A blend of some of the best FPS shooter games fused together. Does Brink deliver? It depends on you.....
Brink does have a bit of a learning curve with the controls and the interface when starting out. They implemented a little tutorial in the game that not only will explain in full detail through videos, but let you play little missions that are geared to hone in on useing specific moves to finish the level. These also are ideal to do early on because of the fact they unlock weapon add-ons. Even with all that, it still won't fully prepare you to the fast paced. hectic mutiplayer action that will ensue when you play online. However, that to me is half the fun and learning the controls are not as bad when first trying the game out. A player has the option to change the controls or customize them fully to their own specific needs (most of the presets are from other shooters and they are quite obvious about it lol).
Some of the familiar things you will see in Brink that you may have seen in other FPS games that you really liked (or didn't like) were:
1. Skill tree system - seen in games such as Borderlands. This is a leveling up system that you gain points after winning/losing which results in leveling up. Every time you level up you gain a skill point to give your character an additional skill whether it be an overall skill or a specific class skill.
2. Different classes - as best resembled by the FPS Battlefield Bad Company. Brink uses a wheel system to choose from a Soldier, Operative, Medic, and an Engineer. This is the concept that your mission has different goals; blow up a bridge (soldier); escort a wounded teammate (medic); hack into computer systems (operative); maintain and fix mechanical robots/cranes/crack safes/etc (engineer). Depending on what class you are and the majority of you team is can really turn the fight in your favor, or against you. So being too heavy or too light in any one class can lose the mission for you, so strategic planning on what you need is critical. On top of that each class has unlock able skills that can be used during the fight. Such as....the soldier has a larger array of different grenades (frag, flash, Molotov, charges), scavenge supplies off of fallen enemies, can upgrade his armor & armor piercing rounds, and that max capacity of his ammo. A medic can up their ability greatly to revive more fallen teammates before their supplies run out, buff teammates so they can take very little damage, move faster, health regenerates faster, etc. The engineer has the extra abilities of laying landmines & different levels of turrets. Along with increasing teammates weapon damage & armor, and defense of command posts. An operative has many counter abilities that can hack enemy turrets, manually control turrets from a different location, reveal enemy locations, disguise as enemies, and use a few unorthodox grenades/bombs that can really change the progression of the enemies team greatly.
3. In-Depth Weapon Customization - a few FPS's that this resembles are Army of Two, COD:BO and Blacklight. This is where you can change out your muzzle, add a silencer; front grip, grenade launcher, speed sling; a hand full of different scopes; extended magazines, combo mags(two mags together), AR drums/rapid fire. All of which can slightly or greatly affect the stats of the weapons and how it performs. Choosing different body types changes the line-up of weapons you have available to you as well. Heavy classes have access to heavy weapons (miniguns and such) and all other weapons, medium classes have a large array of weapons other than the half dozen or so heavy weapons, and the light classes have very few SMG's to pick from and are forced with a pistol as a secondary weapon (which is actually good, because every pistol increases your melee damage due to the combat knife with it).
4. Character customization - seen in shooters such as Rainbow Six Vegas 2. This is where you can change how your character looks from head to toe. Including hats/masks, facepaint, tattoos/scars, body type (which affects how you play in-game as well), and a lineup of stylish clothing for the Resistance or Security Faction. All of which can be tweaked slightly to make your own arrangement.
5. S.M.A.R.T. movement - This is Brink cornerstone, and has never been done before like this. The closest game to resemble this would be Mirrors Edge. Where many shooters have a jump function that is either non-existent, or almost worthless. This is a combination of running/climbing/sliding/jumping through or past just about any obstacle that's in your path. Depending on your body type (heavy, medium, small) will depend on how fast you move, how high you can climb, etc. It's a very fluid and easy system to use, just hold down the run button and face the direction you want to go and you will gracefully make it there.
This game is not perfect by any means, but it does have a happy medium that I believe given the try a majority of people will like the game but not love it. It lacks heavy from not having a single player campaign. There technically is one, but they are just solo versions of the multiplayer maps with bots and there is no real story that goes along with it. The AI for the most part are retarded and won't really work as a team and occasionally get stuck on some graphical glitch or run around like they are confused on what to do.
So with saying that, the online multiplayer is Brinks saving hope that makes the game worth it. This game probably won't take home any awards, but it is a decent game. I wouldn't go out and buy it for the $50. - $60. dollar price they are asking for it if you have doubts, but it is worth the price of $40.00 or at least a rental to make a judgment whether it's your taste of shooter. I personally give this game an 8.0 because it holds together really well, but suffers from a huge lack of a single player mode and a few bugs/glitches here and there. I will however raise this game up by a point (up to 9.0) once the much needed updates and DLC that will eventually follow come out for this game.