Blinx: The Time Sweeper
Blinx: The Time Sweeperby Microsoft
Platform: Xbox
ESRB Rating: Everyone
ASIN: B00006IJIW
Check price @ amazon.com
From the Manufacturer: The world's first 4-D action game! Play as a cool, clever cat on a quest to fix glitches in time. In this warped world, you'll use your tricked-out multi-purpose time sweeper to clear obstacles and collect items. Collecting time crystals allows you to actually control the flow of time for a fourth dimension of totally unique gameplay. Just like using a VCR remote control in the real world, you can pause or slow-motion the world while you move in real-time to get an edge over your enemies. Rewind the world to re-open hidden passages or get another try at a challenge. Record the action and then play the game with your pre-recorded character. Use your wages to buy more powerful sweepers to pick up things more quickly or move huge obstacles blocking undiscovered areas. You can buy other cooler gear to enhance your abilities. Check out over 30 fantastical levels in "warped-reality worlds: Venice, Canyons, Caves, Ancient Ruins, even a "forth dimension." Hidden items and areas all over the warped worlds add hours of replayability.
Customer Reviews:
Console games have come a long way., November 7, 2002
Reviewer: Sandi from Ontario Canada
I wanted to buy Blinx just because of what I've seen and heard in reviews. The game is fun but a little tough at times and it does get a bit frustrating. I haven't been playing it as much as I thought I would. Honestly, either rent it from the video store or buy it on ebay.. don't pay full price for this game.
Rent it first!, November 6, 2002
Reviewer: Kelly A. Flinn from Carmel, CA United States
What can I say? I've looked forward to this platformer since the first I read of it. Thank God, I rented it first...personally, I can think of one word to describe this game; annoying! The color scheme, the voice characterization, the game play (felt like I was back in 6th grade...being graded on level performance? I'd have preferred, and at least laughed, at a sarcastic critique), the cluttered interface due to the vcr buttons, were all annoying. I was actually beginning to root for the monsters to kill me.
This is all too bad, because the concept of utilizing Xbox's hardrive to facilitate some rather unique game play was one of the key points of this console.
In fairness to the game developers, I'll assume the game improves as it moves along, however, if the first few levels are, again, annoying, then perhaps many gamers won't bother to venture further.
After Playing it...I keep my rating, November 4, 2002
Reviewer: Bryan from Omaha, NE USA
My first review, a preview, was right in many ways, and when I look back, I know why this game got so much hype...it's FUN! Here are the basics of Blinx, and why u have to get it NOW!
The basics: You walk around collecting time crystals that match (4 yellow stars, 4 blue moons). Collecting four of the same kind will give u that kind of time control power for up to 10 seconds (which is quite a lot in this game). The controls are: rewind, fast forward, slow motion, pause, and record (which is really fun) in which your shadow does whatever u recorded. Now, on each level, there are a certain amount of monsters (which are quite creative). To destroy them, u have to collect trash lying on the street (suck it up in your timesweeper) and shoot it at them. Once all the monsters are destroyed, u can leave the level. You can return at any time, and in the midst of all this, you have to collect gold. With the gold, u can buy upgrades of your cloths, shoes, jackets, time holders, and of course, your Timesweeper. It is crucial to have the best timesweeper to find secrets. You'll have to play to see what I mean.
Replay Value: Tremendoes, as u can return to each level as many times as u want. Each time is petty fun, too, because u have to find secrets crucial to beating the game (while controling time of course) and collect gold. There are over 40 levels, labled first 1-1 to 1-3, then a boss. Once u beat the boss, u move to levels 2-1 to 2-3. Then beat that boss and then so on. It goes on to level 10-3 then an extremely tough boss. And no, this game is not too easy. I've still only halfway beaten it, and the overall fun never wheres off. This game, as u can imagine, has incredible replay value!
Graphics: The best yet to be seen in many ways. The water looks like clear, real, shimmering water. The landscapes are huge, and every level is detailed down to the last ounce so that u feel like your in a living, breathing world! You can actually see the very fur on Blinx's body, and his tail swishes around in a very cat like way. Everything is beautiful in Blinx: The Timesweeper, and this game really showed (in my opinion) some of the true powers of the XBOX.
Fun Factor: 5 stars! The whole thing is fun as hech. Whether it be controlling time, shooting monsters, to upgrading your weapons, this game has it all. I've spent hours upon hours playing this awsome game, and I know I'll spend hours upon hours more continueing that trend.
A u can clearly see, Blinx: The Timesweeper is a hit, and very innovative. The power to control time is weaved in very well with the superb story, and the overall depth is there. This is a Mario like game in many ways, and yet is more challenging and takes more thinking than that. Blinx: The Timesweeper should be on your Christmas List this holiday season, and will bring joy, fun, and overall excitement to the whole family (plus their are 3 games files). Enjoy!
Ehhh.....glad I don't like cats..., November 1, 2002
Reviewer: shadowseek from Denver, CO United States
...the good and the bad.
GOOD:
Graphics; Sound; Future
The graphics are indeed beautiful...spotlessly rendered with dynamic shadows and lighting effects. There is almost no clipping and the characters are rendered quite well.
