Blinx 2 review

Blinx 2 is the follow-up to the, frankly, dismal commercial failure that was Blinx. Both games are platformers that revolve around the adventures of Blinx, a cat capable of controlling time. The first title wasn’t particularly bad but showed some serious flaws in terms of awkward play mechanics and camera controls.

Otherwise it looked like a title that definitely showed promise. It looks like Microsoft saw the potential too, as Artoon has been back at the grindstone trying to refine things for this pretty pleasing sequel.

Going back in time

Initial impressions upon firing up Blinx 2 could lead to disgust as you’re greeted by some of the worst cut scenes and menu systems ever to grace a modern game. The graphics are clunky, the voices are terrible and the lip-synching is by far the worst I’ve ever come across.

It’s saying something when I can say Metal Gear Solid on the Gameboy Color featured more impressive facial animation. The menu system isn’t much better, but at least it doesn’t force you to recoil from the screen. Once past the titles, you only have to deal with menus periodically, so we’ll not hold those against the game just yet.

The backstory behind Blinx 2 (told by way of more of the nasty cut-scenes) is that the time controlling cats (don’t ask) are caught up in a conflict with the space-controlling pigs (really, don’t ask) and are trying to vie for control of time crystals. In terms of story it’s nothing special and not following the scenes doesn’t particularly detract from the game.

The main element that is different when compared to other platformers is that the story forms the basis for you playing as both sides. You’ll play through three or four missions as the cats and then the same again as the pigs. As well as opening the game experience somewhat, it’s actually a canny move on the part of Artoon, as it creates twice the game with half the levels. Though one could argue a bit of a Halo 2 rip-off.

Onto the future

The pigs and cats have different motives and methods for getting involved in the conflict and this means you’ll be expected to handle each set of missions slightly differently. There’s a high emphasis on puzzling for both teams, but where the cats are good for frontal attacks, the pigs are better at using sneakier tactics.

These techniques are backed up by some nifty gadgets in the form of time controls for the cats and portable black holes (and more) for the pigs. The time controls were present in the first game but to recap for those who didn’t try it, involve you being able to pause, rewind or record events and use them to manipulate physical objects or baddies on the screen.

Rewind works by cancelling events that have destroyed a path, pause enables you to stop enemies in their paths and making dishing out kickings easier and record allows you to deal with double events, like having to press two switches simultaneously. In truth there’s a lot more to it than just the above, but the controls certainly do add a nice lateral thinking element to the puzzles.

The pigs have access to space controls and various stealth themed gadgets. They can crack safes and send decoys out to distract vigilant felines or they can dispatch black holes in grenade form that suck enemies into hidden vortexes, never to be seen again. They also have access to cloaking devices and knockout darts, all of which can be used to support their sneaky ways. Once again, puzzles will be very much geared towards your spatial porcine skills.

What happened next?

All in all, the teams complement each other pretty well and it’s nice to see a bit of variety like this in a genre that’s becoming stale in many ways. The controls and these weapons aren’t always intuitive, but with a little practise they become reasonably easy to remember and deal with.

The gameplay itself follows a standard path of level, level, boss and the missions are accessed (by each team) from a central hub. Why this hub had to be used I don’t know, as there’s no flexibility in what mission you can accept next.

In fact, whenever you try to access a level that’s beyond your means, you’re unceremoniously advised that you have to find the shop and take part in a test that upgrades your skills. At these points you can also upgrade weapons for yourself and your team, although the team aspect is a bit questionable, as you never really see the other members during standard gameplay.

Is this the end?

You’ll notice that apart from the cutscene comments, I’ve not really commented on graphics or sound. That’s because the graphics and sound are very basic. There’s some reasonable draw distances and there’s never a sign of any slowdown whatsoever, but everything’s a bit drab and basic. Reflections and lighting are present, but their use seems to be tacked-on somewhat. Widescreen is absent yet again, but in this game you probably won’t care a great deal.

Overall, Artoon has put together a reasonable little distraction here. Once past the first set of missions, the levels do actually pose something of a challenge without ever getting to a head-banging what do I do now stage.

The inclusion of a co-op mode (which allows new ways through old levels) is a nice touch too. For some reason though, the entire experience never seems to reach its potential.

It never even gets close to matching the presentation and gameplay of the PS2’s Sly Raccoon and Jak and Daxter and even Voodoo Vince, the other Xbox exclusive platformer, knocks Blinx 2 for six half the time. Still, it’s enjoyable to a degree and anyone feeling starved of this sort of family entertainment would be well advised to pick it up, especially as it can be found for under £20 at most high street stores.