Blinx: The Time Sweeper Comments by Kristan Reed

Have to say I'm a little disappointed with some of the reviews Blinx has been getting.
I'm not saying I'm disappointed with Krudsters review (excellent as usual) but they have ranged from 5(GameSpy) to 10 (Play Magazine) however looking at all the reviews the majority are eight and above.
If you were to go on the strength of just one review then I would be tempted not to buy this.
However since there seems to be such mixed reaction I think myself like many other xbox owners looking for a platformer (a genre sorely under represented on the xbox) will buy this probably on the strength of the OXM review where it received a 9.3.

On the 'Is this better than Mario' thingy I haven't played SMS but I seriously doubt it.

Will I be getting this? Oh yes.
Will this sell loads? Oh yes.
Will this help xbox sales? hmmm maybe, cutesy platformy thingy for junior for crimbo and all that. I think the new bundle and Splinter Cell will help a lot more, Oh and hang on Unreal Championship, Mech Assault and Phantom Crash should also help a bit in the crimbo period.

Now where did I put those money tree seeds I bought from that farmer.

Russty Cage - which ever way you look at the bad scores you posted. It had a better start than the PS2 in terms of games on IGN. After 1 Year PS2 games have rocketed through the roof. Who knows, same might happen with the Cube and Box hopefully

Will this help xbox sales? hmmm maybe

It will mate. Blinx is one of the 4 adverts M$ are chucking on our small screens over christmas Holidays along with Splinter Cell and 2 unknown others.

will buy this probably on the strength of the OXM review where it received a 9.3

Careful with those 'official' magazines, Barton. :-)

Personally if a game has received wildly mixed reviews (like this one) I always attempt to try it for myself before deciding whether to buy or not. A demo or a rental might be in order for this one, maybe?

Or use the 10 day return policy from GAME/HMV. ;-)

I must say the covermount vid of Blinx this month looked very tasty on OXBM.

Vacuum Wielding pussy !

lol. Just my type of gag.

Careful with those 'official' magazines, Barton. :-)
Not saying I am going to buy it on the strength of that review.
I will however buy it on the strength of that review and the umpteen others I have read and I love platformers.
One thing I will give OXM as an official mag is that it does seem to get it right most of the time. However in this case I get the feeling that MS has had some influence. As I am sure Sony would in the case GTA:VC with it's official mag (not taking anything away from GTS:VC I am sure it deserves the review scores it's getting all over the shop).
One thing I like about it is unlike other official mags, I won't mention here, it has yet to give a game a perfect 10.
Can't go with the try before you buy option as I don't have a Blockbuster anywhere nearby. May try the GAME/HMV thingy though.

Standard Fanboy Linkage

duc - Lets see your figures for that because i have a 800k to 1mill lead source

Yup duc I would love to see what orifice you pulled those figures out of. :p

Can't go with the try before you buy option as I don't have a Blockbuster anywhere nearby

Has nobody done a playable demo of this one? Weird... with it being such an important release I figured it would have been near the top of the list. :-/

Blerk, not yet :-(

SC on the latest covermount, but they did chuck in another video.

Admittedly, I'm skipping most of the latter half of this thread, but I just thought I'd point out that I agree with BGIE for the most part. Although I'd like to contest this point:

"i'd also argue that it had the best software launch of all time. Halo, Project Gotham, and DOA3? That was an excellent performance by Microsoft"

If Xbox had launched at £199 in Europe with Halo bundled, it would have been second place from the get go, developers wouldn't necessarily be designing for PS2 then porting to Xbox, and the Cube would be having an even more torrid time than it evidently is. As much as I like the Xbox and reckon it will do well in the long run (for many of the reasons BGIE offers), I don't think they had the best launch of all three consoles. In fact I think all three received botched launches in Europe - PS2 had no triple-A software, Xbox was priced and positioned badly (and arrogantly) and Cube lacked software support. Microsoft are only just starting to behave sensibly and they're seeing gains on account of it.

And not next month either ...

Ok, so J&D wasn't the *hardest* game in the world, but the point was you wanted to finish it, because it was so damned enjoyable. Blinx is a game I might get around to finishing, but the incentive just isn't there, because it's just such pain in the arse to play. You die, not through your lack of 'skillZZ', but through the game's rubbish camera, the crystal system, and the laborious ammo pick up mechnanic.
Otherwise I'd have given it an 8/10 all day long.

