Preview: Blinx The Time Sweeper
 

Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer: Artoon Co. LTD.
Price: $49.99 SRP
Availability: Fall 2002

Preview:

Blinx: The Time Sweeper is a fast-paced action game featuring a cool, clever new character in wild, warped worlds. The ability to control the flow of time provides a totally new gaming experience only possible on Xbox.

Blinx is a cat on a mission to fix glitches in time. With the aid of his trusty and powerful Time Sweeper, the TS1000, Blinx recovers lost time crystals and fights Time Monsters in his attempt to rescue a kidnapped princess and return order to the world.

Features:

• Clever, Cool Cat – At the Time Factory, where time is manufactured and managed, Blinx has worked as Time Sweeper and janitor for years. His daily tasks include collecting lost time crystals before they cause glitches in time. When Blinx hears that a princess has been taken hostage by a family of thugs who plan to steal all of the time crystals and abuse their powers, he decides to take matters into his own paws. Join Blinx on an adventure to find the missing princess, save the Time Factory and restore "timely" world order.
  
• Time Control – Actually control the flow of time, a feature only possible on Xbox. Record actions, play them back and have dual characters cooperate to complete challenges. Throw the world into slow motion while moving about in real-time, fast-forward to achieve goals more quickly, or even rewind the world to gain additional opportunities at completing challenges, opening hidden areas and more.
  
• Totally Twisted Worlds – Glitches in time impact the various worlds that Blinx visits. Night and day occur simultaneously, buildings are warped to the point of falling over – things are definitely not as they appear. Visit nearly 40 fantastical levels in "warped-reality" worlds inspired by Venice, canyons, caves, ancient ruins, even an MC Escher-inspired "fourth dimension."
  
• The Time Sweeper – What would Blinx do without his Time Sweeper? The most important piece of equipment for the job, the TS1000 stores time crystals, picks up trash, and can even be used in sticky situations by using the powerful suction to climb vines and ropes or grab ceilings and walls. Throw the TS 1000 in reverse for enough blowing power to blast items at enemies.
  
• Upgradeable Weapons and Abilities – Need extra power to move larger obstacles? Blinx sweeps up trash from the streets to supplement his meager income from the Time Factory. Use the additional wages at the Shop to buy cooler gear and power-ups which enhance gameplay performance, or to purchase souped-up versions of the Time Sweeper (like the TS2000, TS3000, TS-FIRE).

Screenshots:

















Videos:

Blinx Trailer 1

Blinx Trailer 2

Developer Information:
ARTOON (Yokohama, Japan) creates original content for game consoles and mobile telecommunication devices. Established in 1999 by Yoji Ishii and Naoto Ohshima, creator of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991 and part of Sega's "Sonic Team" which created the Sonic series, Nights, and Burning Rangers, ARTOON can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.artoon.co.jp.

:yawn:

-edit-
This yawn smilie sucks

This game is looking pretty damn good, and sounds kind of cool. I don't think that this game will be fun for me. I don't know, going back and forward just kind of sounds frustrating... But it might be good. I'll have to try this out in the fall.

Re: Preview: Blinx The Time Sweeper
 

That's not exactly true. It could be done on other consoles too, just would need more coding.

Anyway, a nice quote from someone who played it at E3:

Doesn't sound too exciting.

It looks cool the graphics are really good to for a cartoon type game

Meh...

Finally, a game that’s actually going to take advantage of the Xbox harddrive.
The ability to control time sounds pretty innovative (something we’ve never seen before).
Blinx actually got the "Most Innovative Game of E3" award.

It will be innovative. Fun? That's another story, and one of which I'm unsure of.

It didn't have much competition.

And I'm still waiting foir a game to take full advantage of Xbox's HD. The whole "Blinx can only be done on Xbox" is just a marketing scheme. It could easily be done on another platform. Just needs more coding. Putting something in reverse is just performing a reverse animation. Slowing down time is just slowing down an animation. Recording yourself doing something and then playing it back while doing another is no more complicated than creating a ghost. If Blinx really needed the HD, then explain how we are able to get full replays from a 10-minute race in GT3? But I won't complain, I love my HD, it's just no game really uses it for anything special.

The limitations of other systems may come with the fact that Blinx does not simply allow you to "replay" what you have done before, but allows you to interact with what you had done before and pefrom actions while what you were doing before is happening also. I think what I just said makes sense but I'm not sure...

I don't know the logistics of it, but that may be the reason why it needs a hard drive.

Yes, it makes sense, but it's no different than having a ghost in the level, or say having a 2 player game, where you record the movements on the character once, then play that back while doing something else with another character. It might not be able to be done as easily, but with some extra coding, I've yet to see or hear about anything in Blinx that you couldn't do without a HD.

There's more to Blinx's time control than slowing time, and replaying time. You can literally manipulate time -- pause, record, rewind, fast forward, and slow time. The media seems to love Blinx, and I don't the game could fully be done on another platform.

You wanna game that will take almost full advantage of the Xbox's HD? Ever heard of a little game called "Project Ego"?

-NIN