Moderators, please feel free to merge this with a similar thread if there is one. It may be good to sticky this since I am sure there will be a lot of feedback on the subject.
First, let me say these are just my opinions, and I LOVE this game and don’t understand the hate it gets. With that said…
I downloaded the Agents of Change DLC pack last night and played it. Unfortunately, my initial impression is meh.
I played the founders tower twice and the lab three times. Both have multiple objectives and look cool, but based on what I have seen so far, they are probably my least favorite two maps in the game. Can’t comment first hand on the new abilities because I took a penalty to my level so I am not wasting points on perks I am not going to use anymore and have to get back up to level 20, but I did see some of them in action.
The Lab
Unless I am missing something, the lab level is probably the most linear map in the game. Sure, all the maps in Brink are somewhat linear since pretty much everything takes place in the narrow corridors of the Ark, but normally there are at least 2-3 paths to get to any objective. Not so much with this map, it seems.
My first match I played on the resistance side and we were able to complete the first couple objectives fairly easily but then we got to the final objective where you have to retrieve a sample and return it. We could never get past what appears to be the narrowest choke point in any FPS game I have ever played. There is a corridor that you run down that isn’t huge but is wide enough with a balcony on each side. When you get to the end of the corridor, there is a double door you have to get through. That is it, a choke point the size of any double glass doors you have to go through to get into many banks, restaurants, etc. It seems absurd.
All the other team had to do was set up a turret gun right behind each door and we could hardly get close because the corridor leading up to it is straight and the guns had a long line of site. I started running down the balcony as far as I could and then jumping down to avoid as much as the turret fire as possible. However, we still couldn’t get through, because we still had to take out the guns, and then have to worry about the multiple land mines set in the doorways, and also the dudes with heavy MGs just standing behind the turret guns firing at us. We could never take out all their defenses and get through those doors.
I couldn’t find any other way to get through, which is stupid if this is the only path. That is horrible map design if they have an absurdly small choke point with no other way around. As I saw, two engineers with upgraded turret guns, land mines, and heavy MGs can hold those doors against multiple enemies. Unless the security team is disorganized, it is going to take one hell of a push by multiple teammates to get through those doors.
The second time I played the map we didn’t even get as far as we did the first time. We couldn’t get past the objective before where an engineer has to fix something to get the sample. The room where you have to fix it is wide open. There are two ways to approach as the resistance – on the ground level after going down a narrow stairway and through a narrow doorway (read: meat grinder) or by going out on a balcony and then dropping down right by the objective and out in the open as an easy target. I don’t know if the security spawn was closer, but there always seemed to be a steady stream of enemies heading at me when I would try to repair, but many of the people on my team must of been lost because hardly anyone other than myself seemed to be pushing for the objective, so that is probably the main reason this section seemed really hard to complete the second time.
Like I said, I have only played the map twice, and we were getting our butts kicked which could play a role in my negative impression, but so far I am not impressed with the lab at all.
The Founder’s Tower
This is either a very complex map that I don’t understand yet, or one of the worst designed maps ever. The first time I played it we won on the resistance which is the defending team on this map by holding them from completing the first objective, and that first area is pretty cool. However, the second time I played they pushed us past that area and then you ride an elevator into a higher level of the tower. I got lost and couldn’t figure out where the hell to go, which I guess is just because I am a newb on this map.
By the time I kind of stumbled my way into the right area the security team had finished the next objective and then was on the last where they had to steal our detonator and throw it off the tower. When that objective started I looked up and saw they had 22 minutes to complete it. Really, 22 minutes?!? A friend explained to me that if the attacking team completes an objective fast they get to keep their left over time and then the time for the new objective gets added to it, so if we had held them on the prior objectives until time had almost run out they would of had 10 minutes for the last objective. Still, 10 minutes is too much, especially if added to additional time, because it literally took the security guy less than 30 seconds to retrieve the detonator and make it to the point to throw it off and win the match. Maybe it is just me, but asking the resistance team to stop a less than 30 second run for 10 minutes, or in our case, 22 minutes, it ridiculous.
That was the good match on the Founders Tower.
