Xbox360 users - should I buy Brink?

(VonSleaze) #1

Let me say that I have been following this game for a long time and very excited about it. I am however obviously concerned about the (mostly) mediocre reviews that seem to be surfacing both from users and critics.

Having said that, I’m still really interesting and excited for the game. I have been watching some of the streams from PC users and overall I think it looks great.

Some of the concerns that reviewers have levelled at the game I think are a bit unfair and I couldn’t care less about:

The single player - yes I think Splash Damage talked up the “integration” and single player too much. It is basically some cut scenes book ending the multiplayer experience with bots with seemingly terrible AI. However, I couldn’t care less because Brink is a multiplayer game at heart and that is what I am interested in. I presume when there are only one or two bots per team, the bot AI is not too much of an issue

Lag - I understand there was a day 1 patch for the 360. Has this fixed the majority of the issues? I was always concerned about playing 8 v 8 peer to peer over Xbox live to be honest, so this is still a big concern. Are there 360 players in the UK who have had a solid, lag free experience?

Basically what I am hoping is that you still have a solid, team based, objective based experience coupled with some interesting strategic options that the parkour aspect opens up, which is what interested me in the game in the first place. Personally I think 8 maps is fine at launch if the maps are solid since objective based maps generally keep things much more interesting and varied that team death match. Also, the maps can be played from both sides which I presume adds a bit of variety?

What do you think? Are the issues that the game currently has on 360 fixable? Is the core of the game strong enough to succeed and be interesting / a worthwhile purchase?

(DazTroyer) #2

Firstly, I’m in the UK and having the same thoughts as you. Brink looks to be a solid fps if only it can rise above the issues.

Secondly, Gamestation do a very nice 10 day return policy, its printed on the receipt. So you can give it a whirl without to much worry.

(CoolBritannia) #3

This review makes it look absolutely horrible.

“Not just one of the worst shooters ever, but one of the worst games ever made at this stage in its life.”

(Bakewell) #4

I echo op’s thoughts.

I’ve hady eye on brink for about a year and I’ve gradually got more excited as release day ha approached but some of the reviews and comments here have me worried.

I’m still picking the game up but if some 360 users could offer some feedback (rational I might add) then it would be appreciated.

(CoolBritannia) #5

I would personally like a dev to respond to this, I need to know if they can fix it before I buy.

(allchiefedup) #6

I find the game to be very fun on the xbox. Right now all multiplayer games have terrible lag though. I’m able to play 3player co-op campaign vs bots with no problems though.

(X Trigger I) #7
  • This is what a friend of mine said. ‘Lag’ but it’s fun and will be fun with friends if SD fix the LAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG.
(ThePilgrim101) #8

There’s terrible lag during peak hours.

However, if you’re honestly just looking forward to fun objective-based gameplay, Brink is a good choice.

(boozee84) #9

i should get it tomorrow, i’ll keep you up to date guys.

(DazTroyer) #10

cheers fella.

(VonSleaze) #11

Thanks for the feedback.

To me, the whole appeal of the game is full on, 8v8 matches with human opponents. It certainly sounds like the 360 version is not up to handling this in the current state, so I will take a ‘wait and see’ approach and see if Splash Damage can turn things around.

I can totally understand day one issues and it’s not unique to them, but I don’t usually have much gaming time, so I’m not going to waste it suffering through lag till the problems are fixed.

(CoolBritannia) #12

And to think this was released early as it was “finished”.

It is shocking how ufinished recent FPS’s have been. You can add this to the pile Crysis 2 and Black Ops are already burning in for day one network issues…

(Don'tBrinkandDrive) #13

I will say that I have not actually played online yet (for shame), and played through the four challenges in about 40 minutes last nite and the entire solo resistance campaign and failed one mission. Maybe my AI on normal worked slightly better or maybe on normal the enemy AI got dumber but I enjoyed playing it solo. A couple parts were frustrating, but if you are even decent at FPS games you can do good in Brink. I have it for the 360 and enjoyed the 3 hours I spent with it last nite. Hoping to play through the Security Campaign tonite. Then get in some MP.

TL;DR version: I am thoroughly enjoying Brink and only played Solo last nite. I finished the whole Resistance Campaign and failed only one mission with Bots the entire time.

(Grampa Murked U) #14

Sp is a disaster
Dunno about mp yet

(ultraddtd) #15

Well, getting into a game with minimal lag is hit or miss. When it’s good, it’s really good, but when it’s bad it’s unplayable.

Also, there’s no way to join a game as a party. Coupled with the fact that it’s P2P (thus no server browser), it’s a bit difficult to get a group of friends into a pub game together. Basically, one person needs to find a game with enough empty slots, and the rest need to join before the game fills up. That’s annoying.

As far as the game itself, it’s great. I really haven’t seen the graphical problems that others have mentioned. Either I’m lucky, or people are exaggerating. The game is a little fuzzy however, not as crisp as the PC counterpart, but hopefully that’s something that can be patched in.

