Nick and I got to see some of Bethesda and Splash Damage's Brink, scheduled to release in 2010 on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC, up and running. It looks great so far. We had a chance to chat with Paul Wedgwood, CEO of Splash Damage and Game Director on Brink, and Richard Ham, Creative Director, on what we were seeing. And out of our chat came some interesting details on the look of Brink.
If you've seen footage and noticed some visual similarities to other notable games, then you're onto something. We were told that the designer of Sheppard from Mass Effect, Tim Appleby, headed up Brink's character designs. An art director from Prince of Persia and Rainbow 6: Vegas is also on staff. And the Killzone 2 resemblance? Turns out it shares a level designer with Brink. The combination makes for a somewhat familiar yet still unique looking game. It's definitely a different world from any you've been in, but you can point out certain things that may remind you of other games. The characters, though? They're pretty distinctive. You'll see what I mean.
In our interview we also find out a bit about Brink's back story as well as how you can play the game in whatever way you like. Open-ended missions, experience points, multiplayer -- there's still a lot to be uncovered here. We're looking forward to hearing more.
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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And again those fugly radial menus... and awful mouse acceleration. I hope they'll realize those things can destroy the experience on a PC and give an option to replace them with a nice and easily readable list navigated only with the wheel and a tickbox in the options to disable the acceleration.
Wow is it just me, or does this game look like a mash up of Killzone 2, Prince of Persia, Call of Duty, Mirrors Edge, Borderlands, and Mass Effect.... jesus .. this should be an amazing game..
@Chin35char you forgot TF2. The dudes have something kinda like a TF2 character model about them, don't you think? And yes, this game looks like the tits, I just hope my computer can play it whenever it comes out.
Wow, absolutely can't wait for this game. I just heard about it for the first time a couple weeks ago, when watching the video about the S.M.A.R.T. system, and now I'm dying to get my hands on it already. It seems like they are taking tried-and-true shooting game techniques, and adding little bits of polish onto those (like that 'turning around faster' mechanic they talked about in the interview) to make it that much better.
I am looking forward to this game a lot, even though the art style doesn't really appeal to me, honestly it reminds me of Battle Field 1943. I'm all for originality, but this just doesn't do it for me, hopefully the game play will make that irrelevant.
I can't say I like the character design - they remind me of combat-ready Goofy. The gameplay, on the other hand, looks sumptuous - in the same way a combat-ready Goofy would likely be.
this game is looking all kinds of awesome. i only hope since it reminds me so much of killzone2, that the controls and draw distance don't suck open ass... kz2... you broke my heart. bad. real bad
Looking good, I am looking forward to this, if just because it's a multiplayer shooter that (based on the art I've seen) seems to use more colors than just gray and brown. As a person who loved Mirrors Edge's innovative parkour mechanic though, I feel it's a shame you won't be able to do the S.M.A.R.T. thing manually. It'll be interesting to see if Brink can pull it off in a way that doesn't make it exploitable or impractical.
Love the art style, but what will make or break this for me is whether it has a compelling single player campaign. MP isn't enough for me these days, especially since there's no telling how long it will hold an audience. I need me some good single-player and co-op. If the campaign feels like an afterthought, then Brink is a pass.
@Gee-Man: Where did you get that from? In many interviews they stated the contrary. You can do all that SMART thing manually if you want, and if you time it correctly it will come out faster and smoother than if you do it automatically with the SMART button.
@reindall: That doesn't necessarily mean it'll suck. Their previous game (Enemy Territory Quake Wars) did have a radial menu for the preset quick chat and giving orders to bots and such and it worked very well, and it was a PC game through and through.
You forgot to mention the Mirror's Edge influence. I truly believe that the game (while flawed) should have influenced FPS forever and its good to see the mechanics implemented. After playing ME, every shooter feels stiff and restricted, especially when you can't jump over a knee-high wall or jump over a hedge. The rest of Brink looks great too, I for one love the art direction.
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5:20 PM on 12.08.2009
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I can't wait for this game. It looks fantastic.
Can't wait for Brink!!
http://www.gamesradar.com/ps3/brink/screenshots/g-20090529113949640063/pic-81F31886-00B3-43CC-A2A1-E246AD6A77F9#autoPlay