And getting back to Blinx (which is the topic for discussion here let's not forget!), having played both Blinx and Mario, I know which I prefer. Mario is frustrating in places, and also suffers from numerous design flaws, but it wins out because it's been designed from the ground up to keep you happy, with plenty of impressive sights and sounds, and a far more enjoyable gameplay dynamic. At times, Blinx feels like it's been designed to stop you succeeding, its main design revelation is too much of a gimmick, and on the whole it fails to capitalise on the opportunities Xbox offered it. That's a shame.

I love to see the insecurity of the XbOxen who hijack every thread to start shouting about the sales figures, which are as good/disappointing as the GC ones.

With quality software on both consoles, it's strange to see the 200 euros (2,5 games, for f's sake) being a horrible hurdle to buy both of them to accompany the PS2.

It should be about gaming, and with games like Halo, Eternal Darkness, Quantum Redshift, SMS, MotoGP, Pikmin etc. the ownership of all three platforms should be more than reasonable.

Of course there is the problem of fitting the Xbox inside a living room :)

I believe the Xboxen thing stems from a joke made when it first appeared. Linux based pcs are often referred to as Boxen, and someone made the link between Xbox and pc and Boxen. or something like that.

As for signal to noise on this site, it's getting decidedly annoying. I'm going to have to start ignoring posters soon, which i don't want to have to do.

Can't we all just get along, hmm?
Act like adults and all that?

duc - we asked for the source not the numbers made up.

Provide us with a source then your post might mean something

Viktor - Of course there is the problem of fitting the Xbox inside a living room

Looks great on top of my video recorder. Gamecube has a problem to fit in as i have to keep moving it about so the controller reaches my sofa. Dont like having consoles sitting on the outside causing a hell of a mess either. Got to try and keep the wife happy after all.

", but the point was you wanted to finish it, because it was so damned enjoyable. "

im with you on that one... i actually kind of cared about the story for once.

i enjoyed j&d much more than sms

Ok, so J&D wasn't the *hardest* game in the world, but the point was you wanted to finish it, because it was so damned enjoyable.

Aye! Just when you were getting fed up collecting crystals they'd have you off on a zoomer doing time trials or a boss level or a different environment.

Gah, I'm going to pass on this because the issues raised in various reviews and exactly the things that irritate me.

A class reader review from gamerankings...

Gameplay: The first round is EASY as hell. You shouldn't have a single problem. It just shows you the ropes. Then in the second round you will begin to see what the game is capable of. The third round is where the game shows you how it can be challenging. I died over 25 times in the round compared to once around in the first 2. The game play is simple, yet fun.

DIED 25 TIMES. Jesus, that'd be back to the retailer straight away. What's fun about that!

no fun, is the short answer. That reader review completely sums it up. It reminds me of the days of Manic Miner FFS!

krudster - sorry but ever since your review for this game on the points that i added before at the top of the page i really dont have a whole lot of care on what you find is fun. Although i did enjoy J&D when i played it on a friends machine for a couple of hours. Though she was a girlfriend of a friend who wanted help through the game.

Edit - I went through the 3rd world by dying like 2-3 times. Either you dont have the skills, had a bad day, tired or just set out not to like this game from the word go.

Blimey Tiitiz, it's just his opinion. You don't have to agree with it if you don't want, but if he didn't like it then there's no point him scoring it highly, surely? :-/

Did you read my first impressions? I liked it for hours. I then progressively found tons of irritating things about the game, and I wasn't too happy to discover them because I was really looking forward to Blinx. So you liked it? That's fine. I'm not questioning anyone's right to like Blinx.
6, after all, isn't a terrible score.

Tiitz. just becoz kruds didnt like the game, doenst mean u have to agree and automatically dislike it. its 6/10 - just above average, clearly with some good ideas poorly executed. IN HIS OPINION. FFS let it go, and go play the damn game :p


::ok, beaten to it::

I don't see what the problem is, the guy doesn't like it, neither do any of the people whose reviews I've learnt to take into consideration over the years, it seems the game is not as good as they said it was going to be, surely this isn't the first time that has happened..

