Any thoughts? I've seen talk about this game and they talk about a couple things:
- Customization of weapons
- 8 player co-op
- Graphically interesting
- Parkour elements
- Class-based system promotes teamwork

Looking at the available videos, it doesn't really seem to impress. But a couple buddies who went to PAX said this is a must-buy game. I do like the 8 player co-op, but I think it might be tough to keep 8 players on task. It does have an interesting graphical style, but that's cool for about 5 minutes. Anyone else know much about this game?

Does this fall under the "electronic" or "toy" designation?

when I posted it, it was under the Video Game section... did someone change the categories?

<shrugs> I suppose. Looks like a few other titles have changed here and there.

This doesn't look bad...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI0r9Pw1CB4&feature=player_embedded

I'm going to pick it up. It looks pretty good... anyone else?

Reviews are abysmal. I still picked it up (because I'm a lemming), so I will let you guys know how it is. I think the worst thing that I saw written is that the objectives are repetitive. I also heard there is no multiplayer lobby. Those two things will kill this title. Not expecting much from this one.

Saw this... kinda interesting. Isn't rule number one that you finish a game before you release it? I guess Bethesda forgot about that!

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/05/why-were-not-review-brink-and-why-you-shouldnt-buy-it-yet.ars

I know you're excited about Brink—I'm excited about it too. Unfortunately, the code arrived too late for us to play it for any significant amount of time, the state of the review code was such that I was uncomfortable rendering any kind of authoritative verdict, and there will soon be a patch released that may address most of my complaints. Or it could address none of them. The fact remains that the game reviewers have been playing for the past week will not be the same game you play at home, and that makes it impossible for me to do my job in an effective manner.

Allow me to explain what happened, and why you should take a wait-and-see approach to the game.

We just didn't have enough copies of the game
When we first received the e-mail asking what version of the game we'd prefer to look at, it's likely no one thought that the PlayStation Network would still be offline when the game launched. I made a joke about it being awkward for reviewers to ask for the PlayStation 3 version, but the grim reality is that if you wanted to try the online portion of the game, you had to play on the Xbox 360. We'll also be looking at the PC version of the game, but review codes for that won't be available until the game launches. For now, it's 360 or bust.

With only one version of the game being functional for reviews, every member of the press was given the 360 version. I was told my copy would be coming early in the week. Then it was set to arrive on Friday, but copies once again ran out. My copy of the game showed up on Saturday afternoon, and that is not enough time for me to settle in and play the game for the amount of time I need to get a feel for the often-complex mechanics and gameplay of Brink.

That being said, I did have a chance to pour some hours into the game, and what I found made the prospect of reviewing the game even less attractive.

The code is a mess
The copy of the game that went out to reviewers came on a disc, in retail packaging. We were sent the same code that you will buy in the store, but it became obvious that the game wasn't finished. Textures were ugly messes and texture pop-in was a common problem. The visual fidelity of the game world fluctuated madly while playing. Sometimes I had a glimpse of what Splash Damage was aiming for with the game's aesthetics, but more often the technical issues led to a frustratingly uneven experience.

The netcode was even worse. I don't play with the developers when reviewing an online game—I've explained my distaste for those sessions elsewhere—but I'm friends with a number of other reviewers who had access to the game. When we tried to get a co-op game together, the game collapsed in on itself. The framerate was halved, and the gameplay often stuttered. It was completely unplayable, and this was the result of adding two other players. I can't imagine what a full server would feel like. The game would also kick players off the server seemingly at random. It was a frustrating, unfinished mess, and I gave up trying to get an accurate picture of the online portion of the game after an hour or so.

The problem is that I was told the 360 version of the game would benefit from a patch released the first day of the game's release, one that would help with network performance and visual fidelity. Reading the e-mail, the patch sounded extensive, so it's impossible to know how many of the issues I experienced would be fixed before you could buy the game for yourself. How could I say anything about the game one way or the other without knowing how much of it would be fixed a few hours after my review was posted? How would it be helpful for me to render a verdict under these circumstances?

Known knowns, and unknown unknowns
There was no mention of a PlayStation 3 patch on the first day of release, although we do know that Sony still has the ability to update both games and hardware—even with the PlayStation Network still offline. I've also heard that the PlayStation 3 version of the game looked great when it was shown at PAX, with few of the problems seen in the 360 version shown to reviewers. It's possible the PlayStation 3 version of the game looks and plays better, at least before the 360 patch is released, but the copies were held back due to the inability to play online.

There is also no way of knowing how well the PC version of the game looks and plays, so the only version of the game we have access to is the one version of the game we know may be significantly improved when the first patch is released. So if you read reviews elsewhere, keep in mind that the game being played was the 360 version, and the game you'll play when it's released may look and feel much better than the version the reviewers were given.

The situation is frustrating, but there was no way we could review this in the traditional sense. The game we would have either praised or attacked will be changed before you play it for the first time. If the PlayStation 3 version is better, we have no way to know.

Don't buy the game... yet
My advice right now is to stay away from the game. The version of the game I played is a mess, and not worth your money. Keep an eye on the forums, check to see if reviews are updated as the game is patched, and then make a decision. Sadly, I'll be traveling starting on Wednesday, and the week after that I'll be out of the office taking part in E3 preview events filled with games I can't talk about. It's going to be a good long time before I can download the PC version of the game and tell you what I think.

In my opinion, that's a good thing. Let's give the game some time to breathe, to get some patches, and then we'll revisit it and see what has happened. There are hints of a good— maybe great—game here. Nothing would be better than to have the technical issues melt away to expose the fun underneath.

Somebody is a Bethesda apologist. I'm not disagreeing with you, but when you have your name attached to something, you have to think of the reprecussions. Splash Damage was sloppy and mismanaged. Bethesda has to own part of that.

Don't buy this game. Co-op could've been fun, but right now it is a lagtastic mess.

It feels like a decent game, but I haven't taken it online yet. For a twitchy FPS, the shooting mechanics are all there, it feels right, but We'll see what happens...

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

The patch fixed much of the lag problems. The game is still meh. I'm a sucker for good objective-based, teamplay centric games. This isn't completely horrible, but just not all that good. I usually play as a medic (I'm a lover, not a fighter) and I'm frequently the highest scoring player.

i acquired this game and soon found out it doesnt work with the xbox controller. well, i guess it does but the developers never enabled it, so you gotta do some hacking to get it to work... in other words, fuck it. i used the disc as a little cracker serving tray. then i recycled that to snort coke off of.

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

This game royally sucked. I still have mine if you need a matching cracker tray.

WTF?!

Still pretty damn funny.