First off i should state this is just a rambing angry tirade from someone who hasnt slept in a couple days getting ready to move, and most of it shouldnt be taken to seriously.. that being said....
So, last day before i head to crater lake, i got a new game... And it manages to make the bile that pumps through my veins as if blood boil.
I had a large chunk of credit at the game store left over and decided to use it buying Brink for my 360, having heard so many wonderful stories about it. and Sure enough, everybody saying its great and wonderful and will revolutionize gaming is a lying whore.
Its your basic battle shooter more or less, there is a story mode, but its.. not that good. the big break down i've found thus far is the "classes"
there are 2 groups, the first being your body type which dictates what kind of weapons you use and how fast you go, light use the lightest weapons, but move the fastest and can free run the best, which isnt actually used that much. Medium are able to use battle rifles and shotguns, but not do the free run as well as lights, and heavies are able to lug about heavy weapons, and even sling them as secondary weapons, but are slow moving and cant free run at all.
And for your actual classes are Soldier, bang bang your dead and mobile ammo refillers; engineers, who can buff up your gun; Medics, able to heal and revive downed allies as well as give you a small bit of extra life; and what basicly works out to spies, can look like people from the other team they have killed. Each group also fills a different objective as well, soldiers can plant explosives at key points to take down doors or such, medics help protect on escorts to keep them going, engineers repair machinery, and spys hack computers and such.
THe problem comes from the fact that the classes dont really do anything to be different from each other. they have some minor specialty powers, but you use them so rarely its pretty much useless, you can get some additional powerups as you level, but they dont provide any real bonus. The same with body types, there is no difference in how much damage they can take, just one moves slightly faster, one moves slightly slower, one uses small guns, one uses big ones. Everybodys life is about the same.
...
Except yours because while it takes every clip you have to take down one enemy, it only takes the muzzle flash from their gun to KO you.. And the computer is horrible about medics. either not having any at all, using only soldiers and engineers, or they ignore your dying body because one of the enemies passed a non-important computer that doesnt really do anything. Its rather odd to watch a heavy carrying a gatling gun get punched by a skinny little guy, who's arms might break just from shooting his crappy little hold out pistol, and watch him go flying across the room and knocked to the ground. Or with the roles reversed, skinny guy getting smacked by a guy who carries around a pair of heavy weapons that should be vehicle mounted, with no real problem.
The really hard part is the computer tends to pick you out and chase you down, meaning when you try and plant a bomb to blow open a door to continue on to the next part of the mission suddenly not 6 thugs, but 7 appear behind you and blow you away in an instant while your trying to set up. Then instantly disarm your bomb or hack or whatever. Though, if you try and disarm theirs it takes a good 18 seconds.
The weapon choices in the game is impressive, and almost every one can be modded to add a new part to several spots, such as silencers which make it so you dont show up on the radar when you shoot (which is pointless in single player as the computer automaticly knows where you are..) to recoil suppressors which help keep your aim from going so wild; scopes, adjustible ironsights, and red dots that dont really add accuracy to much (save the scope which zoomes pretty well, but there is no point in sniping because evidently a high caliber bullet to the base of the skull is like getting punched in the arm); under mounts like speed slings so you can switch weapons faster, extra handles to stabilize, or grenade launchers (which you can only shoot one a minute, but still more useful then throwing); and magazines, which are good as you only get about 2 clips, and lets you do duct tape clips (two taped together to reload faster) high capacity clips, ammo drums, and rapid fire triggers for single fire rifles.
To balance this each attachment has its own downsides, silencers lower damage and range, as do recoil suppressors, sights dont have any real up or down, but when you zoom in you cant see whats happening around you, undermounts tend to add extra weight making the weapon slower to draw or more awkward to shoot costing you accuracy, as do the different clips as they make the gun more awkward to handle.
I'd say i actually like the weapon mod system, as it lets you work a weapon to fit how you work just a bit better then it normally would, the problem is the weapons are all kind of the same at times it feels like, there are dozens of different types, but none have a real good distinct feel, and the only way you can try them is to go into a level and start shooting. I think something like this would have worked great for a game like Borderlands where rather then finding guns with random crap glued on you find the base stat guns and get to add parts to enhance them rather then being stuck at level 30 using a gun you got at level 10 because nothing else really works as well despite how outdated the gun should be.