Sorry Blerk, i know its his opinion but his review is not correct as i stated up top. If he didnt like it fair enough but he helped make the game look worse by just not putting the correct info. Again, check what i put up top so i dont have to write it all again

Tiitiz, you may not agree with my opinion, which is fair enough, but if you can point out anything that is factually incorrect then be my guest.
So the camera isn't broken and doesn't lead to multiple deaths? The ammo system isn't laborious and unnecessary? The availability and distribution of the time crystals doesn't get on your nerves? The game is not linear and restrictive?

Another poor Xbox game, another 100 comments.

"Tricky - Its an opinion of mine of Mario v Blinx. Dont like it then dont carry on reading it. Should i and others stop giving opinions on this site just because you dont like it?"

Not at all Tiitiz (after all I was expressing an opinion myself and from the broadest possible view seeing as I own and like all three consoles) - I just can't see how anyone can think of Blinx as a better platformer than Mario. The only thing you can count against Mario is the camera but it's not *that* bad. Also, you claim that the lack of an aiming system for the FLUDD system causes problems... well quite frankly I like the fact that it doesn't use an aiming cursor because it just feels more natural somehow.

I have to say though that you're getting extremely defensive here about Blinx. Some of your posts have been extremely agressive... you didn't have a hand in the development of Blinx at all did you because some of what you're saying smacks almost of wounded pride.

He can't answer at the moment, he's playing Blinx :)

I'll have what he's having.

Even if it's a lobotomy?

krudster - I'm not gonna repeat my self. I just disagree with the way you done the review and missed a few valid points. With regards to Mario and Blinx, i simply put my opinion down like everyone else. In this case i gave my reasons and understand it's not for everyone like Mario ended up not really for me. Some people will find some camera controls better than others. I prefer the one in Blinx and dislike the way they done it in Mario.

God damn, it's my opinion of the review and my opinion of Mario with Blinx.

If i came out with I prefer Blinx than Mario. people would have been 'What!?'

I say it yet again, it's an opinion people. Or are the comments here for just conversations about the weather?

Anyway, RE on PS and Cube was fantastic and one of my fav games to date. Please, its just an opinion.

Go on Tiitiz!

@Tiitz, Isn't Blinx on the Xboxen and SMS on the GC or did I miss something? Thus the comparison between the two has little value. Unless you are comparing consoles which this review isn't and the comments probably shouldn't either.

Awful weather we're having isn't it? ;-)

Mr. Sleep - it's a fair comparison really. They're both platformers so it seems fine to me to compare the two.

platform games across the different consoles have always been compared. eg. Sonic Vs Mario,

I still think zool is better ;)

Zool sucks! Rainbow Islands rules! :-)

Really? I never got what people saw in Zool. I gave it a while and then just turned off the Amiga and powered up the Megadrive instead ;-)

Using them as a mehtod of debating which is the better console seems to be prompting the old reamergence of fanboys, base the game on the merits not the console...*sigh*

I loved Rainbow Island but my mummy never bought me Zool ;/

/me sniffs


hehe

i think the point, Mr Sleep, is that both games are a similar genre and that despite set backs on each they are both essentially crud... or did i also miss something?

hell, personally, i say mario forever. a cheap plastic looking cat designed purely to play catch-up on the platform genre just doesn't wash with this seasoned veterain. no sir.

points to tiitiz for sticking up for his opinion though.

note to self pt.2: must type faster

What gets me is this instict that people have: Any score below 9 means that the game is crap.

Get real people. It doesn't mean the game is bad. Normally a score of 5 or 6 means that the game is average. Average is not bad.
Not all games should get good scores.

Perhaps some of the whiners could be shut up by having Eurogamer's specifications of what the points mean? Might stop some of the 'Halo, 8 points, WTF?' comments...
I hope.

How about it Krudster? Can we know what exactly a score of 6 means etc?

*edit* Finger trouble...

mentat - that is the best idea i have seen on this site for ages!

Tiitiz, game ranking was being discussed in the forum and the same ideas came up.

how about a rating bar that looks more like the left/right volume bias controls on winamp (or whatever).

the middle being zero bias (average) and right or left being above or below zero respectively. it goes to illustrate the term "average" in ratings at any rate.

hell, its also a new slant on a tired old ratings system.

mentat is correct in his point.