Brink Strategy Guide Review

Brink is the kind of FPS that some gamers may really want to buy a guide for, as Splash Damage has changed many of the typical rules of the genre. For instance, no single weapon is capable of killing a player in one shot (even if that shot is a headshot), players can change classes mid-match, and the game is completely objective focused. The Prima Official Game Guide for Brink does a good job of trying to help players adjust to the many changes introduced by this innovative title.

In the introductory sections, the guide details the pros and cons of each body type available for the player’s characters, tips on how to use the Mirror’s Edge-esque SMART movement system, and a breakdown of what each ability for each class does. The guide also provides much needed perspective into Brink‘s backstory, which really isn’t provided as much through the game’s cut scenes prior to each match. The introductory sections will help some gamers trying to get used to Brink be able to find their way around the game’s changes to the usual FPS formula.

The guide has two primary sections for maps, one for each of the game’s factions (Resistance and Security). Each section is broken down with sections for maps. Each map section opens with a map overview that details specific areas of interest, such as optimum placement for turrets and mines. The next page details the objectives, the best number of each class to succeed for each objective, the story briefing, and a list of the important locations in each map. Then, the guide moves on to primary and secondary objective descriptions with tips on how to approach each objective.

The layout and visual design of the Brink guide is too busy at times, with big tip boxes and screenshot boxes showing specific areas populating many pages throughout the guide. The guide also puts several pages of important locations before the primary and secondary objectives pages, making flipping through pages quickly to find information difficult. If the player isn’t familiar with a location listed in the primary or secondary objectives section, they must flip back and forth to find the name, description, and location. Also, the pages of the Brink guide are blue with black text on them, which is somewhat like the instruction booklet (blue pages with white text), but not the easiest to read.

The advice in the Brink guide is sound, but some strategies were difficult to test. The difficulty was due to not only having teams that are comprised differently and changing classes to different ones than the guide advises, but also due to teams not always going through the guide’s advised best routes for some of the maps as well. The team largely dictates the pace and direction of Brink, as buffing your team and helping them is often the best way to success and victory. If a team with voice chat played regularly practiced the guide’s strategies, though, they would likely have an upper hand.

The Prima Official Game Guide for Brink is a solid strategy guide that will be able to help new Brink players better understand the game’s rule changes and will help hardcore Brink players build strategies to gain the advantage against their opponents. The guide’s biggest hindrances are the black text on blue pages color scheme and number of pages between the first page of a map section and the objective strategies, which hurt the guide’s readability and accessibility factors. Overall, though, the guide is a solid companion to Brink that anyone who intends to be playing the game on a regular basis should consider picking up.