The German magazine PCGames.de have made an interesting Brink hands-on Preview in which they claim Brink will set a new standard when it comes to future FPS-games. The original article is in German but below you find the translated version (on behalf of BRINKish and caliban).

Enjoy!

Brink sets new standards – you will never look upon a first-person shooter with the same eyes again!
As Wikipedia mentioned, Brink is “an ancient germanien word in geographical names since the early Middle Ages, a slightly elevated spot, a border or a coastline known.” Thank you, Wikipedia, but that does not sound like a scene for a computer game. Besides replacing the mind “slightly elevated” to “float”, “body or coastal edge” by “scarred by the civil war wannabe Utopia” and “Dark Ages” by “2025″ – and voila, even the description applies perfectly to the Brink. Too complicated? Then again slowly: Brink sends you into a scarred from the civil war wannabe Utopia (), the so-called Ark, which floats on the surface of the flooded soil in 2025. Wicked, right?

After having recently been at Splash Damage in London to have a look Brink, we now once again stormed the video game company – this time we were allowed to actually play the game with our own  hands! The scene is just the same as in the previous presentation, the container town, where we as a member of the security  forces, have to escort a robot to a container of the rebel resistance group. We land at a small pier outside the ancient port facility, on our side seven computer-controlled teammates, which could theoretically also be played (as well as the opposing party) by human players. All matches are always held with 16 players, they explained to us, the computer simply fills up incomplete teams. Thus, the boundaries between online and offline game starting to blur noticeably.

Creative Director, Richard Ham, who looked after us in the  hour of playing, sweeps us from the thought: “With the Command Wheel ye now you can grab a mission.” We press the corresponding button and a ring menu appears on the screen, which is proposing a variety of tasks. The mini-contracts, we find there, all contribute to team success and are classified according to rewards. Actions that are leading the team to win quickly, more valuable than just solo actions that earn only a small advantage. Logical. The part integrates well into the game and does not interrupt the flow of play. For certain attacks, bombings, or the like, it is also necessary to switch between the four player classes back and forth. Only the Medic can heal other players, only the Commando can disguise themselves and sneak undetected behind enemy lines, only the engineer can set up or repair the machine and only the Soldier can … well, just the typical soldier.

Our first task: “Buffing” team-mates as Engineer.  As in an RPG, the technician of the team can add value to the colleagues temporarily. So we follow the mission compass and distribute weapons enhancements to the guys. At one barricade, meanwhile, a wild gun battle with the enemy accrues, we must blow this thing up to clear the path for our robot . We grab us the appropriate order, change to the command class at the terminals  and creeping up behind the resisters. And thereby we notice a first serious problem: the friend or foe recognition. Despite the wonderful look, it is damn difficult to distinguish enemy from friend  in the tumult. But the developers are currently working with full speed on it, after all, the game is still almost a year away from release. However, they have given this even a big stone in the road. In Brink in fact, each character looks different. No, not everyone. EVERYONE! Body size, clothing, weapons, colors, tattoos – almost everything can be adapted to your own taste. Through massive unlockable items, clothes and body jewellery so you can see immediately whether the counterpart is a total novice or an absolute pro’s players. There lies the problem: If everyone looks and clothes change colours at will, how are we to tell who belongs to whom? What is certain: The graphics are damn tasty and the technical aspect definitely offers enough potential to help the team adequately distinguish visually from each other.

As you probably already recognized yourself,  you will deal with a mission-based oriented, cooperative multiplayer shooter, which is noticeable by classes, persistent character development, creative movement system, and two opposing storylines. No? Well then slowly and back to the start again: The two warring factions, security and resistance each have their own version of the story. They may both play and experience, therefore each scene twice – and the desire to own, in co-op or in multiplayer mode. By finishing tasks and opponents while you continue to develop your character and unlock weapons, clothing and accessories.

The classes and missions that we have already touched on the surface, bring additional depth to the game and quite clearly demonstrate that Brinks roots are obvious in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. Only those who completed the dynamically-assigned tasks, customized their character correctly and always had an eye on his teammates, will have his joy in the long term in this individual multiplayer riot.

Back to London: In our match, the problem with the barrier was just one of many problems. We conducted our robot into the inner container town, blowing up freely abbreviations repaired cranes, placed on guns, interrogated enemy, and, and, and. This all sounds quite complex, and it is. Who will be in the current stage of simply thrown into the game, can only be overwhelmed – even those who already bring Quake Wars experience. But we assume that Splash Damage’s all quite a bit more accessible makes at least that’s according to studio owner Paul Wedgwood of the plan. If it were up to him, should Daddler professional and complete beginners alike have fun with Brink – even if they compete against each other. Ambitious goals that can be introduced hopefully not only with party pooper compromises.

Gameheroes move. Or they move. Or they move. Well, you have recognized the difference?

I wonder what happens when someone mixes Team Fortress 2 with Quake Wars and Mirror’s Edge? It should come out about something like Brink. An innovative classes, and mission-oriented multiplayer shooter with an extraordinary motion system. In this case, the system is called SMART, which stands for “Smart Movement Across Random Terrain” and in German “Cleveres Bewegen in jeglicher Umgebung”. In practice this means for you: Whenever you taper with an obstacle, you simply press the magic button and your character overcomes the object. Depending on where you are looking, you slide underneath, jump or climb over it. Each SMART-motion can also be achieved with conventional, manual mouse and keyboard input, giving you the opportunity to perfect the acrobatic deposits. Thus, both newcomers as well as Brink -longtime gamers alike will have fun and a sense of achievement. In practice, the gymnastics feels good, even if the climbing successes depend heavily on this body circumference of your respective protagonists.

In general, the developers bubbling with creative ideas and the talent needed to bring them in too. We retain the title in any case in mind, the interesting part of all! Oh yes, we have the game won in record time, incidentally – but on balancing is indeed still working. As a reward we were allowed the same section, then again in the opposite direction, ie the part of the resistance fighters deny.

Overall we expected no big surprises during our gaming session: The basic mechanics of Brink worked perfectly – clear, after all, Splash Damage made the world mission-oriented multiplayer shooter popular. However, there are still some sites: accessibility, animations, balancing, artificial intelligence, friend or – all still seemed somewhat unfinished. No wonder, it IS indeed a work in progress! It happenes very very rare that game developers let us play an alpha version of a game one year before the planned release- thus, we also counted on everything, not only with a close final and completely revamped gaming experience. The stumbling blocks, we met to iron the more experienced programmers in all probability still pending. Since we’re pretty sure. And we wish it were – Brink reaped the mere fact of the optics and the SMART system is a very promising because a whole heap of sympathy points.

Read the whole thing, in German:
PCGames.de