Why we're not reviewing Brink, and why you shouldn't buy it (yet)

ARS: My advice right now is to stay away from the game. The version of the game I played is a mess, and not worth your money. That being said, keep an eye on the forums, check to see if reviews are updated as the game is patched, and then make a decision. Sadly, I'll be traveling starting on Wednesday, and the week after that I'll be out of the office taking part in E3 preview events filled with games I can't talk about. It's going to be a good long time before I can download the PC version of the game and tell you what I think.

[QuakeStyle]

This is sad. I waited for this game a long time. I wanted something between counter strike and tf2.

[RIPSKATEDESTROY]

Brink is good, already level 11 and im not stopping

[NExaminer]

I think this is a respectable thing to do. There's a number of games out there that have improved greatly thanks to patches, but due to initial poor reviews, the "damage" was already done. To be fair, many publishers do seem to be pushing games out too early almost, which isn't always the developers fault. Plus we don't know all the circumstances involving its release in its current state or what future patching plans they have.

Due to the wide range of reviews so far (2/5 to 9/10), waiting a bit before purchasing the game isn't necessarily a bad thing if you're on the edge. At the same time, people shouldn't completely be turned off from this game just yet.

[Soldierone]

To be honest I hate it in a way. Before it had to go through testing after testing. The game had to be perfect when it was printed on the disc and handed to us. There were no "oh we will just patch it later" excuses.

Now it seems like "oh we want it out now!" but we are working on a fix "who cares force them to download it on day one!" Gee thanks.

[Tyre]

In this case the pushing out early is justified.

[Saladfax]

Well, unfortunately, "Just patch it later," doesn't really work for too many games. The low early review scores make sales poor, and it's not something they're easily able to recoup.

Especially not on consoles. PC and Steam might keep the game alive if the improvements and additions pile in, as there will probably be free weekends and big sales to get people's attention.

But for something which is essentially a less-polished Team Fortress 2 (admittedly with a few different and extra features) to come out at a full price tag and feature minimal, buggy content?

[earbus]

Day one thanks for the advice.

[Quagmire]

Wasnt going to buy it regardless. Was hoping for a Mirror's Edge style game, but its more focused on being a shooter than a platformer.

[reznik_zerosum]

no more stupid FPS PLEASE,make more strategy and tactics games that actually require some intelligence

[gcolley]

all these wonderful physics and all they seem to care about are bullets

[killyourfm]

All the 9's and 10's you see for Brink are lies. The online is an absolute mess and the single player AI is atrocious.

[hazelamy]

hey, maybe that "it's too much work" philosophy when it came to adding any female player options did extend to other areas of the game.

[ATiElite]

The only great thing about Brink that i've repeatedly heard is how you can customize your character. "100 gazillion ways to customize your character".

Well I heard that same exact boasting about....APB..and look how that turned out. NOt so good.

[Mnemonic-DK]

So Ars(e) thinks it's not fair to review a game before at has been patched?

I almost forgot - Did that courtesy apply to GT5 as well: http://arstechnica.com/gami...

No? - Double standards at its worst.

[gcolley]

it's time to get over it

[Mnemonic-DK]

I have - and I enjoy GT5 - but I just hate hypocritical game "journalists"

[Saladfax]

Different fellas handled each review. Yeah, sure, you can say that they should have some kind of larger editorial oversight, but the articles are entirely different entities.

[Magic_Spatula]

Didn't Kazunori Yamauchi say that he was unhappy with the final product of Gran Turismo 5? I remember reading something about him saying he wanted more time to work on it, but since it took so long to make it and Sony was getting impatient, he had no choice but to finalize and release it.

[TheGameFoxJTV]

I'm having a blast with the game. Sure, the servers are a tab bit laggy right now, but it just came out. that's to be expected. I'm loving it.

[Tyre]

It's just an ordinary shooter with cheap tricks like implementing a EXACT copy of Mirror's Edge gameplay and claiming it to be the main feature and the most revolutionary gameplay, while in fact it's a slow paced(free run is not adding anything and feels out of it's place) and dull looking ordinary 1st person shooter, i'm dissapointed....after the 1st CGI Trailer i was stoked for this game but watching the latest videos: there isn't much this game has to offer except being a cheapskate with failed tricks and halfa#$ story.

[TheGameFoxJTV]

Have you played mirror's edge and brink? I have, nothing similar at all.

[gcolley]

release the game when it is ready or suffer the consequences of poor reviews.

[GillHarrison]

It technically was ready, but what they gave us is a joke.

[Nate-Dog]

And this is what happens when devs rush out titles when they're not ready. We end up paying full price for an unfinished game and have to wait weeks or months for the game to be at the quality it is supposed to be at on release. Happens way too often these days.