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I couldn't pinpoint the language, but my wife seems to think it's either French or some close variation of it. With the exception of the lead character himsef, these are some incredibly cheesy, preschoolish character designs - they feel unfinished and hurried, less purposeful than you'd imagine (especially in contrast with Blinx himself). The bad guys all have the same deep, gravelly, transparently evil tone, while the good guys are all bright, cheery, squeaky and high-pitched like the monkeys in Super Monkey Ball. Unless you feel like pulling your hair out in clumps (I shaved my head after the experience as a part of the cleansing process) and enjoy self-mutilation, I'd recommend you stay far away.
Here's a finely detailed main character, with such close attention paid to his wardrobe that even the gloss of his shoes was obviously debated time and time again, and he's pitted against a set of monsters that could've sprung to life directly out of the pages of a four-year-old's sketchbook. You've got a jump button, a suction / fire button, a time control button and an analog stick to control movement. Why is their duration so brief, and why can't I hold more than a dozen uses at a time. He stops to briefly celebrate when gaining an item, which leaves him open to constant enemy attacks. You can rewind a few seconds to catch an enemy unaware or rebuild a crumbling bridge, pause the action and take advantage of the frozen time, knock the level into slow motion, etc. Capcom 2 levels with its unashamed, excruciatingly cheap hits, especially in later levels.
And here I thought the phrase "save the princess" was universally recognized as an ages-old cliche.Now, I don't want it to sound like I'm railing on this game just because it's got a few more nitpicky details than its peers and it reuses an old phrase from way back in the platformer handbook as its sole driving factor. Shortly thereafter, you're thrown to the wolves. I think it's these controls that most make Blinx so mind-squashingly aggravating. Generally, a lot of the physics and environmental details are taken for granted in a realistic game, because they're almost exclusively set in a photorealistic, lifelike location. On top of that, I really don't know which audience they were targeting with it. I like to think that there's a fairly thick line drawn between cartoony fantasy and super-detailed realism. It's also completely lacking in character development, general storytelling and ongoing inspiration. Once you start hunting for floating cat heads in those super-tough later levels, though, you'll remember why you were so happy to be finished with them in the first place.
I honestly forgot there was a princess at the end of the game after level three, because she's never mentioned between the game's start and its finish. If these crystals are left out on the open for too long without being properly introduced to the flow of things, they turn into monsters. The first level and a half are set up in the standard "get to know you" format, with the simplest of enemies, the most routine of stage layouts and plenty of opportunities to mess around with your tools. Coyote cartoons be if every time the lead character suffered a grisly fate, it strictly obeyed the laws of gravity and aerodynamics. Super Mario 64 had its issues, sure, but nothing like this, and it was the trailblazer for the entire genre's jump to the world of 3D. At a glance, you'd imagine they'd be fairly difficult to screw up. I mean, this could've really been a fantastic experience if the time control aspect had been beefed up a little further and treated as more than just an auxiliary function of an otherwise run-of-the-mill platformer.The controls, too, are an undeveloped, undertested nightmare.
He has difficulty making a precise turn, whether on midair or on solid ground. You'll almost always know what needs to be done, but actually accomplishing that act is the real trick. It focuses on things that would be better left to the viewer's imagination and ignores the importance of a good underlying story along the way.Beneath the needless discussions of why there are monsters in the world, how time compression works and how cats are actually responsible for all that we hold dear, the actual plot is almost laughably straightforward and generic. He'll occasionally refuse to perform a double jump, particularly when attempting a difficult, precise leap across a gaping chasm. It certainly didn't sound Japanese. The number of spontaneous controller hurls shot through the roof during my time with Blinx, reaching near-Marvel vs. Blinx tries to straddle that thick line by delivering a story that's overly detail-centric in an environment that's right out of a kid's show. Particularly insulting is the large population of simple blobs that roam around the levels, trying in vain to bump into you and cause a fatal injury.