Also, the AI is not as bad as people say. While playing single player or coop isn’t the best way to play Brink, it’s certainly interesting enough every once in a while. Also, to be completely honest, I have a hard time noticing the difference between the human and bot players in games that aren’t completely full.

And SMART is just fun. I don’t have access to the light yet, but you can mess around with one in the parkour challenges, and I can’t wait to get my hand on that body type.

(PopeTackler) #16

They do indeed. I bought a brand new copy of Fable 3 from them, finished it and returned it two days later. I’d even entered the codes for some of the free stuff you get and they didn’t check. Got a full refund straight back into my bank account, on the spot. (I also refuse to pay full retail for a ~9hour game with no re-playability. I vote with my wallet.)

If after 10 days of playing they haven’t fixed the issues plauging the release of Brink, and at least made an effort to tell us they’ll be adding a lobby or something better than what they have now, Brink will be going back and I’ll be getting something else for my money.

The whole “invite your friends to a public game every time you want to play together with other people” is shockingly bad. I get better experiences than that from SP games with a bit of MP thrown in. It boggles the mind as to what SD was thinking.

I’m not paying full retail to beta test something for a company seemingly too lazy to do it properly themselves.

(Hyrage) #17

Once you’ve unlock pretty much everything by completing challenges and when a game doesn’t lag; Brink is a game hard to beat when it comes to fun.

The only thing I hate on the 360 is the actual rendering of the image, resolution or lack of anti-aliasing combined… in other words, the image is far from looking HD and clean as I would expect for a Splash Damage game or simply a game released in 2011 < - - - -.

Other than that… super fun game and reviews were messed up.

(Whydmer) #18

I have played about 8-9 hours so far, 3-4 hours in solo matches/challenges and 4-5 with MP turned on with some of that playing with friends and last night I played 2 matches with Herandar and friends.

Lag was an “issue” in one match, I had to quit it and join another match and things were much better. Lag has been present in 3 other matches but only for seconds during an entire 20 minute match. So for me at least the lag has not been a show stopper. I hope things improve, but the game has been very playable.

Gameplay on 360: EFing awesome! If you want a grown up, team oriented, objective driven FPS this game is with out a doubt a great experience. As your interest in those three items lessen then your interest in this game will as well.

UI: The UI works, in some areas very well in others it is not necessarilly intuitive. You can play with friends, you can form an xbox live party and start a game up with that party intact. It just isn’t glaringly obvious how to do so.

The AI: The bots are not as strong or as intelligent as I was led to believe by reading SD’s statements prior to release. My main thought about them is that they are not as aggressive enough especially on offense. The bots are helpful in that they will buff you, they will go after command posts and the like but being an effective fire team with you not so much, or going after primary objectives, only sometimes. Rahdo has already done at least one interview where he stated that adjusting AI bot aggresiveness up from the point where it was purposely set is no problem if that is what the community desires. We shall see.

Graphics and sound are both within limits of what I was expecting and I am happy with both.

My kids and I are going to get more than our money’s worth from Brink. If SD follows up with some repairs/tweaks it will be a game to keep me playing for years.

Feel free to ask me specific questions.

(Whydmer) #19

[QUOTE=ultraddtd;298352]Well, getting into a game with minimal lag is hit or miss. When it’s good, it’s really good, but when it’s bad it’s unplayable.

Also, there’s no way to join a game as a party. Coupled with the fact that it’s P2P (thus no server browser), it’s a bit difficult to get a group of friends into a pub game together. Basically, one person needs to find a game with enough empty slots, and the rest need to join before the game fills up. That’s annoying.

As far as the game itself, it’s great. I really haven’t seen the graphical problems that others have mentioned. Either I’m lucky, or people are exaggerating. The game is a little fuzzy however, not as crisp as the PC counterpart, but hopefully that’s something that can be patched in.

Also, the AI is not as bad as people say. While playing single player or coop isn’t the best way to play Brink, it’s certainly interesting enough every once in a while. Also, to be completely honest, I have a hard time noticing the difference between the human and bot players in games that aren’t completely full.

And SMART is just fun. I don’t have access to the light yet, but you can mess around with one in the parkour challenges, and I can’t wait to get my hand on that body type.[/QUOTE]

Ultraddtd You can get into a match with a party intact. I did it last night. (admittedly the first try was problematic) I joined a party with another forum member ans some of his friends. we were all at the main screen area customizing/tweaking characters. We were a mish-mash of levels/ranks (thats where the problems happened). The first campaign game put together did not allow the higher ranked players into it. I am not sure if the correct setting wasn’t toggled or if there was a different problem. We tried again and everything went smoothly. There is a join as xbox live party option within the game. When one person starts a game the rest of the party members click this option. click the players name and join their game.

I would like to see this method refined and be more user friendly, but at the least there is a method to join games with friends already.

(advocacy) #20

Yes, because if enough players buy this game and complain about the lag, Splash Damage is bound to do something about it.

Probably.