The second match they once again they pushed us back into the higher part of the tower. I fell at one point, and landed on a lower level. I was looking for a way to get back up and realized I had fallen into a prior spawn area for the enemy team when their indestructible turret guns almost killed me and I got the voice over telling me to get away. I looked for a way to get back up to the higher level, but could never find one. My guess is that when they completed an objective their spawn changed and now there was no way to get out of that level. Just a theory, because I spent the last 4 minutes of that match wondering around, looking for a way up.
Hopefully these new maps will grow on me once I learn them, but so far I am not impressed. They also seem heavily stacked in favor of the security team.
New Abilities, Attachments and Outfits
This appears to be the the good part of the DLC. Like I said above, I haven’t unlocked them yet as the new abilities are level 5 abilities and you have to be rank 20 at least to use them, but I did see a couple in action.
The UAV looks pretty cool, and the way it has enemies show up on the radar is pretty useful. I had one fly up to me and blow up in my face, but it didn’t kill me. I was a mid weight medic with buffed health and it brought my health down to 1/4 of the bar. If my health hadn’t been buffed I may have died, and if I was a lightweight I am pretty sure it would have killed me right away. It didn’t knock me down, so it would probably be best used to fly into a group and weaken then so your teammates can finish them off.
A friend used the medic healing station and it seems pretty cool. It doesn’t move around like I thought. You place in down and any teammates near it regain health faster than normal, like they have the metabolism buff. Since it doesn’t move around, it is pretty much only good for setting up by an objective you have to defend, but seems like it could be very beneficial in those circumstances.
I did not see the napalm nade or mine in action yet, but they sound like they would be pretty awesome. I am not sure how useful the perk to see enemy buffs will be, since it doesn’t change the fact that they want to kill you and you have to kill them.
I also haven’t seen the gun shield or bayonet attachment being used, but a buddy tried them both and said the shield didn’t seem to do much, but the bayonet is cool and does a lot more damage than a normal melee attack and he liked running at someone with his gun weakening them and then finishing them off with the bayonet.
I checked out both of the new outfits, and well, they are new outfits so nothing to get too excited about. I am using the irish cop hat on my security version of the character now.
Technical Problems
I noticed a few glitches last night that have me somewhat concerned/annoyed. At one point both my friend and I heard the Resistance leader say “they have removed your hack box” when we were past that objective and onto the next. Then a couple times I heard the security leader say “new objective” even though we were on the resistance team. These both happened on the new maps, and they are not game breaking, but hopefully something they will fix because they are obvious glitches.
The other problem I had was more annoying than the other two. For some reason, if I was running as medic it would always go back to the “revive closest teammate” objective when I would repawn instead of staying on whatever other objective I had selected. When I would bring up the objective selection, it would still show I had whatever other objective selected (like “defend this area” or “escort this person” etc.) but that objectives location would not show up on the screen unless I manually selected it from the wheel every time I would respawn and instead I would just see the location of the closest downed teammate until I manually changed it each time. Got really annoying having to do this after each death. What is more, there seemed to be a couple times it would do it while I was still alive! The game never did this before. I am not sure if this only happens on the new maps, or if it is going to happen on all maps now. It isn’t game breaking, but very annoying.
Closing Thoughts
I am glad this DLC was free, because otherwise I would be pissed off right now if I paid for it. As it is, I am just disappointed. It seems these two maps were recognized to be the two weakest maps and therefore were not included on the disc at launch. At least the new perks seem cool.
If I could sum up my initial impressions in a picture, it would be the following:
My Suggestions
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Correct the glitches I mentioned above
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Adjust the times for objectives to make them a little more fair.
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Make a change to the process to return the sample/detonator when on the defending team. Instead of just standing by it and holding down a button to return it, have the defending team pick up the item and have to run it back. This would create awesome back and forth struggles for the item. The downside to this I could see would be a lightweight defender picking up the item and then just running away or getting to high ground and holding onto it until time runs out.
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Change the hacking objective to be like the repair objective to where the hacking cannot be undone by the other team. I know this would rob the operative of one of their purposes, but perhaps you could give them something else to do. This is how a lot of people play online already in all player matches (unspoken rule not to remove the hack box).
