Blinx: The Time Sweeper
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- This article is on the game Blinx: The Time Sweeper. For the video and audio content Internet search engine Blinkx, see Blinkx.
| Blinx: The Time Sweeper | |
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| Developer(s) | Artoon |
| Publisher(s) | Microsoft Game Studios |
| Platform(s) | Xbox |
| Release date | USA October 7, 2002 [1] PAL November 8, 2002 JPN December 12, 2002 |
| Genre(s) | Platformer |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) PEGI: 3+ |
| Media | DVD |
Blinx: The Time Sweeper is a platform game developed by Artoon and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released for the Xbox on October 7, 2002. A sequel, Blinx 2: Masters of Time and Space was released for the Xbox in 2004.
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[edit] Introduction
Advertised as "The World's First 4D Action Game", Blinx is a third-person platform game, in which the player controls Blinx, a Time Sweeper, on his mission to prevent the end of the world. The game revolves around Blinx's (then-near-unique) Time System: Blinx is outfitted with a magical vacuum cleaner, the Time Sweeper (or TS-1000), with which he can exert some control over Time itself; slowing, speeding up, reversing or stopping its flow entirely.
[edit] Plot
In Blinx: The Time Sweeper, the player takes on the role of Blinx, an anthropomorphic cat who works at a facility known as the Time Factory. The Time Factory is a facility located outside of Time, dedicated to the creation, distribution and maintenance of the flow of all time throughout the universe. When glitches or corruptions in time are found, the Time Factory dispatches Time Sweeper agents to locate and correct them. Left unchecked, temporal glitches can manifest themselves into malevolent Time Monsters, roaming freely among dimensions, distorting everything with which they come into contact. When a gang of evil pigs known as the Tom-Tom gang begin stealing and destroying Time in dimension B1Q64, it becomes temporally unstable to the extent that the Time Sweepers decide that it is safer for all dimensions if the supply of time to B1Q64 be halted, suspending it and its inhabitants indefinitely. When Blinx receives a message from a young princess trapped within the doomed dimension, Blinx grabs his Time Sweeper and dives into dimension B1Q64 through the Sweepers' Time Portal moments before it closes.
In each stage, Blinx must travel from the Start Gate to the Ending Gate, eliminating all Time Monsters that exist on the stage. Each level has a time limit of 10 minutes.
[edit] Items
The game features an in-game shop that is available after Stage 1 of the current Round is completed.The shopkeeper (known as Catherine in Blinx 2:Masters of Time and Space) helps Blinx by selling the following items:
- Sweepers
These are what Blinx uses to sweep up trash.Certain ones can be used to defeat certain Time monsters.Blinx starts off with the basic model.
- Time holders, Retry holders and Retry
All explained in Time controls
- Bombs and Super Bombs
Activate after Blinx fires them.Useful for defeating Keroppers.
- Spike balls
Have twice the power of standard trash.Cannot be found in-game.
An ultimate sweeper can be found to defeat the final Boss, unlocked by collecting all cat medals in the game.
G, the currency in game, comes in the same shape as time crystals, the only difference being that the G is gold and comes in different sizes, bigger usually meaning higher value.Tom-Toms live for this loot, so several meetings occur in the game.
[edit] Monsters
Throughout the game Binx encounters Time Monsters which can take one of his precious Retrys.These monsters are colour coded, indicating how many hits they can take.Here is a list of known beasts:
- Chrono Blobs
These Monsters bounce around and are not a big threat.Can take up to 4 hits.
- Spiker
These monsters are sometimes mistaken for Chrono Blobs.Unlike in Blinx 2:Masters of Time and Space they are invincible when in their spike ball.Can take up to 4 hits.
- Keropper
These monsters can eat anything Blinx shoots at its face, apart from bombs, which destroy them.Blinx can also hit them in the back, and experienced players can shoot them in the arrow above their head.Can take up to 2 bomb swallows, 1 Super Bomb swallow or 3 hits in the back/arrow.
- Octoballoon
Also different from Blinx 2:Masters of Time and Space these monsters have eight tentacles and can shoot trash at Blinx.These are the only airborne monsters in Blinx:The Time Sweeper.Can take up to 2 hits.
- Dust Herder
These monsters stand on balls (worth 100 coins) and throw trash at you using their magical staff.They share a slight resemblance to the Devil creatures from Blinx 2:Masters of Time and Space.Can take up to 3 hits.
- Molegon
These monsters tunnel underground, given away by tell-tale heaps of dust they leave while burying.They are invincible while underground.It likes coming up underneath Blinx, and scaring any novices to death.A weakness of it is it has to come up for air and are exteremly vulnerable.Can take up to 2 hits.
