RPS vs Brink: Wot You Thought

Assorted pustules of RPS spent the weekend at the Eurogamer Expo in London this weekend. While we were there, we arranged some characteristically ad-hoc and vaguely inept events for some of the readers who happened to be in attendance, which nonetheless - I think I hope I pray - turned out pretty well. As in, no-one died or suffered catastrophic organ failure, which is forever my personal benchmark for success.

And so it was that, earlyish on Sunday morning, I led a cartel of gun-curious readers past a phalanx of annoyed security guards, and managed to seat them down for a play session of Splash Damage's Brink before the show kicked off for the day. It's worth noting that Brink drew by far the biggest queues of the show, with some attendees reporting 2 and a half hour waits. But did the team shooter deserve such patience and passion? I shoved a microphone into the mouth-holes of some of the RPS readers (and contributors) who played the game that fateful morning, and listened to what they had to say about trousers and violence.

Rei Onryou

Who did you do?
The guy I made had a big green Mohawk and welder's goggles. Tattoo, scars and stuff. He was a medic that couldn't really stitch himself up well.

Wot?
I found the experience to be really smooth, worked really well. It reminded me a lot of the original Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, sort of the way it played. It's infantry-focused rather than vehicles and everything, so it's really overall smooth, fun to play.

Is you be stoopid?
Stupidest thing I probably did was just walk around in circles not really knowing where I was going.

TKE

Who did you do?
The chap I made was a hardnut with a helmet and handlebars. Probably could have been some old school cop.

Wot?
Very good shooter. Probably would have been better played on a PC, but that's because I'm not much of a gamepad gamer so my accuracy wasn't brilliant. And I did get confused a couple of times by the buttons.

Is you be stoopid?
The stupiest thing I did was get confused between the sprint button and the grenade button and not realising until it blew up in my face.

Tom O'Bedlam

Who did you do?
Mine was like if the lovechild of Ray Winstone and Bruce Willis was a Space Wolf.

Wot?
My main thought first of all was 'christ, I'm really bad at it.' It wasn't until about half way through that I realised, 'oh, there's the objectives, there's lots of buttons I have to understand what they are. And yeah, I did the exact same thing with the sprinting and the grenade thing.

Is you be stoopid?
I saw one red guy standing there and I thought 'yeah cool' and I jumped down there and finished him off, thought 'brilliant' and turned around to six more people standing in front of me. A bit of a Butch Cassidy moment.

Brendy C

Who did you do?
The guy I was made was a highway cop in every way. So he had the really tight pants with a stripe down the middle, cop shirt, a little bit of bare chest showing, aviator glasses, full helmet...

Wot?
It went really well, yeah, I was really enjoying it. I thought that the Parkour stuff would get in the way of the firefights but it just turned out to make it a lot more fluid. There were a few times where I running into walls expecting to leap up them and it didn't, so I probably looked stupid to a lot of people. Anyone who's saying 'the NPCs are really thick', it might have just been me...

Is you be stoopid?
At one point I think I tried to revive someone with a grenade.

Vitamin Powered

Who did you do?
My guy was very Village People, sort of aviator glasses, tight pants, handlebar mustache...

You guys are going to look pretty funny when this piece just says 'tight pants, tight pants, tight pants...'
It's how we roll.

Wot?
It went good. Like a lot of people I sort of sucked at the start, kept dying and then all of a sudden it started to take off. We had this really great run where we just took that little robot and ploughed through. The [SMART] movement is actually really seamless, and you don't notice it after a while. It's really good.

Is you be stoopid?
Probably something involving a grenade.

Kieron Gillen

Who did you do?
He looked like the bassist from Zodiac Mindwarp, circa 1991.

Wot?
It was good, but I think I might have lost the game for my team, by a mistimed frag grenade bouncing back into the place we were trying to defend.

A metaphor for RPS, I think.
Yes. It was good. I enjoyed the running and the shooting. I couldn't talk to people which was a bit annoying.

