Review by: Brian Rowe

The Ark, a floating megalopolis, became mankind's hope for survival as climate change decimated countries around the globe. As the number of refugees grew, so did the disparities between rich and poor, healthy and dying. Now, civil war threatens to destroy the sea-faring haven. Much like the population of the Ark, Brink is an amalgamation of influences that merges classes, teams, and parkour into a multiplayer-focused shooter with a pristinely misleading facade.

Brink's S.M.A.R.T. system allows for smooth movements akin to Mirror's Edge, minus the contortions of fingers. S.M.A.R.T. takes the work out of difficult vaults, leaps, and climbs, allowing you to forget about the precision that parkour requires and concentrate on reaching your goals. The Ark, with its complex layers of urban architecture, is a perfect setting for parkour, which uses agile movements to surpass obstacles while retaining momentum. It conjures up dreams of third-story firefights cascading down rooftops and daring chases at breakneck speeds. The reality is much more mundane.

Creativity and improvisation are crucial elements of parkour. Brink repeatedly thwarts these concepts with pre-made "shortcuts" and oddly placed barriers, including invisible walls, that prevent you from experiencing true freedom of movement. Opportunities to let loose and forge your own paths and strategies are rare, especially since much of the game is set within narrow confines. Nor does it help that Brink is mainly a game about establishing solid and often stationary lines of defense and offense, not running and gunning. This isn't to say that the two styles can't coexist, but they are often at odds.

Winning is completely dependent upon the completion of objectives, such as planting bombs and escorting key NPCs, so teamwork is essential. Four classes – Soldier, Operative, Engineer, and Medic – may seem paltry compared to Team Fortress 2, but each class is tightly balanced and serves multiple purposes. For example: Engineers can set up defensive turrets, buff the damage of teammates, and is the only class that can interact with particular objectives. Classes are set up to fulfill general functions (e.g. Soldier for direct combat and Operative for infiltration), but there is ample room for personalization.

Customization is the highlight of Brink. Abilities become available to purchase as you level up. Some are generalized and some are class-specific, but you can't afford them all. As an Operative, you might focus on disabling turrets and hacking objectives faster or you might purchase caltrops to evade pursuers in delivery missions. You could also take the jack-of-all-trades route and dabble in each class. Unlike Call of Duty though, you are limited to one loadout per character. You can change weapons and classes, but not abilities, unless you reset at the cost of one level.

Whether you're into assault rifles or SMGs, pistols or sniper rifles, or even grenade launchers, the armory is suitably large. Every weapon has gauges for damage, range, etc., but you have to try them out to appreciate how vastly different each one handles. A few of the weapons seem oddly unbalanced. The grenade launcher, for example, is more like a glorified bean-bag gun. I have yet to kill anyone with the explosion, but knocking them down with the shells sure is funny.