First Impressions: Brink

I had a lot of reservations before opening Brink up, which almost is never a good sign. But I threw caution to the wind and took the plunge. And after spending a few hours with this game, my impressions of it? The enemy A.I. is  indeed fairly brutal in their ability to kill you and anyone on your chosen side. But that isn't to say they are that smart either, as I've viewed many of the enemy running aimlessly around and sometimes even just standing there too. Your allies on the other hand, are helpful sometimes, but they aren't nearly as effective as the enemy A.I. are.

The challenges are just that: Challenging.

Coupled with the previously stated fact that the A.I. is generally evil, even teaming with other human players doesn't exactly make life much easier. I tried the first challenge multiple times solo, then tried again online and the results remained the same every time: Failed.

The character customizations aren't too bad either, though not quite as robust as I was expecting. The choices for faces and voices are pretty limited, though the clothing and what not is decent. Still, I wouldn't mind having more options to play with...

The SMART system is okay, though I've found myself taking uncontrolled extra steps and slipping off the sides of ledges (yes, learned about this from yet another failed challenge). Ultimately, I look at this added "feature" as more gimmick, rather then something that really boosts the game play.

So overall, I am liking the changes that the different classes provide and the gameplay isn't actually that bad. But with the A.I. being so effective as they are, you will likely spend a lot of time being downed. I know I have spent much time on the ground in the limited amount of time I've played.

I am hoping that maybe the A.I. will be patched or at least some control given to the players to maybe tone down the A.I. a bit. It isn't very fun trying to learn the ropes of a new game whilst being murdered over and over again.