Let me preface this review by saying I really did have high hopes for Blinx: The Time Sweeper. Microsoft and Artoon's mascot driven Xbox platformer seemed to have all the important elements required in a game of this type. Interesting art and character designs, a likable hero, a fun quest, a neat twist on gameplay, and great visuals and worlds. I raved about the game in our hands-on preview of the beta version, and I really did like it very much up until about, oh, halfway through. Something then suddenly occurred that ultimately, resulted in me snapping the disc in two (seriously, I have witnesses) when finally playing through to the end; Horrendous, horribly, horribly frustrating later level designs, which totally ruin any love I previously had for the game.

Blinx is a cat who is employed as a "Time Sweeper" in the Time Factory. The Time Sweepers watch over the time in all the worlds within their universe, making sure that time anomalies do not exist. In the rare case that they do, sweepers are sent out to collect (suck up) the remains of these anomalies, which manifest as time crystals or monsters. Needless to say, one world in particular becomes the target of many time related issues simultaneously, and the sweepers make the choice to abandon the quickly deteriorating world as quickly as possible. It turns out that an enemy is purposefully causing these breaks in time, and has also snatched the princess of that world. Blinx decides to take matters into his own hands (paws), and save the world.

Everything starts out peachy-keen. During the former half of the game, Blinx's time altering abilities are put to good use and the stages and boss battles are well thought out and fun to play. The time crystals at that point have obvious uses, during certain parts of a stage. If you see a bridge crumbling, you use Rewind or Pause. If you come across some tricky enemies, you use Slow Motion. If access to a higher platform is needed, and there is a teeter-totter around, use Record to make a recording of Blinx jumping on one end, and then move to the other side to be propelled upwards. Gameplay and the camera are both also fine at that point. Sucking up and shooting trash to defeat Time Monsters or hit switches, and the overall platforming elements worked well enough.

Then roughly at the game's midpoint it all falls apart. Levels quickly degenerate into "suck up trash and shoot it at the Time Monsters before time runs out", and suddenly the time altering functions take a back seat. The level designs then also lean towards smaller confined spaces, which are now full of instant kill environmental hazards as well as several frequently hard to kill, annoyingly accurate enemies. The camera at this point, although easily controlled, has no clue how to handle the combination. This usually leads to a handful of enemies surrounding you, all launching attacks at the same time, with most being invincible as they do so. Even with the most upgraded time sweeper vac sucking up and firing trash is slower than the pace of many enemy attacks. Dodging usually does no good, as you'll end up either on an enemy or a bed of spikes, or water, etc. Restaring on a stage literally several dozens of times became the norm. Completing a stage relied more on exploiting the collision detection bugs than either skill or pattern recognition. Boss fight were frustrating, but at least once you have the pattern down, they become easier. [POSSIBLE SPOILER] Speaking of boss fights the last boss sequence has Blinx fighting each boss from the second half of the game in order, all just as frustrating as they were originally. If you lose a fight, even when finally making it up to the last boss, you are stuck doing the long, annoying sequence all over again. Here's a hint/bug I came across, if you find this happening, quickly hit Start, then choose Restart Level, and you can continue battling the same boss you made it up to. [END POSSIBLE SPOILER]

Former Sonic Team members were obviously involved in the development of Blinx, as can be heard from the music, sound effects, and overall look of the game. Too bad the good level designers must have remained behind, as that is Blinx's major shortcoming. To clarify things, the game is not merely difficult by design, in the "Ninja Gaiden- NES", way. As a result, the game as a whole is just not in the least bit fun or enjoyable. I do not doubt that if the game would have continued on the same path as was set during the first half of the game, my opinion would be much different. Blinx: The Time Sweeper is marketed as "The world's first 4-D action game!", and in reality it is just a "D" action game.