Brink Game Guide

Splash Damage and Bethesda’s class-based shooter is one of the most anticipated multiplayer games of the spring. To better compete against the legions of fraggers who will be picking up the title may 10th, GameFront has prepared a comprehensive text and video guide to the game.

Keep checking for updates, which are sure to have an immediate effect on your kill/death ratios! We’ve also got lists of achievements and trophies, as well as a cheats page, which compiles useful Brink information.

Hints and Tips

Overview

Welcome to Brink. There’s a lot to cover in actually learning on to play the game and use its mechanics — primarily the command post system and the Objective Wheel system, so you’ll need to learn those things pretty in and out before you take on more advanced gameplay. You can get a full rundown on all of Brink’s mechanics, at length and in a totally boring video, if you choose to watch the tutorial movie at the opening of the game. If you’ve seen the “Get SMART” trailers for Brink, though, you’ve already seen those videos. The videos also offer you 1,000 XP to start out the game with, but that’s really not much of an incentive. Skip it — learn by doing.

Brink works by being an objective-based team multiplayer experience, and while you can play it offline by yourself, it’s really a much better game if you play it online. To that end, you can choose to open your campaign missions to the Internet with two settings: Co-op and Versus. Playing a co-op map means human players join up with you (and this is recommended if you’re a newbie, specifically on a couple of the early security missions). Versus means players will spawn in on both teams, and the game gets substantially more challenging (and more fun).

You can jump right into the campaign at the start, and it’s recommended you opt to go with the Resistance force rather than the Security force (choose the “Escape the Ark” option). The Resistance campaign is a bit easier on the whole and will help you ease into gameplay a little bit.

Check It Out Alone
Before you get straight into multiplayer, there are a few things you can do to make your life easier in general. The first is to play through all four Challenge sets (see the videos below). These are broken into groups of three challenges, but only the first two in each set are useful — the last is for bragging rights. What’s cool about the challenges is that completing them opens up additional weapons and mods for you to take into the campaign mode, in addition to just teaching you how to play the game.

You’ll also earn some experience points, which go toward opening new weapons and dishing out ability points, which can be used to unlock Abilities for your character. This is key to giving your character an edge against enemies and help you take down objectives more quickly when you finally hit the Internet.

Learn the Classes
Brink is a class-based game that’s all about completing objectives, and each objective requires a different class to complete it. You can change classes at any command post your team controls, so you’re always ready to plug into a different class and run to an objective to take it down.

However, especially when playing online, it’s important to remember that you don’t have to do everything yourself. In fact, with a solid team, you can play various different roles that can be more beneficial to your team than trying to be the frontman and take down every objective. Learning the classes, outfitting them with additional abilities, and getting comfortable in a role, are key to this.

The first thing you’ll want to do is play some games where your primary goal isn’t just to complete all the objectives in the match. That’ll free you up to try just running through combat with different classes, feeling your way to getting comfortable with all of them and finding a go-to class that plays to your strengths. Figuring out what you’re good at doing will help you aid the team in the best way each round.

Get SMART, Run Around
The one big feature in Brink that sets it apart from other game is the SMART system — “Smart Movement Across Random Terrain.” Basically, it’s free running, executed by holding down the sprint button. For the most part, Brink will interpret objects in your path as you run and help you to climb, jump, vault or mantle over them. This is a seriously useful thing to get good at.

In the Challenge “Parkour This,” you’ll get a solid education on how to use SMART, but you should be making big use of it in every mission you play. Spend some time looking around you in every fight, and never stay still. In fact, unless you’re playing a damage-sponge Heavy body type, you should never put yourself in a straight fight. Stay behind teammates and cover, jump and slide whenever you can, and sprint whenever you’re moving, because anywhere you need to go is worth getting to quickly.

Getting used to seeing everything as a possible SMART path can get you more quickly to objectives and help you take down enemies more easily. Getting the drop on the people you play against is key, as is getting good at executing things like slide tackles. These can knock players down and keep them from completing objectives, basically buying you a few seconds to put a few bullets in their heads. Just be careful they don’t shoot you back while lying on the ground.

The best Brink players aren’t going to be necessarily good at first-person shooters, but good at taking advantage of situations or escaping fights. Dodging enemies, getting your health back and attacking from a different angle is how you win battles in Brink.

Body Types and Combat
Choosing which body your character uses is an important choice for your play style. If speed is your game, go with the Light type, but avoid any serious battles. You’ll want to get around your enemies, slide tackle them and knock them out before they can blast you. You’re better off staying behind your teammates when they fight and adopting a class that can support them, such as medic or operative.

Conversely, going in as a Heavy body type means you should be on the front lines whenever possible, absorbing damage and relying on medics to keep you alive. You won’t be able to move as fast as other classes, but you will be able to take on more enemies and distract opponents as your team completes objectives.

Get Comfortable, Spend Ability Points
The very best thing you can do with Brink when you start playing online is get comfortable with a class or two and rely on them. You should spend some time getting to know all of the classes so you can use them if your team needs you to drop into a role, but when your team has three or four engineers for an engineering objective, you’re just not as useful as you might be as a medic or infiltrating the enemy lines and capturing command posts as an operative.

Once you know how you like to play, spend some time getting to know the Abilities you can purchase for your favorite classes, and get the best ones early. If you love medic, dishing out Speed and Metabolism boosts to your teammates can turn the tides of battle. As an engineer, dropping a heavy turret as opposed to a light one can absolutely slaughter a team when playing defense.

Challenges

Challenge 1: Be More Objective

Challenge 2: Parkour This

Challenge 3: Escort Duty

Challenge 4: Tower Defense

Walkthrough

Security Side 1: Hostage Rescue

Security Side 2: Smash and Grab

Security Side 3: Dirty Bomb

Security Side 4: Smash and Grab

Security Side 5: Prison Break

Security Side 6: Early Launch