As the new gaming year is just starting, we have been shown many hot new titles that are coming out.  Some of them are old franchises and some are brand new.  This game may not be on your radar yet, but it is definitely one to keep your eyes on this year.

Developed by Bethesda Softworks who has also done Oblivion, Elder Scrolls and probably my favorite game they’ve done, Fallout 3,  comes Brink,  Bethesda’s brand new first person shooter, developed by Splash Damage.  This game is stated to come out in spring 2010, hopefully but there are rumours that it might come out in the Fall of 2010.

So you are probably wondering, “what is Brink?”

Well, in an interview with Richard Ham done in September 16th, 2009,  he talks about how this is a brand new FPS that is currently in Pre-Alpha and is far different from any other shooter out there.

This game is running on the Id Tech 4 engine, which was used on Quake Wars, but it has been overhauled to make this game look visually amazing.  Using a new texturing model called Virtual Texturing, they are able to create some of the most visually pleasing gameplay that I’ve seen.

So, here’s what we know from that interview: Brink is set on the Ark, a floating island built in the early 21st century.  The Ark was built to create the “perfect green way of living”, meaning that they use solar power and other green forms of energy to be self-sustaining.  It houses five thousand people and is used for celebrities to come and have photo-ops.  Unfortunately, a rising of seawater causes global flooding’s and with people being left homeless, they turn to the Ark for help and all are welcomed, raising the population to fifty thousand people.

The story starts off thirty years after the rising sea waters and the floods.  The population has been split into an upper and lower class of citizens.  This is where you step into the shoes of either the “Security”, which looks to be the police of the Ark and come from the upper class section, or the “Resistance”, a bunch of lower class people trying to fight for anything they can get to survive. Because of all this, the Ark is on brink of civil war.

The differences that have been noted from any other FPS out there are these:

- Camera Changes: The center of the screen is fixed to increase the feeling that you’re actually walking instead of having the entire camera bouncing from left to right to copy movement.
-The Gravity Well: For you Halo and Call of Duty players, this is one that you will notice.  In Halo, the Gravity Well is what gives that magnetic effect on the radical when facing enemies.  In Brink, the further away an enemy is, the stronger the Gravity Well is.  This will increase the turning rate of the character when aiming.
-Controller Mapping: If you played any Halo games on the console and got annoyed because the controls were switched from what you know, you’ll find controller mapping helpful. Brink’s controller layout is similar to CoD but has also been given the ability to map controls to the user’s preference.

The one major difference in this game is the S.M.A.R.T. button.  S.M.A.R.T. stands for  “Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain,” and this button will make it easier for a player to move across the map, no matter what object is in the way.  Using the S.M.A.R.T. button, you point yourself in a direction that you want to go, hit the button and off you go.  This is to help new players to be able to “pick up and play”.  But do not fear gamers, this button does not need to be used.  The game has its own jump and crouch buttons mapped to it and the same movements can be done without the button.  Not using the button increases you efficiency and allows more freedom throughout the game.

As for the gameplay itself, it is modeled after Call Of Duty, so you know that it will be great to control.  As for single player, not too much is known aside from the story that is mentioned earlier on in this article.  When starting the game, you will have to choose from one of two sides to play as: Security or Resistance.  Once you have made the choice, you will be taken to a character customization screen and then you’ll move onto the game.

There are three basic modes of gameplay are available:  Single, Co-op and multiplayer.  Each mode allows you to upgrade your character through experience points gained.  Upgrading so far just seems to be changing the appearance of your character and adding more armor or being able to use different weapons.  Also, within the game, you are able to change your class by visiting the command posts. Doing this will change objectives and experience points avaliable for you to do and will give more objectives for your teammates to do as well.

In multiplayer, which is 16, 8 v. 8, you will play either Security or Resistance, and each with their own objectives will face off against the other.  All types of players are welcomed in multiplayer, since not one player can hold their own against the other such as in Halo or Call of Duty.  If you are not a frontline fighter or just keep dying and want to try something else, you can select another character class and help your team in another way, such as the engineer class.  As an engineer, you can upgrade your teammates’ weapons and make them better throughout the game.

Brink is seemingly a contender for one of the big games coming up this year or at least one of those great games that will fly under the radar for most people, like Psychonauts.  This is all of the information we have found out so far about Brink and are looking forward to its release.

Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Publisher:  Bethesda Softworks
Developer: Splash Damage
Release: 2010

Sources:

Interview:
http://www.videogamer.com/videos/brink_richard_ham_interview.html

Images:
http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/article/101/1019715/dev-blog-bethesda-softworks-blogs-about-th-elatest-news-with-brink-fallout-3-and-wet-20090828024544998.jpg

http://www.bethsoft.com/images/games/brink_02B.jpg

http://www.bethsoft.com/images/games/brink_04B.jpg