It's not the AAA title that it could have been, but there's a lot to like about Blinx.

Easily one of the most impressive titles at this year’s E3, we were surprised to find the relatively quick turnaround of good concept to final game in less then a year. If anything else, Blinx succeeds at becoming the first game to make true use of the Xbox Hard Drive.<br><br>Players assume the role of the titular Blinx, a janitor at a Time Factory that appears to be wholly run by a bunch of cats! Blinx’s main responsibility is to clear the world of monsters created from inequities in the time fabric. However trouble arises when the Tom-Tom Gang appear, attempting to steal Time Crystals for their nefarious activities.<br><br>OK to cut a long and unnecessary story short, this revolves around Blix vanquishing a certain amount of monsters from each stage within a set time, using Time Crystals along the way to aid him in his quest, whilst keeping an eye out for the Tom-Tom gang boys and apparently rescuing a princess as well!<br><br>Whilst it may sound like your typical platformer, Blinx is anything but. Each mission gives you just 10 minutes to vanquish a set amount of monsters on the level. Using the HDD to great effect, Blinx has the ability to manipulate time to suit his needs. A variety of VCR styled controls is available at the press of a button, allowing Blinx to Rewind, Fast-Forward, Pause, Record and Slow down time. In order to activate these functions however, Blinx has to collect at least three crystals of the same variety to access the particular command. To begin with Blinx’s TimeSweeper only has four crystal spaces, adding a slight tactical edge to the proceedings as you can’t drop crystals, so picking up a combination of three different crystals will result in a ‘Bad Crystal Combo’ and you’ll have to start again, whilst picking up four of the same results in gaining two time commands.<br><br>Once you’ve picked up three of the same type of crystals the fun begins; depending on their colour and type you’ll have access to the relevant time command, for example picking up three red crystals will give you the ability to rewind time. Each of these helps Blinx in defeating enemies, accessing secret areas and just looking cool. When you activate these you’ll notice that Blinx is free to move and act of his own accord, whilst the enemies and environment are all being influenced by the time command, so for example, if you wanted to leap up a waterfall that has logs falling down it, simply activate the pause function and you can then use the stationary logs as platforms to access the higher area. It’s such a simple concept that you find yourself asking, “Why hasn’t anyone done this before?”<br><br>Defeating the monsters is a simple task (to begin with), using your TimeSweeper to suck up any nearby junk; you then simply blast them with it to destroy them. Unfortunately as you progress through the game, the enemy (in particular the boss characters) become cleverer, so it’s not just a case of blasting them with junk. There’s a wide range of different objects that you can suck up, and each object has different damage values, so if you’re coming up to a boss, it makes sense to suck up the biggest object last as that’s the one that will pop out first; another example of the strategic nature of Blinx. Also any objects that you leave the level with, having completed it, are tallied up and exchanged for gold, which can be used to buy a variety of new TimeSweepers, Clothes, Lifes and other goodies from the shop.<br><br>Each world is made up of five levels, with a shop and boss fight at the end. You have to complete them in order, but once you’ve opened them you’re free to go back to try and find the secrets you missed, some of which will be hidden until you buy a more powerful TimeSweeper. Having completed a mission, you’ll be given a ranking depending on the time taken, score and how much gold you picked up. This element hints at the time many of the developers at Artoon spent at Sonic Team, it’s a classic game design structure that rewards replayability, going back to levels again and again, not only to open new secrets but also to improve your rank and top up your crystals. Anyone who doesn’t like this type of structure would be well advised tos tick away, as Blinx will drive you nuts.<br><br>As the game progresses, using the Time Crystals to good effect becomes crucial. Whereas in the opening stages you could just plough through them and never use one Time Command against uninspired enemy creatures, later levels see more complex enemies and require you to use the Time Commands to affect the environment, for example collapsing bridges become whole again if you use the rewind command. Perseverance is definitely rewarded with Blinx, to begin with you’ll think it’s just an average platformer with a gimmick, however play on and you’ll notice that not only does the game really improve but it’s also one of the most innovative titles that has appeared in quite a while; however there are a number of flaws stopping Blinx from becoming the all-time classic that it should have been.<br><br>For starters, there’s just a lack of polish evident when playing Blinx; despite a length opening sequence, there are no cut-scenes to progress the story, whilst I quite like this approach of it all being about the game, it will certainly put people of progressing to the more impressive later levels.<br><br>Blinx is also a game that will frustrate as much as it will cause fun; it’s the type of game that grabs you because you don’t want to be beaten. It’s as far removed from a traditional platformer as could ever have been imagined, playing at times more like a puzzle title then the latest Mario clone.<br><br>My biggest complaint is that Artoon haven’t developed the idea fully enough, it’s obvious that the idea of time manipulation came whilst these guys were working on Sonic CD, and it’s certainly been developed, but just not quite enough; the time crystal effect on environments appears to be very static and have no consequence on other areas. It’s a tough one to explain, but the idea can certainly be developed in the recently announced sequel.<br><br>Visually there’s nothing quite like Blinx, it’s certainly got a look of it’s own. Blinx himself is a cool looking character with some great animation, whilst even the blob enemies have a level of character that beats most of the designs coming from the West. The environments that you’ll travel to are varied and distinct, but more importantly packed with intricate detail. From a technical point of view, Blinx both amazes and disappoints; textures are distinct and sport a rich range of diversity, whilst the water effects and dynamic lighting create one of the better looking Xbox titles. However later levels that are packed full of monsters tend to slow-down frequently, without any action from Blinx! It happens too much and is too severe to not take notice, perhaps an indication of Microsoft’s rush to get this out for Christmas?