So, I’ve been playing Brink for a couple weeks now and I’m completely hooked. My review is up over on VGrevolution but having spent a lot more time with Brink I wanted to touch on a couple things.  I’ve seem a lot of people not really happy with Brink, but it seems like they also have not taken the time to get familiar with the game’s mechanics. Brink is a complex game with a lot of stuff to learn and unlock, but I’ve found it to also be quite rewarding the more I play and get to know the ins and outs.

One thing I’ve found is that a lot of people skip over the Challenge mode until they find out that is where some of the weapon attachments unlock.  Instead a new player should really start with the Challenges.  They are easier to complete with a lower level character and the weapon unlocks are crucial to being able to play well in multiplayer matches.  Run through the one and two start challenges before doing anything else with your character.  Then, if you are wanting to get all the achievements run the three start challenges too.

After completing the challenges take a few matches to become familiar with the various guns. Then, go through and customize them to fit your play style.  Personally, I like adding a Muzzle Break and a Grip to make the gun more easy to handle and aim, and then a red dot scope and a larger magazine.

Keep in mind that you cannot unlock all of the upgrades for just 1 character.  You can however unlock all the general upgrades and all of one classes upgrades for one character.  Once you have completed the challenges with 1 character the weapon attachments are available for all of your setups. Take your first character and try out a few of the abilities for each class. Once you find the one or two classes you prefer start a new character and focus on one class for them.  Getting up to level 10 does not take very long and that gives you half of the unlocks for the class you choose.

When you are playing with bots on your team be sure to hit up on the D-Pad often.  This announces to them you are going for the primary objective.  If you do not they will just wonder around and not be especially useful.  By announcing where you are headed the bots at least will come along to the same area and provide some additional targets for the enemies.  The bots are not as good as playing with a real team who communicates and works together but they are not too bad either.

It is going to take a few matches to get the hang of each objective type, the various maps and all the various strategies. Stick with a teammate whenever you can and watch for flanking paths.  Initially it seems like there are a lot of choke-points on the maps but if you take the time to look around you will find plenty of paths for getting behind enemies.  Especially, if you watch the light character bots. They will use paths that are only accessible to the light class and that you probably would never have otherwise seen.

Hopefully these pointers will help you get started in Brink.  If you take the time to learn what is going on in this objective based game it can be a lot of fun.