Reviews// Blinx 2: Masters of Time and Space

Blinx 2 is actually very close to being something special, all the components for maximum fun are in place, yet the game simply fails to come together convincingly. The underlying problem is that the game treats you like an absolute idiot throughout. It's fair to say that younger players might welcome its easy-going nature, but if you're a bit more serious about gaming than the average seven year old, then this will fail to engage you or offer any real satisfaction. Although some of the time-warping and space-distorting is a really enticing and potentially sophisticated idea, conjuring up images of Matrix styled five dimensional uber-gameplay, its only real use is to solve puzzles in a blindingly obvious fashion. And in case you are actually blinded by the obviousness, your commanding pig or cat will tell you exactly how to solve the puzzle just as you are about to do it.

It's unbelievably annoying being given hints so persistently. To start with, the constant advice was pleasantly reassuring, easing us into the earlier levels with an reassuring sense of confidence. But it just never stops. It reminds us of our early days of gaming, when your slightly irritating friend from next door would sit down next to you and do that incessant commentary, constantly tapping you on the shoulder and explaining absolutely everything in undue detail. "Go right a bit, right a bit, jump, No! jump properly, go back and get that coin, you left a coin, go left, go right, coins, jump" and so on and so forth.

A specific example would be one of the later Tom Tom levels. You want to sneak past some guards, so you want to turn the lights off: there's a big switch just in front of you, and you think to yourself "Yup. I rock. I'll just go and flick that switch and Bob's your unc..." And before you can complete that thought, the commander pig claims the credit and shouts "There's the switch for the light." With the riddle well and truly cracked wide open, you proceed to push the switch and turn the lights off. "It looks like pushing that switch made the lights go off.", shouts the commander again. The assumption seems to be that people who play this game lack the basic thought processes and cognitive functions that so many of us take for granted.