Brink Hands-ON: Splash Damage At The Top Of Their (& Your) Game

UK-based developer Splash Damage has every right to be chest-out, chin up proud of their upcoming shooter, Brink. The game is a total blast to play and everything from the deep character and weapons customization to the smartly paced addictiveness of the team-centered FPS gameplay is stellar stuff. I got to check the game out recently when Betheseda dropped into NYC with it (and InXile's fun RPG action/romp Hunted: The Demon's Forge) and yes, it's not only ridiculously impressive, it's designed so brilliantly that even non-FPS fans will want to pick up a controller and have a go. With its destroyed futuristic "Ark" setting and two groups pitted against each other in a race against time for what each sees as humanity's future, there's a solid sense of urgency under the trappings of what would be just another shooter du jour in less capable hands.

Bethsoft QuakeCon 2010 Screenshot Bonanza (Sort Of...)

Whee! I'm not at QuakeCon this year, but Bethesda still loves me. Anyway, here are a bunch of new screens from RAGE, Brink, Fallout: New Vegas and Hunted: The Demons Forge (all games I'm really looking forward to, naturally!). And hey, now that Bethsoft has bought Arkane Studios, howzabout a new Arx Fatalis game or maybe a remake of something really awesome, ancient and cool (Anvil of Dawn springs to mind almost immediately - hint, hint).

Anyway, here you go:

RAGE

Hunted: The Demon's Forge

Fallout: New Vegas

Brink

That is all for now - more info on the above as it comes in.

Gallery: Brink

Bethesda Softworks has always been more than just The House that Elder Scrolls Built as the company has also developed or published a number of games in different genres over the years. One of Bethsoft's upcoming publishing projects comes from UK developer Splash Damage (Enemy Territory: Quake Wars) in the form of the third-person action/shooter Brink, which looks as if it's going to keep the good times rolling for fans of high-concept productions. While the game isn't set to hit stores until Spring 2010, it's shaping up to be a pretty impressive game based on the info, concept art and in-progress screens you'll see below:

Story:

A man-made floating city called the Ark, made up of hundreds of separate floating islands, is on the brink of all-out civil war. Originally built as an experimental self-sufficient and 100% “green” habitat, the reported rapid rise of the Earth’s oceans has forced the Ark to become a refuge for humanity. Crammed with the original Ark founders, their descendants, as well as tens of thousands of refugees, the Ark exists in total isolation from the rest of the world. With 25 years of social unrest, the inhabitants of the Ark have reached their breaking point. It’s up to you to decide the future of the Ark and the human race.

Key Features: Blurring the Lines Between Offline and Online - Advance your character’s development across every gameplay mode: single player, co-op, and multiplayer. Gain experience points that you can spend on customizing and upgrading your skills and abilities, designing an entirely unique look and feel for your character.

Groundbreaking Kinesthetics - Brink uses the familiar shooter controls that you’re used to, without frustrating, artificial constraints and takes advantage of a new feature: the SMART button. When you press the SMART button, the game dynamically evaluates where you’re trying to get to, and makes it happen. No need to perfectly time a jump or vault, the game knows what you want to do.

Context-Sensitive Goals and Rewards - Objectives, communications, mission generation, and inventory selection are all dynamically generated based on your role, your status, your location, your squad-mates, and the status of the battle in all gameplay modes. You’ll always know exactly where to go, what to do when you get there, and what your reward will be for success.

Virtual Texturing – Brink’s proprietary technology, Virtual Texturing, breaks new ground on current-gen consoles and PCs with an even greater focus on highly detailed characters, realistic environments, lighting, effects, and atmospherics,. This competitive lead on the squad-combat genre helps thrust players into the gritty reality of the Ark's epic secluded arcology.

Sounds pretty cool to me - Here are a few screenshots and another piece of concept art:

I'm really liking the super-stylized characters as well as the incredible detail that makes the game look like painted comic art come to life. We'll definitely be keeping an eye on Brink as the game progresses - stay tuned.