See my title? Did you see what I did there? I made a fun-pun. Head over the jump for less puns and more coverage of Splash Damage’s upcoming sci-fi shooter – Brink.

Brink is a little bit difficult to define in terms of how it plays. Imagine you took Call Of Duty 4’s shooting, the free running capabilities of Mirror’s Edge, and the customisation and experience parts of Mass Effect. Confused? That’s no surprise. I knew next to nothing about this title coming into the demonstration, and by the time I left all I knew was I wanted to get my grubby little hands on it.

The shooting aspects of the game are instantly comparable to any of the best shooters of today, but what really separates Brink from the crowd is the “SMART” button. Simply holding this button whilst running at an obstacle will allow you to escalate/jump it whilst tapping it sends your character into a short slide action. As demonstrated to us, this slide can be used whilst sprinting as an additional method to avoid gunfire and other incoming nastiness. They’ve captured the animations in the first person view perfectly and the demo – which was a pre-alpha build – was running at a consistent and smooth 60 frames per second.

Visually the game is stunning, with vibrant colour pouring out of every part of the environment. This is a testament to the world Splash Damage have envisioned, a floating city known as The Ark.

During character creation you’ll be able to decide whether you want to play as the resistance, or the oppressive law-ensuring regime (who incidentally, are not aware that they’re a little hardcore in their politics). During play you will also be able to switch your character class at any of the terminals spread around the levels.

Co-operative play is a large part of the Brink experience as well, allowing at least three players to roll together (it could be four, but in this demo we only saw the three). When one player picks up a new mission objective, the other players are given objectives that are specifically intended to support their teammate.

I have to run now because we’re about to record.  It suffices to say I’m impressed with Brink, whether it lives up to my expectations or not really requires me to play it, but for now you can be excited… VERY excited.

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