A in depth review of a solid FPS title

Intro

Currently in terms of the FPS market we are beginning to see too much recycled game mechanics and themes at least from my point of view. Going in to Brink with this frame of mind allowed me to see the game for what it was truly trying to accomplish and that was to create a unique shooter with themes and inspiration from popular current generation games.

Lets break down this review a bit in to some key categories, Sound,  Graphics, A.I. , Player Investment. This should help justify the overall rating this review is giving. Note that I use a 5 star system similar to that of Giant Bomb for the purposes of this review.

It would be good to note that at the time of writing this review I have a total of nine hours game time in Brink.

Score Breakdown

Sound: 4/5

(Note: For sound ratings the game was played using a Tritton AX 720 headset using Optical Input)

Ambient Sounds: 4/5

For Brink I would have to say that the sound quality of the ambient sounds (Gun discharge, environment, etc) is rather well done. The guns and additional effects sound realistic and powerful.

Music: 3/5

The Music in this game was a major drawback, there were no memorable moments in the music that really made me feel like I was ready to rock-and-roll so to speak or that something significant just happened. That is not to say that the music was not fitting to the theme of the atmosphere

Graphics: 4/5

Brink gets a 4/5 for its graphical qualities, despite lack of ATI support, this is mainly due to using a unique and realistic to a extent art style. The clean look of Security forces neatly contrasts the roughed up style of the Renegade faction who would use available items for outfitting instead of professional grade equipment.

A.I. : 2/5

The A.I. in this game can be quite slow at times and at many points fail to complete the objective until the player has made at least some progress on it. There have been times when the A.I. has been so slow to notice a enemy A.I. that a whole group of them will get killed by a single enemy A.I.

This can likely be attributed to Brink being designed for a multiplayer environment and not so much for a single player environment.

Player Investment: 4/5

The amount of player customization and weapon customization is truly something to behold, while it can be debated that the ease of weapons unlocks is extremely easy that can be offset by the number of unlocks. The ability to select your own abilities allows you to customize different classes or characters to match your own personal play style, what this means is that if you want to be a engineer who say lays traps and turrets you can but you could also be one who buffs their team considerably.

Conclusion

Brink is a solid game, it is not without flaws as all games have them. Despite these flaws it still manages to provide a level of enjoyment that is not easy to come by in modern shooters. While it may not have as much polish as some other games on the market the game provides the core values of FPS titles without muddying it up.