By John Walker on January 18th, 2010 at 12:14 pm.
Brink is showing all sorts of potential. Back at E3 I was rather taken aback by the possibilities for blurring the lines of team-based online gaming and offering a linear narrative. And also slightly bemused by it all. There’s a big old preview here. Below is a video showing off the character customisation, but carrying with it a bunch of more useful information. The body type you create, it seems, isn’t just for your aesthetic pleasure, but also defines the role your character will play and the types of equipment he can use.
This is primitive just now – I think it’s little more complicated than two or three bulk settings. But it does suggest where this could go next – more subtle changes in ability based on the physique you choose. Also, the video gives a few more clues about the opposing sides, and the role unlockable extras will play as you level up. Oh, and it demonstrates very clearly why some phrases shouldn’t be Anglicised. “Bad arse” indeed.
Via VG247, as you may have noticed by the giant obscuring box those show-offs put on the video.
18/01/2010 at 12:19 Web Cole says:
Promising indeed.
18/01/2010 at 12:23 Node#1006 says:
I’ve got a bad arse too, being ill and all that.
Game looks interesting, although APB will garner more interest from me.
18/01/2010 at 13:13 Richeh says:
Awww. Are you wicked sick?
18/01/2010 at 12:27 Adrian says:
this looks rather nice! idk about the armour tho. the armor made from tires looks cool but whats up with the plastic bags lol. i wouldn’t choose these as protection in a gun fight^^
18/01/2010 at 12:39 duel says:
good to see the physique of your character has an overall in game effect. But what else could effect your playing stats, would the rubber tyres give you more protection, or just get in your way? lol
18/01/2010 at 12:40 Optimaximal says:
2:16 = Joe Satriani
18/01/2010 at 12:56 Turin Turambar says:
So choosing torso = choosing class.
18/01/2010 at 13:29 Man Raised By Puffins says:
As I understand it selecting a physique affects mobility, health and ability to carry heavy weapons, but the actual classes are layered on top of that.
18/01/2010 at 13:09 The Sombrero Kid says:
i’m sure the physique will have an effect on the free running in the game also.
18/01/2010 at 13:30 Richeh says:
I really like the idea of all the members of a squad trying to achieve different goals, or the same one by different means. But the guy narrating it does sound like a Tory MP talking to high school kids.
18/01/2010 at 13:57 Calabi says:
Why does everything have to have tattoos? I hate tattoos(except when they work as armour).
19/01/2010 at 00:14 FRIENDLYUNIT says:
Well some people like them. Some people even have them.
Thanks for sharing the hate, BTW. I’m going to go into the bathroom and try and scrub mine off, then perhaps I’ll have a lay down somewhere and cry myself to sleep.
18/01/2010 at 14:22 Senethro says:
Looks taste mate.
Body size determines health, speed, ability to do SMART moves and class ability recharge. You choose a class after this.
18/01/2010 at 14:49 Vandelay says:
I’m wondering how much differentiation there will be between the two sides. Although the armour obviously looked completely different for the two sides, the characters looked identical when they weren’t wearing any armour. That is made even worse when you can pick the colour of the clothing. What if you had two players on opposing teams wearing the same colour? Things could end up getting a bit a confusing, which could be resolved easily with a forced colour for each side. I know that would go against the complete customisation, but I think it would benefit the gameplay.
Besides that, looks quite interesting and I can’t think of many games where the customisation of your character’s appearance actually affects gameplay.
18/01/2010 at 19:30 Shalrath says:
“the characters looked identical when they weren’t wearing any armour.”
Did you expect them to look different or something? A cop in civilian clothes looks like.. a civilian, do they not?
18/01/2010 at 14:59 fulis says:
zzz
It looks like a.. character customization system!
Who really gives a crap what colour your shirt is? People will barely even tell anyway
If you’re going to have character customization in an online FPS I think it should be much more radical, the way custom skins are or the way you could mix heads and bodies in quake 3
18/01/2010 at 15:22 Mr.Bigglesworth says:
I hope it’s not gonna be a shitty console port like MW2.
And i can’t stand when those damn Xbox buttons pop up while playing on a PC. Dark Void is a good example, Press [X], press [B], that’s annoying as hell, things like that makes want to punch a baby or optionally a puppy
18/01/2010 at 15:41 blaine says:
So the general idea is that if you customize yourself a black guy – you get a skill for stealing bycicles or something?
18/01/2010 at 17:41 Mr.Bigglesworth says:
Oh snap ! :D
18/01/2010 at 16:22 Moorkh says:
Fa! No girl avatar no buy! Damn sexists – and bodytypists, too, apparently!
18/01/2010 at 17:30 fishyjoes says:
Why do they look as ugly as Gears of war-ugly? I dont wanna look like that!
18/01/2010 at 18:54 heartless_ says:
Looking good.
18/01/2010 at 20:30 Rei Onryou says:
Splash Damage always fills me with nerd joy. I just hope this is successful and brings back the W:ET awesomeness.
18/01/2010 at 20:51 Zyrxil says:
A video game character walks into a bar. Bartender says “Why the long face?”
19/01/2010 at 08:57 Shadowcat says:
Not bad, but the interface could use some love. It seemed that you had to blindly cycle through each option in turn, rather than just selecting the one you wanted from a list. Making his shirt orange involved making it about five other arbitrary colours first.