* * *Brink discussion thread* * *

[Schadenfreude]

So, I tried this game - I've been looking forward to it for some time but hesitated on pulling the trigger after mediocre reviews, and despite all the negative impressions I've read from general users, I've really, really enjoyed the game where I ended up getting it for the $25 price - the highest I've paid for ANY steam game outside of publisher packs - and to me it's worth every penny!

Of course, I think I lucked out with my setup being fairly new/generic - a laptop w/ i5-2410 CPU and Geforce 525m GPU - and it runs like a charm on 1600x900, and there's normally a good number of active servers around my area.

Outside of the detractors (of which there are many, I understand if it's not your cup o' tea), who plays here on the ATOT forums? Any tips on upgrades/skillsets to obtain for a relatively new player?

EDIT: If you're up for a game, my Steam name is Schadenfreude000

 

[Jules]

I just got the game myself. Its pretty good. Id be down for some Coop. My steam name is TFSPIKE

 

[crownjules]

I was busy this weekend and couldn't play more than about 30 minutes of the game. The one complaint I found to be true was that the weapons aren't powerful enough. It felt like I had to shoot people 10 times in the head with a SMG to kill them. But other than that I did enjoy it. I just have far too many other games to play and can wait for it to be sold for less.

 

[Schadenfreude]

I just got the game myself. Its pretty good. Id be down for some Coop. My steam name is TFSPIKE

Done. Mine is Schadenfreude000.

 

[SunnyD]

I wasn't impressed, considering there's tons of alternatives. Definitely not $25 impressed worth. I have to go dig it out of my steam folder so I can free up the 6GB of hdd space now that its not showing up on the steam list anymore.

 

[Jschmuck2]

I paid $50 for that game. I'll never forgive Splash Damage for that steaming pile.

 

[brybir]

All I know is that this is a game where you will be VERY HAPPY they have a demo or free weekend you could try so you don't end up wasting your money.

I played for about an hour on the free weekend thing and just thought it was terrible and uninspired. Cutscenes were alright, but the gameplay sucked.

Of course, just my opinion.

 

[Schadenfreude]

Wow, talk about Downer Debbies here - again, it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but outside of the 2 of us (including myself) - there's no one on AT that enjoys the game?

 

[Chiropteran]

It looked interesting, but I couldn't find the time to even try it during the free weekend. Oops.

 

[Powermoloch]

I have brink (thanks to Jules), I'll check it out later in the week.

 

[NoSoup4You]

The game's quite good, however Team Fortress 2 is still light years better and after 25 hours of Brink I was done with it.

There were a lot of things I liked, but boy oh boy were the negatives extremely serious as well. Ridiculously buggy at launch, it remained so for a couple of patches until finally they got the performance fixed. The single player is non-existent yet it was a full priced game. Moronic leveling system - you're only given enough points to fully up one class, yet the game instructs you in the beginning to "adapt to the situation by switching your class on the fly". What a joke! Why would I swap out of my fully-upped Engineer class to anything else... this is a game where having no upgrades on your class puts you at a colossal disadvantage. I have no idea what they were thinking there... at level 20 you should have been granted full unlocks on all kits or something.

Spawn camping can be absolutely horrific, too.

So there I went and attacked it, even though I think it's a good game and overall is worth playing. The developers just made some strange design choices, which ultimately I think make the game feel botched. Team Fortress 2 is liike the warm security blanket of FPS games, always there when you need it.

 

[n7]

Meh, tried it out with friends @ a LAN last weekend, & wasn't impressed.

 

[Jules]

I have brink (thanks to Jules), I'll check it out later in the week.

 

[minmaster]

25 still more than im willing to pay, perhaps when its lower

 

[Schadenfreude]

The game's quite good, however Team Fortress 2 is still light years better and after 25 hours of Brink I was done with it.

There were a lot of things I liked, but boy oh boy were the negatives extremely serious as well. Ridiculously buggy at launch, it remained so for a couple of patches until finally they got the performance fixed. The single player is non-existent yet it was a full priced game. Moronic leveling system - you're only given enough points to fully up one class, yet the game instructs you in the beginning to "adapt to the situation by switching your class on the fly". What a joke! Why would I swap out of my fully-upped Engineer class to anything else... this is a game where having no upgrades on your class puts you at a colossal disadvantage. I have no idea what they were thinking there... at level 20 you should have been granted full unlocks on all kits or something.

Spawn camping can be absolutely horrific, too.

So there I went and attacked it, even though I think it's a good game and overall is worth playing. The developers just made some strange design choices, which ultimately I think make the game feel botched. Team Fortress 2 is liike the warm security blanket of FPS games, always there when you need it.

I think I like it for the exact reasons you deride it - well, other than the bugs at launch - the way I see it, the developers limited the options you have to maximize your character as (you've already mentioned) there'd be too much of an unfair advantage in being able to maximize your abilities in all classes versus a fresh player - so you pick a few skills per class and specialize in maybe 2 classes (and have 2 characters); while I like run n' gun games, I also like how this game emphasizes teamwork - so I specialized in passive skills and some support skills (supply boost, ect.); plus the fact that you can change classes on the fly would give way too big an advantage if you maxed out all the classes.

I know that I am the minority here, but I actually like the ebb & flow of Brink more than Team Fortress 2 - in TF2 as long as you work together in groups of 2 or 3, you're pretty much set; in Brink, the whole team has to work together and as long as you have a halfway competent medic in you team, you can get to the action faster instead of dying>respawn>trek to skirmish>dying>etc.

Of course I was much more of an Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory player then the original Team Fortress, so I guess it may be a bias there as well.