Brink

[Art Blade]

It's actually always the same guy (the main character build I keep using). Must be a nut the size of a nut, then  :-D

[smg id=3364 type=link align=center width=500 caption="BRINK SP 024"]

[Art Blade]

There was one mission in particular I was absolutely unable to finish successfully on my own (SP) so I decided to find a suitable server and play it with a human team. It was a defence team (the "good" guys who look like cops or security personnel) and the attackers had an advantage in that map, probably because their spawn area was almost next to the final target area so they didn't need to run across the world to get there, like me, but just die and pop, be right there again. However, I finally managed to accomplish the goals with a MP team. Because it already worked, I decided to play the last two missions (kind of alternative endings) on a MP campaign server, too, and it worked, too. Now I have finally finished all story missions on both sides. :)  :-X

This is what you get to see if you're one of the "good" guys when you successfully finish the game on their side. Ah, so they're not even on the Ark.. and the second pic is a model of the Ark in the war room of that ship. Hehe, some people.. ;) I actually preferred playing as the "bad" guys as they seem to have had more of a just cause than the security blokes.

[smg id=3366 type=link align=center width=500 caption="BRINK MP 004"]
[smg id=3367 type=link align=center width=500 caption="BRINK MP 005"]

[Art Blade]

Something about MP

Depending on which side you prefer to start your career (Escape from the Ark = attacking weirdos, Defend the Ark = defending security blokes) the game servers will put you in the corresponding team. That means if you start as an "Escapist" you cannot join the Security team unless you pick a campaign server with Defence missions on.

Which means you can very well start two different careers, one on each side, and choose your general side for your MP experience.

The game allows a lot of choices when it comes to MP games. You can participate in campaigns, in challenges and in free mode servers (apart from hosting those games which is also a way of doing it).

The list of servers can be sorted by a lot of different aspects, like ping, map, number of players and so on, and those filters can be combined. That is great. Like that, I found servers with a low ping and everything else I wanted.

Turns out that there are servers with mostly humans and those were very team-oriented. Probably because the game is now a few days old, people have learned what it takes to enjoy a team game.

The last couple of matches with humans were indeed fun, we used to stick together and support one another with our different abilities and supplies to share. A lot more fun, too, if you yourself know your way around the map which in my case is getting better and better ;)

[Art Blade]

Oh by the way, XP you gained during your first career that unlocked weapons and their upgrades as well as clothes and all that will unlock that stuff for your new career(s).

All there still is to do is gaining XP for different body types and the specialisation stuff for those different classes. For instance, you will still have to unlock points with which to buy class upgrades as that might indeed differ from your first playthrough. Mistakes can be avoided or other things tested in the new career. So it's not completely unlocked and still stuff to do :)

[Art Blade]

I've played a lot of MP online today, different types of games, all kinds of maps, and I am really fascinated by the huge levels. They're building complexes with different rooms and halls and floors, inside and outside areas and also they're usually several stories high and as well contain some basement bits. Massive and detailed :)

The more I play, the more I enjoy it :)

[smg id=3368 type=link align=center width=500 caption="BRINK MP 006"]

[fragger]

Cool screenies and info Art, cheers :-X

That last pic... in the top-right corner is a clock of sorts that looks like it may be counting down. Does that mean there's a time limit in effect?

[JRD]

Since we are all popping questions... how long does a SP playthrough takes? (considering all the fooling around and experimenting, which is part of the fun for me  ;) )

[Art Blade]

Cheers, fragger :)

Yes, every objective is timed and that keeps adding up in a way. The Attackers win if they can achieve the main mission goal(s) within the time limit(s) and the Defenders win if they can prevent them from achieving their goals within the time window. Funny thing, if one team is very close to achieving their main mission goal but about to run out of time, they're given extra time so there won't be any "ah, crap, we would have won if.." :)

JRD, the way I played it (spending 75% of the time on customising my looks  ^+-+ ) it took me about 40 hours and another 10 to add some achievements and experiences only available to me playing MP. So if you were about to run through the game and do only essential career upgrade customisations, you might be able to do all of that in perhaps 10 hours: 10 missions for the Attackers, 10 missions for the Defenders, each half an hour give or take, the difference used for customisations.