The sound works well within the spirit of the game and the world it's created. Some of the effects are over-done, but nothing that's worth criticizing.
Read the final paragraph for my take on Blinx's possible impact on the future of console gaming.
BAD:
Story; General Game Play; Time Control; Controls
The story is simply lame. I'll leave it to other reviewers to debate the finer points of it, but I found it uninteresting and really didn't care if Blinx (Feline) ever rescued The Princess (Human). ...The game, to me, seemed rather repetitive. Start with a 10 minute clock. Complete a level. Pool your gold. Buy some new equipment. ...I know that Munch's Oddyssee wasn't the end-all be-all of puzzle games; but Munch's puzzles look like multi-planar differential equations ...when compared with this game.
Now, the time control. It was pretty cool, the first couple of times I used it. After that, it became a nuisence. Like I said before, it seemed rather contrived. For instance, a bridge falls down as Blinx is walking up to it. ...If Blinx has the requiste "Time Control Crystals" he can earn the right to make time travel backwards for a bit, rebuilding the bridge and making it safe for him to run across. ...The controls themselves simply drove me nuts. If you want to rotate the camera to see what's to the right of the little fur-ball, you have to push the right stick to the LEFT. This is CONTERARY TO EVERY OTHER THIRD PERSON ACTION GAME I'VE EVER PLAYED. There is NO way to change this. Not only that, a big part of the game is disposing of "Time Monsters" with garbage that Blinx sucks up into his vaccuum, then spits out at the baddies. This would be okay, if there were ANY way to determine with some certianty where the heck the garbage was going to fly. Without an aiming cursor, you have only the direction Blinx is facing to aid you in aiming. This is, to put it bluntly, terrible; ESPECIALLY because you can't complete a level if you don't dispatch each of the Time Monsters. So, you wind up spewing most of your limited supply of trash/ammo at one or two baddies and wind up having to go find more trash to suck up. ... Blinx might, however, spawn games that ARE revolutionary. The use of the hard drive on the x-box as an integral tool to the gaming experience is a great idea...one I can't wait to see taken advantage of in a more effective way. Look at it as a step on the road to designing a console game that really DOES take advantage of the x-box's capeabilities as a platform...
Amazing, October 29, 2002
Reviewer: A gamer from Louisiana
This game is one of the greatest xbox games ever. When I saw it in the clips of E3 I was really excited. Then it came out and I rushed to the store and bought it . It was way better than I expected.The Levels are beutifully designed, great gameplay you can even go buy things at a store like bigger and better time sweepers. If you like platformers or any games in general I would extremely reccomend this game!
Waste of time, October 28, 2002
Reviewer: A gamer from United States
There is a line between challenging and frustrating and Blinx flirts with that line a little too much. The concept is appealing but the execution is lacking. I am on level 25 (out of 40) and I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times that manipulating time was a clever necessity to solve the puzzle rather than just an annoying gimmick. Most of the "time puzzles" are simply rewinding to rebuild a bridge or statue or possibly pausing to run through a gate, nothing that would require a whole lot of thought or better yet, compel me to finish the game in hopes that things will get better. This is simply a "Jump-Jump-Shoot-Shoot" type game with a marketing gimmick that has too much of one and not enough of the other. I gave this game 2 stars instead of only 1 because of the eye-candy the game provides, if you rent it (which I strongly recommend over buying) check out the water!
This game has been compared to the "Mario" games, in reality, that isn't really being fair to Mario! The camera, music, and game-play are all deficient. If you are looking for a true puzzle game that doesn't require you to hold your teeth just right as you figure out the timing on jumping, go get Munch.
Really cool, October 27, 2002
Reviewer: An 11-year old gamer
blinx was a really cool game.being able to rewind,record,stop,fast forward,and slow motion during the game was cool
BUY IT!!
One finicky feline, October 27, 2002
Reviewer: -briguy from Brooklyn Center, MN USA
When I saw this game coming to Xbox, I was really excited as it was coming from Naoto Ohshima, the co-creator of Sonic. He also worked on Nights. It's this very anticipation which makes me so bummed I can't love this game. The design and look is beautiful. The time effects work great. I've got two big gripes. First, this cat is slow. The beginning intro you see Blinx speed off and leap off a bridge into another world. Maybe it's got high-gravity because he almost waddles around. And he jumps about just as well. So much for the speed and agility of cats. Also, the control is of a "What you see isn't what you get" origin. When you push right on the right analog stick, the camera looks left. Wait- is Blinx a boat? No? Then why do I direct him around screen like he's got a rudder. I have never understood what some developers have against simple controls. Push right and you go right. Not too hard to grasp. Would Blinx be a worse game with this type of control? I can't see how, so why add an extra barrier for people. Challenge should come from puzzles and such, not tricky controls.
hmmmmm..., October 21, 2002
Reviewer: A gamer from TN
The concept is good and the controls are solid. The novelty of time control tends to wear out a bit quickly and it is a bit too "Mario-ish" for my tastes. I was hoping for more of a puzzler like Oddworld, but the game is amusing to an extent. I would say that this game would be more in line for a younger crowd.
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