If ever there was a mascot worthy of starring in a game called Brink of Extinction, it would definitely be Hudson’s Bonk. The affable caveman was the de facto face of the NEC TurboGrafx-16 console, and he and his futuristic progeny Zonk starred in half a dozen 16-bit titles that ranged from good to great. And then, Bonk pretty much disappeared, only cropping up in a handful of releases for Nintendo’s older consoles and the occasional port or remake. For all intents and purposes, Bonk was as wiped out as the dinosaurs he so determinedly head-butted in his Mesozoic travels.
So, I was pleasantly surprised when I spent a little time on the Penny Arcade Expo show floor this weekend and discovered that Brink of Extinction is neither a port nor a remake, but rather a completely new game with completely new features for the series. While it plays faithfully to the older Bonk titles — players control a rock-skulled caveman who solves problems by smashing them with his forehead — the entire game is rendered with high-definition polygonal graphics. More importantly, Brink also features cooperative multiplayer, both local and over Xbox Live.
