Brink

[A Tasty Burgerr]

The Splash Damage and Bethesda title that remained a secret for so long was revealed last week in Brink. We were given a teaser video with little more content than an eye and an ominous white tower. So, when we arrived at our appointment with Bethesda today, we were anxious to see more on the game, and Splash Damage delivered.

Paul Wedgewood, CEO of Splash Damage, was all too willing to show off his new game Brink, and without much of an introduction, we were thrust into some gameplay. A FPS boasting an open-ended mission system, Brink takes place in a future where the planet is covered almost entirely with water. One last bastion of hope for civilization looms in the blue abyss, and it's known as The Ark.

The Ark is the one remaining hub of human activity, where a war is constantly waged against Security and Resistance forces. These factions are comprised of different classes, all playing their part in the grand scheme of things. But, enough of the game's setting, let's get to the good stuff: gameplay.

As said, the game is a FPS with a persistent world, and some minor Mirror's Edge-like environmental navigation for good measure, Players can climb over obstacles and hang on ledges much like Faith, however Splash Damage is aiming to make it even simpler than that game by delegating these actions to a single button (they call it S.M.A.R.T.). Watching Paul in action seemed like this simplification worked fairly well, but wasn't half as exciting as watching Faith scurry about.


Paul divulged that there would be two different campaigns for each side of the conflict, and chose a Security recruit and jumped into the game. One of the more interesting things about Brink that Splash Damage is promoting is a mission system that provides players with dynamic objectives given what the current situation is. For example, the Security forces needed intel, so Paul chose the "Interrogation" mission, tracked down a wounded Resistance fighter, and proceeded to shock him into submission, extracting not only information, but also copious amounts of experience points for him and his team.

The team plays a vital role, as well. At any given time, you can play with up to 7 friends in co-operative play through the main storyline (again, two seperate storylines for each faction). Or, if online is more your thing, you could simply take those 7 friends of yours and go up against 8 other players, with your single player character reaping all of the benefits and keeping the experience points from completing these tasks.

Brink is scheduled for release on the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC in Spring 2010.

 

[A Tasty Burgerr]

Dev. Interview - definitely recommend reading

Joystiq: During the presentation for Brink, you guys talked about persistence in your single-player character being carried over online -- versus? Are we looking at 32, 16?

Richard 'Rahdo' Ham: Right now, we're looking at 8-on-8. Specifically, if you go back, that's what Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory was. It was a real sweet spot. When they did the second one -- Quake Wars -- it went up to 16-on-16 and we were kind of building up. It was one of the first things talked about, you know, we could jump into the next one 32-32. And very early on, this was actually before I came here -- I was still on Fable at the time -- they decided they wanted to go back to basics. Because, you know, there's just more intimacy.

We put so much time and effort into all of the customization, to make sure that everyone really stands out. We wanted to make sure you'd have a more memorable thing if you didn't run into the same person more often.

Let's get into the class-based stuff. We saw customizable weapon loadouts that didn't pigeonhole classes into certain weapon sets ...

To me, that's a really important thing. You go back to Dungeons and Dragons, and Gygax -- it's like, "Why, because I put on a pointy hat, can I never pick up a sword?" We're basically going for a fairly standard four classes of soldier, medic, engineer, and operative/spy. So even though Paul shows the shotgun, because he loves the shotgun, I didn't want you to be under any obligation to do that. It's all about you creating different combinations.

There are also three different body types: normal; small; and big, Swarzenegger size. And those three body types, multiplied by the four classes, tend to create, I think, 12 completely different types of play style. Because it's kind of obvious, if you pick a big Swarzenegger guy, you're going to slow down ...

Well, it's one thing to have character customization, it's another for it to have a real effect ...

The body type is the main one that makes a big, big difference. It slows you down, it speeds you up, it lets you carry big weapons, so having a big weapon is not based on class, it's based on you. So you can be a big tank medic, if you want. Going smaller gives you more and more access to the ability to climb -- you can climb up twice your height, and jump farther.

We try to limit you as little as possible, and not have any arbitrary "just because" kind of rules.

The transition from single-player to online, obviously when you're playing single-player or co-op, you're affecting the game world and changing it. Is it something where we'll see that online, or is it a case of choosing from a set number of maps or modes? You know, CTF, deathmatch, that kind of stuff?

As far as I'm concerned, there really are no modes like that at all. When you first start the game, there isn't going to be any choice to play online or offline. That doesn't exist at all. There's a continuity across all of what you'd consider the game's modes, you just play the game. So, you know, I decide I'm going to go into Container City, I'm going to do that mission, and you go through in a traditional, story-based kind of way, and you could do that alone or with up to seven of your buddies, or you could play that as a full-on multiplayer deathmatch.
"You won't hear anybody's voice except for someone on your friend's list."


So we expect a lot of players are going to be like me, going along, having a good time, and there will come a point if we recognize you are online, we'll actually stop you between missions and say, "You're doing really well, you may not have noticed, you've accumulated a lot of stuff, so you may want to go online. We're not going to make you, but if you do, we'll pay you twice as much experience." So the players will try, because they'll find things exactly the same. They'll really be much more comfortable than they have before. And, we're putting in a lot of stuff to totally obliterate the anti-social stuff. For example, you won't hear anybody's voice except for someone on your friend's list. There's other things, like guys that block the door, we're letting you pass through, and there's a bunch of those things.

That's a really smart implementation, the voice stuff. What else?

Another big thing you saw was the objective wheel, and at any given time, at the very least, there's five or six -- usually a lot more -- specific things you can do to help out. But, if you're like me, and you enjoy shooters, and don't want to be on the front lines, there's tons of stuff for you to do. Those command posts, you can go off and capture them. Or somebody else is capturing them, and you can take them back. Depending on what kind of class you are, you can upgrade them. There's also other ancillary objectives that are popping up as well, so it kind of caters and lets you feel valuable. In the demo, Paul went off an interrogated somebody, and it gave him experience points. But, in doing that -- for the rest of the team, if he's playing multiplayer or even single-player -- they all get the benefit of that. Inadvertently, just for having fun, going off and doing your own thing, you can still help.

Something else we noticed -- and this is likely for the E3 build -- all of the weapons had infinite ammo, and all of the weapons were unlocked. What's the progression there? How will players unlock these weapons? Will I use a pistol so much so that I get better at it, and improve that weapon?

That's one of the things we're talking about right now. That's the kind of big assumption everybody made, and you look at it in things like Team Fortress 2, where they added all of these objectives, and everybody just started grinding for upgrades, completely invalidating what [Valve] wanted to do. These are supposed to be rewards for what you'd be doing anyway.

It's a whole unlockables procedure, and we're still working out the particulars, but the number one goal is to ensure that it doesn't take away the fun.

 

[A Tasty Burgerr]

This is looking pretty dope

 

[A Tasty Burgerr]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwU0rKEhMJ8&feature=related"]YouTube- Brink - "Container City" Gameplay Developer Walkthrough Pt. 1 [HD HQ][/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DAH1vWkBKI"]YouTube- BRINK - Container City Gameplay Preview: Part 2 | HD[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juTZZj93cY8"]YouTube- Brink - "Container City" Gameplay Developer Walkthrough Pt. 3 [HD HQ][/ame]

 

[Irish]

This not being about the greatest tv disney movie of all time is disappointing.

Soul skaters for life!

 

[Tengo Juego]

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/character-customizaton-brink/60975