Like many Platformers, at the end of each round Blinx has to fight a Boss, sometimes a mix of two Time Monsters (apart from Octoballoons and Spikers).Several unmentioned monsters pop up during the game, increasing the peril.
[edit] Time Controls
The Time Sweeper Blinx possess places six different Time Controls at his disposal. Five of these time controls are based on controls commonly found on VCRs and the sixth, RETRY, is unique.
To gain Time Controls, Blinx must first collect Time Crystals. The Time Crystals appear as shining, floating, spinning crystals in the game world. Blinx can collect the Time Crystals in any order, but when he possesses four at once, they are converted into Time Controls. If Blinx holds three of a particular Crystal, he gains one use of that Time Control. If Blinx holds four of a particular Crystal, he gains two uses of that Time Control. Other combinations are discarded.
Time Controls are stored in the Time Sweeper, up to the maximum number of Time Holders Blinx possesses. Blinx must have a Time Control use in his possession in order to activate it.
Blinx can trigger any of these first five Time Controls at any time:
- REW - Two purple chevrons pointing to the left. Time Crystal - Purple 'plus'. This causes time to run backwards for everything in the world except Blinx himself. Bridges and other elements previously destroyed can be restored with this Time Control no matter how long ago they were destroyed. Useful when there is a stream with a one-way current or you need to go up a waterfall.
- FF - Two orange chevrons pointing to the right. Time Crystal - Orange pyramid. This causes time to run rapidly forwards for everything in the world including Blinx. During FF, Blinx is invulnerable to damage from time monsters or environmental hazards: any contact will cause FF to be cancelled, and Blinx will be unharmed.
- PAUSE - Two light blue rectangles. Time Crystal - Blue crescent moon. This causes time to stop for everything in the world except Blinx. Scenery elements are frozen during PAUSE, and can be jumped on to reach hidden areas. Also, he can't use switches and jump pads.
- REC - Green circle. Time Crystal - Green diamond. The first phase of REC is 10 seconds of 'recording' time, where Blinx is invulnerable to all damage, and can move as normal. When 10 seconds has elapsed (or Blinx has been lost to an unrecoverable environmental hazard), the world and Blinx will be rewound backwards for 10 seconds, and the same period of time will be played. During this 'playback', the actions taken by Blinx during the 'recording' will be shown as a green ghost, allowing for enhanced combat tactics to be used, or puzzles that would require two players to be solved(such as a seesaw).
- SLOW - Yellow triangle pointing to the right. Time Crystal - Yellow star. This causes time to run slowly for everything in the world except Blinx. Scenery elements are slowed during SLOW, and can be jumped on to reach hidden areas.
There is a sixth Time Control, called RETRY. This Time Control cannot be triggered manually, it is triggered automatically when Blinx is knocked out by an enemy or lost to an infinite chasm. If Blinx holds no RETRYs when he is knocked out, the game is over.
- RETRY - Red heart. Time Crystal - Red heart. RETRY causes everything in the world, including Blinx, to rewind to a point where Blinx should be safe.
Blinx can hold any combination of REW, FF, PAUSE, REC or SLOW up to the number of Time Holders he possesses. He begins with three Time Holders, but you can gain up to 10 as the game progresses. The Time Control RETRY requires a special type of Time Holder, called a Retry Holder. Blinx begins the game with three Retry Holders, but can hold up to nine (an allusion to the lore that cats have nine lives).
[edit] Blinx as a mascot
Some suggest that Blinx was proposed as a possible mascot for the Xbox system[citation needed], rivaling Nintendo's Mario, Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog and Sony's Crash Bandicoot (character), since the main character of Halo: Combat Evolved (Master Chief) was considered too violent (and also lacking in identity behind a visor). Due to the game's unpopularity, it never achieved the suggested goal and Master Chief is seen, unofficially, as the mascot.
Blinx was seen in the "You are watching..." bumper that appeared after every show on the Nickelodeon GAS network.
[edit] Reception
Blinx received decent reception by critics and public. Reviews were, for the most part, average[2], and GameSpy even included the game in its "Most Overrated Games Ever" feature[3]. Although the graphics were generally praised, the game's execution, notably the control method, was considered to have resulted in the game being too difficult.
Saleswise, by 2003, 156,000 copies were sold.[4] In 2003, Blinx also entered the Platinum Hits range (as part of the all-age Platinum Family Hits).
Gamespot editor Greg Kasavin gave it a fair rating, noting that players get a sense of relief from completing a level, rather than enjoyment or satisfaction.
