Blinx 2: Masters Of Time Preview

By Kristan Reed Published 17 June, 2004

First details and first shots: The grinning time warping cat returns to the Xbox this Christmas.

Blinx 2: Masters Of Time will be part of Microsoft's Christmas Xbox line-up, the Redmond giant announced this morning, and purports to be the " world's first 5-D game, giving players control over both Time and Space". Bold claims indeed.

Let's do the time warp again

'Blinx 2: Masters Of Time' Screenshot 1

Former Sega types Artoon is once again tasked with the development, and has thrown in stealth, enemy control, two player co-op, four player battles, as well as customisable characters to add to the time warping kleptomaniacal platforming gameplay at its core.

Once again, the game relies upon the player to collect different coloured Time Crystals in order to perform different time bending functions; rather like the functions of a video recorder, you can meddle with the time in any direction, as well as slow it down or even stop it completely. This time, though, it's not just about Blinx - he can take control of the enemy pigs "to gain control of the space continuum"

A co-op mode worth playing?

'Blinx 2: Masters Of Time' Screenshot 2

Cunningly, the co-op mode won't simply be a run through the story campaign, but actually up the difficulty and provide specific co-op challenges, requiring, Microsoft says "strategy and teamwork". In addition, co-op grants "unique map locations" only available in this mode.

Multiplayer Battle mode, meanwhile, involves "leading a squad of cats using time control powers or command a team of enemy pigs using space control powers".

Microsoft reveals: "Whether they are playing through single player missions or any of the multiplayer modes, players can fully customise their cats and pigs by designing the character's face, body and clothing."

A gem of a platformer?

'Blinx 2: Masters Of Time' Screenshot 3

The original Blinx certainly excelled on the visual front and had some good ideas, but they were massively overhyped. This one sounds a little more promising, and we remain cautiously optimistic that as long as Artoon can sort out the dreadful camera issues and provide a gentler learning curve that Blinx 2 can finally provide Microsoft with the character platform gem that it has been searching for.

So far, just three screenshots of Blinx 2 have been released. The first reveals the character design of the aforementioned pigs, with Blinx looking rather like he's trapped inside some sort of love bubble (help me out here!). The second shows Blinx wielding his trademark vacuum cleaner, ready to suck the life out of a baseball bat wielding pig monster, replete with skull and crossbones bandana and comedy whiskers.

The final shot reveals the character customisation screen, and shows off just how many means there are of tweaking the character to your precise design. No fewer than 14 attributes can be meddled with, including fur type, neckband size, body length, and just about everything under the sun - which bodes well for some amusing creations if nothing else.

As soon as we get playable code, we'll be sure to give you the full run down of how Blinx 2 is shaping up.

Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 8 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Tiger_Walts #1 8 years ago

    I pray to the silican gods that this is not true!

  • ssuellid #2 8 years ago

    Soft focus?

  • Blerk #3 8 years ago

    How well did the original sell?

  • krudster #4 8 years ago

    not too badly, about 60k in the UK I think.

  • Shivoa #5 8 years ago

    Probably badly, really really badly.

    /doesn't add Blinx 2: Assmaster to to-buy list

  • CyberClaw #6 8 years ago

    Blinx is trapped inside a time grenade. The pigs are masters of space only, but they also use some weaponary, and they stole the time grenade tech from the cats. Ence, we see a pig throwing a time grenate at a cat.
    Blinx, from crap to ace. I've seen this before. First game I hated, 2nd I couldn't wait for.

    I just gave a quick glaze over this news report, so sorry if this was already mentioned.
    You'll control a cat in some levels (warping time) And a pig in certain others (warping space). Warping time is all well known, although warping space has some new tricks. From cloning yourself, to teletransportation. In coop, you'll play as a cat duo or as a pig duo, depending on the level. You'll have certain parts in SP you can't reach, as they are only recheable in coop. You won't control Blinx this time arround. You'll control a cat/pig you made yourself, with more costumisation options unlocking as you progress through the SP.

  • Kami #7 8 years ago

    Not that well I think...

    But as long as they can really work out the old flaws and introduce some new ideas, it could turn out really well.

    The chances of that happening? We'll see... but I ain't holding my breath.

  • CyberClaw #8 8 years ago

    I think what is getting me twitching the most, is coop platforming :) I remember the joy I got from playing Sonic coop, even if it was such an half assed coop mode.
    And Artoon has excelent gameplay ideas, although poorly executed in Blinx. I mean PoP blatantly ripped the Blinx concept, but it was good, so in almost any review did we see any mention to this.
    If they take the time to give the extra shine to Blinx 2, and if they learn with their mistakes (which aparently they are learning, they removed the time restriction, the levels are 4 times as big, etc) this game might rock.

  • Tomster #9 8 years ago

    Uh... I thought space was the first 3 dimensions, no?

  • Blerk #10 8 years ago

    Shh! Don't spoil it! :-D

  • Shivoa #11 8 years ago

    Maybe the space warping is using the 4th spacial dimension to do things like teleport (with the classic SciFi definition of using the 4th dim to bend the other 3 to join at a point)?

    Edit: brain dead today
    Edited by 1 at 17/06/04 @ 13:54

  • Tiger_Walts #12 8 years ago

    Don't forget the Hyperspace dimensions!

  • Freek #13 8 years ago

    " Uh... I thought space was the first 3 dimensions, no?"

    You were expecting inteligence from a press announcement?

  • Tiitiz #14 8 years ago

    I still stick by that this was better than Mario Sunshine for me.

    Perhaps it's more of the fact that Mario Sunshine was a huge dissapointment for me after all the hype

  • Halo.Jones #15 8 years ago

    Oh god, not another one.

    First Blinx was bad enough, they claimed Blinx was 4D for the first one now 5D!

  • Royal Fool #16 8 years ago

    Well, I did buy the original game for cheap, and although it wasn't really all that (And the IGNXbox review remains to this day one of the worst reviews in video gaming history) I got my money's worth. That is, 10 pounds worth.

    However, this sequel might not be so bad. I hope it works out.
    Edited by 1 at 17/06/04 @ 16:38

  • HarryB #17 8 years ago

    another one that didnt sell was VooDoo Vince, I liked that...

  • inpHilltr8r #18 8 years ago

    I mean PoP blatantly ripped the Blinx concept,

    Well Blinx nicked the idea from The Killing Game Show / Fatal Rewind in the first place.

  • Pirotic #19 8 years ago

    I thought Blinx was pretty good, was certainly above average and was pretty innovative, looking foward to this :p (must be the only one)

  • jaa #20 8 years ago

    I liked the first one too. Damn hard but quite addictive.

  • PondScum #21 8 years ago

    Oh God no.... First one wasn't so much bad (although IMHO it was that as well) it was just the huge amounts of hype....the first one was a real disappointment, and I doubt I'd invest in this one

  • IronGiant #22 8 years ago

    A dead cert for quick discounting and the bargain bin.

  • 3william56 #23 8 years ago

    "5D" game indeed...

    Dire
    Derivative
    Dull
    Dissapointing
    Discounted

  • Enzo #24 8 years ago

    5D wat in the blue hell happened to the 4D

    did i mis a yr or sumit,,,,, nvm looks better that the first
    but that cant be hard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!