But.

The missions are somewhat as predictable as those of FC2: You know your goals but how you'll end up achieving victory.. 1,000 and 1 possibilities  :-()

[Fiach]

I was reading some SP impressions, the campaign is about 6 hours per side, then the challenges add a couple of hours to that.

The console version is supposed to have really dumb AI and "muddy" gfx, I dont know about the PC version, also apparently a patch has been released, but I dont know what it fixed apart from lag.

[Art Blade]

oh yes, I forgot about the challenges. There are four challenges and three difficulty levels each. That uses up some time, indeed  :)

The AI is excellent on a PC. In fact, I think it's the best AI I've seen so far. I could never tell if it was an AI or real player, I always had to check the scoreboard to find out  :-X

Patches fixed all kinds of things, and indeed, one of them was to remove the AI's intelligence inhibitor for some MP type (lol)

The graphics on the PC are excellent, too. Detailed down to the screws that hold the structure together  :-() :-X

This is me capturing a command post.
[smg id=3369 type=link align=center width=500 caption="BRINK MP 007"]

[Fiach]

After reading alot of the posts, this game reminds me of a game called Apocalyptica, it BOMBED on release, which I think was quite unfair.

When the game was released everyone thought it was a Single Player game and bitched about the AI (which in fairness was bloody annoying at times), but they didnt seem to grasp it was a MP game.

All the missions could be viewed as standard MP types. like Capture the Flag, Deathmatch etc.

There were different classes based on religous imagery, like nuns and templars, with melee, ranged and spell based combat mechanics. I remember one gun that fired pages from the bible LOL :).

Anyway, I think I bought one of the 2 copies that were ever sold, I still played it up to a year ago for a laugh, in SP, as the missions were pretty cool as a time killer, dunno if it would w@&k on WIN 7 as the game never sold, I dont think they ever even patched the game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalyptica_%28video_game%29

[Art Blade]

I enjoy playing MP coop (there is only coop) as long as human players care for their team mates. Most of the time there are a few who do and the rest who don't. Those who do tend to stick together  :)

Looks like human players have quickly found out that there is basically only one or two general rules for a successful game: Use the Light body because it is fast, agile and able to climb everywhere around the maps where climbing is allowed. Medium or Heavy are "too" slow and cannot climb everywhere. Due to the limited weapons available to the Light characters, there are more or less only three weapons: Either a sniper rifle or one particularly powerful SMG as well as one particularly accurate pistol. Of course there are human players with different loadouts, but those light builds are most common. The bots, however, will use every flavour there is  :)

It's a lot of fun, recently, after getting to know the (huge) maps and some shortcuts to find one's way around to those objectives it is really interesting to watch team mates and play together with them. :)

[Binnatics]

Isn't there a good loadout suited for the strong and slow guys? I mean, it should give some advantage in a way... A game like this should have really thought well about different loadouts... I can imagine a big boss-like huge guy with a bazooka shooting anything that moves or putting heavy motionsensitive explosives near the vafourite walkways of the light and fast guys...
There should be a way

[Art Blade]

Usually it's like this: In the middle of the battle, when everyone gets killed every so often and has to run back helping the pack where the mates keep dying, after respawning, the fast guys will dash away and arrive quickly (using shortcuts climbing over walls) while the slow guys are still leaving the spawn area and slowly start to walk around walls and, big as they are, are welcome and well-visible targets. Hard to run away from a tossed grenade and too slow to run with the pack they are kind of left behind. The massive weapons they can carry take some time to start firing and even more time to reload. If they use the smaller weapons.. they could as well use the lighter bodies.. and that's what everyone does  :)

[Art Blade]

Alright, Binnatics, just to prove it can be done, I played using the Heavy body and a portable Gatling gun. And later I used the sniper rifle (which looked like a toothpick). I used the big gun to mow down hordes of enemies while my team mates behind me were staying safe and sound  :-() But it just isn't as rewarding as a Light build. So I reverted to that :)

Then I played on a server without bots (well, both teams open for humans, the 8x2=16 slots were usually completely filled and only once in a while there was a bot on a team). Damn fast games, those Humans vs Humans :) I realised that it was better to put the silencers back on to my weapons because for some reason loud gunfire attracts enemy players just as irresistibly as s#!t attracts flies  :-()

I really like BRINK MP.  :) :-X

[Binnatics]

I think indeed the MP game is great, what I heared of it so far.
Like you described the fat guy should be supported by his teammates. Then I guess it would be an effort. A solid rock in the surf that keeps enemies at distance...

