime example would be Founder's Tower. From a design standpoint it's the PERFECT SMART map. Plenty of places to get vertical. Plenty of hiding spots, secret areas and all kinds of goodness. Problem is the linear way the objectives are set up, you'd never even explore any of these areas unless you play private specifically to find them solo. That can't happen in the sequel...not if they want improvement. Bottom line: Improving SMART is only part of the equation. Designing the maps to make better and more frequent use of it is equally important.

I thought Mirror's Edge did it pretty well. Far better then Brink did.


I hate that weightlessness, it's one of my major problems with Halo 3. Anyways, the sticky/choppy/sluggish feel just isn't something I think should come along with parkour when you want to be moving around fast.


Yes. But I think i've complained enough about the maps on the game which I feel are generally bad. I was wanting to focus more on the flow of the game, control and visual wise then the maps.