When we think Bethesda, images of The Elder Scrolls series and Fallout 3 pop into our heads, but that's not all the publisher's working on. Next spring, it'll release Brink, a first person action RPG developed by Splash Damage. Like most games in its genre, you'll lead a team of warriors through environments crawling with bad guys, snag lots of cool weapons and level up your character. Except instead of selecting one class and sticking to it, you're able to switch them during play. Throw in online co-op play, and there's plenty to be excited about.
Brink takes place in the distant future on a floating environment called the Ark, a collection of islands miles from any continent. First designed as a 100 percent green habitat, rising oceans forced people to relocate to it en masse, resulting in tons of corruption and two warring factions, the Resistance and Security. The Resistance hopes to take down "the man", while Security attempts to preserve the Ark's government. You have the option of choosing which group to represent, and there's a unique set of missions for each.
What separates this game from others is the ability to switch classes in game; you do this by accessing special nodes. So, if you're tired of being a soldier, you can become an engineer or an operative, among others. Doing this dramatically alters the gameplay, as Brink automatically provides you with a new set of missions for that class, complete with XP (experience points) values for each. You need XP to upgrade your character, so it's in your best interest to complete as many objectives as possible. Keep in mind, however, that the missions with high XP will probably take considerable effort to beat.
While exploring (or making a daring escape), you'll need to rely on SMART (Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain) to guide you to safety. This technology makes an educated guess where you want to go depending on where you look. So, if you tilt the left analog stick down while approaching some pipes, your character will slide under them. Conversely, you'll jump if you tilt the stick upwards. While a novel idea, we'll need to actually experiment with SMART to see how well it works.
As expected, Splash Damage lets everyone create their own character, selecting from a wide assortment of outfits (vests, shirts, pants), accessories (tattoos, bloody bandages) and other stuff like facial hair. With so many options, we don't expect to see characters that look alike.
Speaking of characters, you'll interact with hundreds, both human and computer controlled. Brink was designed to be an off and online first person adventure, as you can team up with seven other players in story mode or wage war online. We're on board, but we need to mess around with it to see how it works.
It's still early, but Brink looks fun. The ability to change classes in game and complete what seems like tons of missions intrigues us, and we're always down for a pretty first person shooter. Now all Bethesda has to do is put the controller in our hands.
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