But what about a team of 8 fat guys all with major weaponry... If they stay colse to eachother they are unstoppable. Slow, but deadly ;)
I'd almost buy the game to give it a try B)

[Art Blade]

By all means, please get it. It is possible to create a sub-team (fire team) of two players and to go through all this together.

All in all I think this game is something you'll really start to appreciate after having completed all missions so you have unlocked all upgrades and can create a character specialised in what you like.

The longer I play, the better this game gets. Probably because the MP community is experiencing the same, more experienced players on a team make it quite enjoyable and if they support the fellow team members, it's even better.

This is the first shooter in a very  long time that I actually enjoy playing online (MP) and I mean it. :)

[Art Blade]

Just one more in-game screenshot so you can see how detailed the world really is.  :) If you click the caption and check the more detailed pic out in the gallery and then click on the pic to enlarge it, you might get an even better impression :)

[smg id=3370 type=link align=center width=500 caption="BRINK MP 008"]

[fragger]

Did that, nice :-X 8)

[mmosu]

That area kind of reminds me of the junkyards in Borderlands

[Art Blade]

:)

Each of the 10 missions takes place in its own (big) map. The problem with screenshots is that the maps are so big that a single screenshot just cannot do them justice while posting dozens of screenshots for every map would be rather cumbersome.

Each map is basically "open world" as you can go everywhere which includes climbing around a lot if you're using the Light body type. The maps are big enough to take you like half a minute to get from the spawning area to where the action is.. which is a lot of time  ;)

[fragger]

That area kind of reminds me of the junkyards in Borderlands

It also looks a bit like some areas in Half-Life 2.

Half a minute is indeed quite a while in gameplay terms!

[Art Blade]

I finally managed to create two  full-blown level 20 characters who have the exact same ability (class) upgrades; I prefer soldier (I never run out of ammo) and medic (if too many team mates keep dying) plus almost all general purpose upgrades that are available to all classes. The only difference is that one character is Attacker and the other one is Defender so I can choose which side to play before I join any non-mission server. Nice :)

The game allows you to sell and redistribute all your level points so you can correct mistakes or specialise in just one or two classes. At the cost of one level "and the change is permanent." Which means that as a level 20 player (rank 5) you lose one level (reset to 19) and that resets your rank to 4 and that locks the last upgrades available only to rank 5 / level 20 players. Which made me swallow.

The good news is that the game doesn't forbid you to level up again, but you need to regain some 40,000 points. I don't know exactly how many but that's a lot. The maximum points that make you level up to 20 is 300,000 points. But then you're back and can spend the last level point on the now again unlocked last upgrade  :) :-X

[Art Blade]

Each of the 10 missions takes place in its own (big) map.

Actually there are only 8 maps.

I found out that you can launch a game (server..) with customised settings and play solo so you don't even need to play online. The funny thing is if you set the minimum amount of players per team to "0" then no bot will join as they will only fill in the gaps until the minimum is reached. Now if you set the maximum amount of players who can replace the bots to 1.. then you're on your own and on top you can switch teams during the match.

Like that I found some time to explore but the mission goals are still on so I played that for some time and later I changed the teams basically to 1vs1 which is harder than you'd expect (try to repair something while the other guy comes running around the corner opening fire at you) so I tried 2vs2 which seems to be just as hard, a 3vs3 was fun but still not exactly easy.. I believe it is indeed best if you play either alone so you can check the maps a little or with a default team of 8vs8  :)

[RedRaven]

Finally got this game yesterday and boy is it hard, or maybe its a case of skill fade on my part. Can see you guys have had plenty to say on it already, will read through it all and try playing past the first mission without many many deaths!