Is you be stoopid?
The grenade was a pretty fucking stupid thing. The smartest thing I did was go behind one the turrets. They only face one way is my favourite thing, so you can actually literally stand behind the enemy turrets and just look at them confusedly. I was trying to work out 'is this mine or theirs? Oh, it's theirs! I can just shoot it a lot.'

And I also liked the bit where I wore very tight pants, like everyone else.

Larrington

Who did you do?
I was playing a medic, which was probably for the best considering that I'm rubbish with the little thumb controllers thing. I looked like a daft cop.

Wot?
It's gonna take a lot to grok the game fully, which means that you've got a fairly high learning curve, but that means there's a lot to learn in the game so you're probably going to get your money's worth from it.

Is you be stoopid?
The most stupid thing I did was at first, playing the medic, I was throwing grenades at the enemy thinking they would damage them, but the medic throws healing grendades... So I don't know if I was healing them or killing them.

Quintin Smith

Who did you do?
I chose an outfit known as The Eel, which is a cross team between a SWAT team member and a bondage aficionado.

Wot?
I'm enjoying myself a lot. It's tight, actually. It's the tightest game I've played at the show so far.

What was the iron quotient like?
Well, everything seems to be made of iron, so I'm actually doing OK for iron. I've got an iron gun, lots of crates

And iron sights on your gun...
Yeah! Actually, I tell ya what, this is the most exciting level made entirely of crates I've ever played.

Is you be stoopid?
Stupidest thing I did was dropping a flashbang at my feet pretty much immediately, as soon the match began, which I feel is a classic when you're learning to play an FPS.

Phill Cameron

Who did you do?
He has a very big beard and a cowboy hat and I gave him a boiler suit, but then I was Security not Resistance so I didn't get the boiler suit. I was quite disappointed.

Wot?
I get to shoot guys a lot, which is quite good fun. I can lob stuff at them, and then I die. [In the interests of fairness, I should note was hassling Phill as he played here].

Is you be stoopid?
The most foolhardy bit was creating some scaffolding stairs behind the enemy base and then getting killed again. I just snuck around, stole the security escort thing and took it away from the fight.

Danbojones

Who did you do?
He looks like a bit of a deviant, to be honest. Kind of man you might find hanging around in an ASDA car park after hours.

Wot?
Yeah, it's very nice. Lovely and pretty, very colourful. Feel it probably owes a couple of tips of the hat to Team Fortress 2, but that's no bad thing at all. It's got areally nice team ethic, you really have to co-operate and make the most of your class otherwise nothing really works. It's got a very nice objective system, everything's really clean and clear. The HUD's really nice, nice sort of satisfying weapons. Really enjoying it, although I'm absolutely rubbish at it.

Is you be stoopid?
When I started off I hit the grenade button instead of the sprint button and blew up three of my teammates within three seconds of starting the game.

Lewie Procter

Who did you do?
He's got glasses and a beard like I do. He's not quite as muscley as I am, but I did the best I could.

Wot?
It's quite good, I'm having fun as a medic, throwing syringes at people. Cos you don't have to be quite an expert at it, you lock on when you're holding X and it throws the syringe at them and they use it to fix themselves.

Is you be stoopid?
I managed to slide off the edge of ledge using the SMART into a place where I was surrounded by four of the enemy. Just landed on the floor, died instantly.

Lewis Denby

Who did you do?
I originally made one that looked worryingly like Kieron. Not intentionally.

Wot?
I like it so far. It took me a little while to get the hang of it, but it's good. I like the tactical element of it and... [dies] apparently I can't play and talk at the same time.

Is you be stoopid?
I walked into a grenade that was lying on the floor at one point, despite having been told that it was a grenade.

AzraelXJM

Who did you do?
I went with the mask, the bug mask, with the armour and spandex.

Wot?
Yeah, good. It kinda takes some getting used to, because of the SMART system people from the other side can approach from all kinds of angles that you might not necessarily expect. They can go over walls, get around you... And obviously you can do the same, so there's a whole newer element of thinking to it, think what's around you, you can't just camp on one exit or something, there's always some other way they can come.

Is you be stoopid?
I did die try trying to pick up a turrets a lot.