The other problem is you only get new weapons and mods by completing challenge modes, such as "be more objective" where you switch between the different classes to complete their objectives while the other side tries to stop you, parkour challenges where you manuver an obstcal course to hit check points (no enemies, just complexe puzzle jumping made more complex by the weird free run controls), An escort mission where you repair a robot and guide it along a cooridor defending it against enemies, and tower defense, which is actually just king of the hill with everybody against you.
The objective challenge is annoying in that your the only one that can complete the objectives, but that doesnt mean your computer team mates are going to give you cover while the other side sprays you with gun fire.
The parkour challenge is ok, except it feels more like a tutorial to use a rather defunked system then an actual challenge, you will automaticly jump over barriers you need to try and climb up, some hjow get turned around midair grabbing the ledge youjust jumped off of, or other weird things that make it hard to control.
The escort one is actually ok... Kinda. you have to stand next to the robot to get it to move forward, and the moment your more then a meter away it stops completely and just starts taking gunfire, and the enemies seem to continously spawn with no real end until the robot has passed their door. And you only have 2 clips worth of ammo in each gun more or less.
And the tower defense is also kind of fun, save some big flaws. the higher levels makes you fight more guys at once, which means yout going to die alot. You then have to run from your safe zone all the way to the tower, kill the guys, and rehack the terminal, which takes about 18 seconds, and you only have 30 total to do it. it also takes about 6-8 seconds to run back, and if there are any enemies around you have to kill them, or they will kill you as you take the tower.
The big problem is that each one of these games is timed, the parkour i can expect as its a speed challenge, but the escort, objectives, and tower ones are made stupidly hard as your time is limited to get your jobs done, and each time you die you start all the way at the begining eatting up precious seconds. and it gets frustrating fast.
The single player campaign mode is a bit lack luster as it combines all the flaws together. Completing objectives is nigh impossible as an endless swarm of super powered enemies constantly jump down your throat, with very good AI i should say, if they start to lose the fight they dont hesistate to try and escape and heal, wait for reinforcements, or make other intelligent decisions.. .. Unfortinatly your team mates have all the brains of a high school wrestler trying to take on the world MMA champ. And the time limit there to help screw things up even more as you have to rush.
Things might be better in the multiplayer, but i've never been much of one who enjoys it, especially since i dont have x-box live gold, and a hatred for split screen play so they can force you and your friends to buy extra copies of the game and an xbox live gold and all just to play with your friends..
The game does look beautiful though, the characters look very well done, and you can get a great deal of customizeation on how they look, if you dont mind them all kind of looking like Jason Statham after his head has been in a vice, the weapons look good, and the city looks good as well.
But thats not enough.
I remember being promised this giant sandbox city to run through, not some half assed story mode that doesnt have any story to play, or real chance to explore what is a really great city scape.
The game had such great potential, but they instea decided to make it into a battlefield style on-line shooter rather then put in an effort. And the fact that its Bethesda makes it even worse! They were the story kings, but lately they have been sliding into the "mediocre schlock" area. The game feels like it was planned to be some giant thing like borderlands, and it feels like it could have blown them out of the water, but they decided to halfass it instead.
Who knows, maybe its awesome in the multiplayer style, but im unlikely to find out. I dont have any friends who want to drop 60 bucks for a game with a worthless single player mode, nor do they want to have to spend X amount a month just to be able to play on-line. I should have known something was up from the begining, all these videos of game play (and im pretty sure some of the stuff they showed/promised dont show at all..) but no demo to try and play. What should have sealed it and had me cancel my pre-order was a gamestop clerk telling me "Oh, im sure it will be great. All the videos show it being really fun to play, and its hard to fake a video of a game looking fun." I should have calmly called the store i preordered from and cancelled it and then done a lewis black in one his stand up bits and punched him in the nose and ran around the store foaming at the mouth screaming profanities at the top of my lungs until the police tazed me into submission.
But i missed that chance.. and now im stuck with it. Maybe someone up there will be interisted in buying it..
