Brink got better

As you'll see from my review of Brink in the upcoming episode of The Jaded Gamer's show it is a great idea on top of a flawed execution.  It is a bit of a mash-up between Mirrors edge and Team Fortress 2.   Well.. it is closer to Mirrors edge with gunplay and multiple objectives.

When counterstrike was the big thing, my favorite thing to do was practice against the CPU bots.  The AI was terrible but when I wasn't in the mood for humans it worked.  But I still wanted a game like Counterstrike that I could practice offline.

After I saw Brink's concept I thought it would actually be CS but with wicked offline bots.

Well, Brink arrived and it seemed like it was trying to be what I wanted but without much of a game.  Counter strike was a fine mod especially considering it was free.  But then recreating that experience and selling it back to me with parkour at 60 dollars felt like a rip.  I enjoyed the game but it shipped broken with poor online and worse AI issues.  Also the difficulty was time based which lead to the user dominating the computer up until the last minute of the match which the computer would turn into Neo and shift The Matrix to thier liking.  Playing Brink felt more like punishment because after holding a location like a champ for 8 minutes the AI would turn into Seal team 6 with my AI teammates running around like Gomer Pyle. So as the computer turns into a well oiled machine in the last minute my team lives only to let them in and redecorate. 

BUT... After over a month of this crap the good folks over at Splash Damage fixed their game.  I mean honest to God fixed it. The AI plays much better.  There are times where they are still cannon fodder but I can at least count on them more often to complete objectives.  Which makes playing online more of a pleasure too.  Before online play was mandatory with all the online issues. Now you can whip up fun co-op matches against AI and have it feel more natural.

This is not a review just a simple blog entry about them fixing Brink. The stats engine on www.BrinkTheGame.com add a much needed dimension of gameplay and adds more to the meta game.  Soon clan pages will be made available to users too.  Now I know a lot of this stuff should have been there at launch especially since they released the game early but the free DLC coming will keep me calm.

So even though this game came out broken enough people are playing it so that hopefully an amazing sequel will come out.  I tip my hat to splash damage and hope they can take Brink to levels multiplayer shooters havent seen yet.