So, it’s been around about a week since I embarked upon my epic quest to finish all 40 games sat on my shelf before I buy another… In this article, read about my early progress and how I’ve rapidly become bogged down by one of the longest and most challenging games on the 360 already!

After coming upon Hunted around six months ago, I hoped that I would be reviewing a game with oodles of the rich RPG history that Bethesda are renowned for; with a welcome splash of hack and slash fantasy thrown in for good measure.

RPG’s have been around for decades, featuring on just about every console since the ZX Spectrum. Early examples were often very basic (in appearance) text adventures such as ‘The Hobbit’ or ‘Lords of Midnight’ although as hardware moved on, so did the RPG genre. I still remember the first time I played ‘Eye of the Beholder’ on a friends dads Amiga once and being totally blown away by both its graphics and ambitious, complex gameplay. RPG’s have moved on a lot since then, but not always in the right direction for hardcore fans of the genre, so does Dragon Age II stay true to it’s roots, or pander to EA’s army of casual fans?

Good things always come to an end (and to those who wait.) My XBOX/PS3 setup ran happily using Onkyo’s 2008 low-mid price powerhouse (the 606) for over 18 months, but with failing mainboard components and aging processing capabilities, I’ve had to look at a successor. Will Onkyo’s brand spanking new 609 live up to expectations, or will offerings from Yamaha, Pioneer, Denon and others win my hard earned cash?

Dungeons and Dragons has had quite a chequered past when it comes to video gaming, the frequent ruleset changes and amendments make it quite difficult for many players (and developers) to adapt to in a digital medium. Veteran players also found the various implementations clunky at best and it wasn’t until the introduction of Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale and most recently Neverwinter Nights (and their various expansions) that the vast majority of gamers accepted the concept as mainstream.

My personal mobile gaming time has most recently been restricted to anything that draws my attention from the Android Market or Appstore, while my DS sits lonely in the side cabinet, longing for the days I will flick the switch and engage in a little Chrono Trigger. But for this reviewer, the DS will always have its place over my Galaxy S2.

A team based shooter similar to the Team Fortress premise made popular by Valve, Brink offers players the opportunity to fill the shoes of either the Ark Security or the Revolutionary Forces based on the floating citadel. Touting freeform parkour style movement, multiple player classes, and highly customisable characters, Brink promises a lot at the first look. In a genre where players expect innovation, quality and balance, have Bethesda managed to deliver …. the Pixel Junkies endevour to find out.

*Snore. Snore. Snore….* Grumble… Huh? Did someone wake me? Sorry about that readers, I was away with the faeries, dreaming as it were of some idyllic world populated by cute fluffy bunnies and huge, friendly birds with gigantic eyes. I dreampt that they roamed free in the knowledge that if I approached them, I could only ‘press A to interact’ and that there was simply no way I was going to blow them into a thousand chunks. They roamed freely across emerald fields, flew in clear blue SEGA inspired skies and swam in seas of deep marillion (with no gigantic, city sized, ancient predators in mind.)

This is not the world of Bulletstorm.