Getting Ready for Brink!!?

If you're the type of first-person shooter fan who thrives on headshots, sniping and camping, you're probably not going to like Brink. Splash Damage's shooter is all about team play. Expect to get routed if you're trying to do everything by yourself, because in Brink, it's simply not possible.

Built across each of the game's maps are numerous objectives, many of which can only be completed by a certain character class. Only Operatives can hack, for instance, so if you're running around as a Medic, your best bet to achieve victory is to shadow one around and provide revives and healing whenever possible. Brink launches in less than a month on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and it's looking quite good. If you're familiar with Splash Damage's past work with the Enemy Territory takes on the Wolfenstein and Quake universes, that shouldn't be a surprise. These guys have proven they know how to let you have fun while working together.

The difference in Brink is that it's Splash Damage's first game not tied to an existing fiction. It has a story, a bold art style and mechanics that are more comparable to Team Fortress than to Call of Duty. The various maps in the game can be played on either Resistance or Security sides in sequence, or can be played in random order if you'd rather. Before each match you'll see an in-game cut-scene with voice acting to frame the objectives, and a short while later you're right into the action.

Making field repairs.

In terms of accessibility, Brink veers toward the more hardcore side of the spectrum. I can pick it up and play only because I've been playing Splash Damage games for years, but if you're unfamiliar with this type of objective-based online play, it won't be an easy transition. Splash Damage does its best to lower the barrier for entry by providing video tutorials. Full bot support is also included in Brink, which means if you don't want live players in your game, you won't need them. The artificial intelligence will run around maps and fight, complete objectives and use special class abilities just like real players would, letting you experience Brink without having to deal with fully leveled-up vets blasting you to pieces every five seconds. Considering the focus on team play, it's good to know that a game isn't ruined when one player drops out of an online match. When that happens, an AI will simply take over, meaning your team isn't suddenly one man down and you can continue on without interruption. 

The four classes all get guns, but feature a wide range of class-specific abilities. These are unlocked as you progress through the game and dump points into skill trees. Medics heal and revive, Engineers build and repair, Operative put on disguises and hack, and Soldiers like to blow things up. Further along in the skill trees more powerful upgrades unlock, giving Engineers better speed for building turrets and mines and increasing the frag grenade blasts of Soldiers. Between the skills, primary and secondary weapons and outfits, there's a lot to acquire and customize while leveling up, which should ideally help maintain Brink's appeal in the months after launch. 

Anyone who likes the Spy from Team Fortress or the Infiltrator from Quake Wars will likely gravitate toward the Operative. When this class makes a kill, it can grab a disguise from the body and take on the appearance of the opposing team. There's no backstab mechanic in Brink, but there is a melee attack. If you manage to put on a disguise and sneak into the enemy ranks, or better yet find an isolated target, you can then smash them with your gun, knock them over and unload a few shots for a quick kill. Then you scoop up a disguise from the body without giving anything away. 

Of course I made that sound a lot easier than it actually is. As tends to happen in team games where someone can stealth, the opposing team is going to be wary of those suspiciously hovering around behind the front lines of battle waiting for someone to turn their back. You have to be smart about maneuvering around. Keep in mind that there are multiple stages of death in Brink too. If you get shot enough you'll keel over but, instead of dying, exist in a near-death state where you can either wait for a medic or for the respawn timer to count down. To steal a disguise, your enemy will need to be fully dead, which means you should shoot or melee the enemy on the ground until he stops twitching. You still need to wait a few seconds after initiating the disguise command for it to actually take effect, so trying to do this on bodies out in the open isn't going to work consistently. 

On the run.

Disguising can be used for more than just making kills. It's also useful for walking around unnoticed on your way to capture objectives as well as causing chaos on an enemy team when they realize there's an imposter in their ranks, making them susceptible to a coordinated push by your team. Again, communication is a key to success. 

Often on a map you'll find yourself with the option of pursing multiple objectives. The primary one might be to escort a wheeled machine to a certain spot, but in the meantime you can find ways to capture command posts or open side doors or construct barricades, meaning the fight isn't always limited to one specific area. Splash Damage makes travel between all these points of interest faster with its contextual movement system where, by holding a button, your character will rapidly vault and climb while running to maintain speed, which seems especially useful to avoid getting stuck on the wrong side of a ramp's railing or accessing less exposed walkways to move around the map without absorbing too many bullets. 

This is just one of the many ways to play in Splash Damage's game, which hopefully lives up to the studio's pedigree when it's released early next month.