This past weekend Steam offered Brink, Splash-Damage’s less than well received free-running FPS, as a free download for a limited time. I was turned off by the game’s reception at launch and the various issues I had heard about since then, but at the low, low price of nothing, I was intrigued enough to download it and give it a go.
Instead of being just a simple demo, the full game was up for grabs for the limited time offer and I got to try out a whole host of Brink’s gameplay. I was definitely intrigued by what I played; the game’s free-running aspects were great fun to use once I got used to it and the shooting felt tight and responsive. I played through most of the Security side of the campaign with a friend and we had a great time. This is the co-op shooter that I’ve been missing this year and I never would have played it if Steam hadn’t done this free trial.
While Brink has more than its share of problems (I was dropped from servers constantly until I restarted my PC, which magically fixed that issue), I realized that basing my assumptions off Metacritic ratings isn’t necessarily doing me any favors. For most of the games I’m curious but doubtful about I’ll go off a friend’s recommendation, but I don’t know anyone who even so much as gave Brink a sideways glance.
If it weren’t for some extenuating circumstances, Splash Damage definitely would have made a sale with this free weekend. Brink was a lot more fun then I realized and it kind of made feel stupid for disregarding it in the first place.
Did anyone else try out the free weekend and what are your thoughts on Brink? Did it convince you to pick up a copy? Should more games try this method to boost sales a couple months down the line?