Everyone's vocal personalities are so black-and-white, too, that I feel like a great chance to establish some much-needed individuality amongst the cast was lost once again here. That's not to say that the entirety of The Time Sweeper is totally without merit, because it does bring a few fresh ideas to the table, but for the most part those insights are hampered by their surroundings. Blinx himself is often sluggish to respond, especially when implementing his time controls. While this does add a touch of personality to the title, and it's not every day that you get a chance to hear a cat shouting something in the language of love, it all seemed really odd and out of place coming out of my television. At the time of its release, it was still in need of a lot of polishing, some serious scrutiny behind closed doors and a re-evaluation of just how far some of these concepts and half-hearted character designs could be conceivably stretched without losing any quality. Cartoons, on the other hand, generally don't worry themselves with the particulars and are primarily concerned with delivering a good time. It's a great idea, but the implementation is painfully short and underutilized.
None of the characters in Blinx really establish themselves as individuals, including the lead character himself. It seems that time, when compressed tightly enough to be transported by said cats, takes the form of one of five different brightly-colored shapes. He routinely moves in the direction of certain death, as though pulled by a magnetic field, whether you've instructed him to do so or not. The ability to control time, for instance, was at the time a really fresh, interesting new play mechanic and still stands out today, despite the limited field of imitators that have since emerged. Despite featuring a spoken dialog track, there's no English voice acting. As the opening cutscene introduces you to Blinx the cat, the supporting cast and the particulars of his upcoming adventures, I found myself trying to wrap my brain around the basic premise of the story. How much fun would the Wile E. Why doesn't the ridiculous ten minute stage time limit pause, speed up or rewind when I use my time powers.
The result is a tale that comes off as way, WAY out of left field and almost completely abstract. Why don't more aspects of the stage encourage the player to experiment with and solve problems with these powers. If there's an enemy two feet in front of you and you hit the attack button, he'll aim at a random switch on the other side of the room, rather than the imminent threat. You don't hate the pig on the spaceship because he's trying to destroy the world, you hate him because every time he shows up he tries to steal your money. It's like a parody of the games that had come before, but I won't give the developers enough credit to assume that they were doing it on purpose.Overall, Blinx is really just a few promising concepts thrown together in one package, strapped to the shell of a far-below-average third person platformer and unleashed upon an unsuspecting public.
I just can't overemphasize how unbearably cheap most of this game really is. I have no idea how I acquired the willpower to finish level eight.The game is adequately lengthy, and offers some replay value, with hidden cat medals in each stage eventually unlocking production sketches, promotional materials and the like. The idea is that a secret, off-world clan of humanoid cat creatures, armed with souped up vacuum cleaners, are responsible for the development and dispersal of time itself to every known plane of existence on the map. I don't honestly think the game was really designed to be enjoyable so much as it was geared to be overly challenging.
That's it, no side-stories, no reasoning, no subplots - just a straightforward rush from Point A to Point B. I could go on, because the game certainly doesn't stop there, but I think you get the point. For the most part, the level designs are very short, with more of an emphasis on cheap hits than on complexity and true challenge. It's like they had a map leading them right to the treasure and decided to forge their own path anyway.I can't even say I'm impressed by the graphics showcased throughout The Time Sweeper, either. There's a princess, evil pigs have kidnapped her, and it's up to you and you only to rescue her and save her world. If there's a bottomless pit nearby, (and chances are very good that there is) Blinx will find a way to force himself into it, regardless of what you're hitting on the control pad.
I noticed a lot of overlap in the stage layouts, whether it's retracing your steps time and time again or walking along a catwalk (har har) above the beginning of the stage and invariably plummeting back to the start point. Plus, there had already been a long, established line of three-dimensional platformers on the market in the years before the title's release, paving the way to an ideal control experience. All the while, Blinx is moving around in real time. I mean, the very first Super Mario Brothers at least reminded you that the princess was in another castle at the end of every boss fight. Why can't I use two controls at the same time. The game is ridiculously difficult, which betrays the childlike demeanor that surrounds it and leads me to believe it was meant for the serious gamers out there, but so bright, kid-friendly and annoyingly cutesy that I can't imagine anyone in that demographic rushing out to the stores on release day.
IT WAS GREAT. It wasnt mine, and it's so hard that I'd be shocked if I made it past the 4th level,( there is like, 100) but it's really fun. If you are an expert player with xbox, then you will love this game.
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