Blinx 2: Masters of Time & Space has some unique and intriguing gameplay elements. You alternate play between two different groups, one of which can manipulate time by freezing, slowing, and even rewinding time and events, and the other which can manipulate by space by creating their own tunnels through walls and other solid matter. Unfortunately all of the developer’s imagination went into creating the game’s setting, and the game’s graphics, story, execution, and puzzles all fail to take advantage of its creative premise.

Customizing your cat.

The story chronicles the conflict between the Time Sweepers and Tom Tom Gang. The Time Sweepers are a group of cats in charge of the magical factory where time is created and act as the guardians of the time continuum. The Tom Tom Gang are criminal pigs with a talent for manipulating space bent on stealing the time crystals that keep the flow of time steady. While the battle between time and space is a scenario ripe with potential for imaginative storylines, what you get in Blink 2 basically boils down to a generic platform crystal hunt. It also doesn’t help that the groups with the awesome powers of time and space manipulation are made up of some of the more bland characters you’ll find in a video game. The Time Sweepers come across as a bunch of staid bureaucrats that would bore a room full of actuaries at an insurance convention. The Tom Tom Gang are comprised of the stereotypical loud-mouthed boss and incompetent lackeys that you see playing the bad guys in cartoons and movies and that don’t even bother trying. Topping it all off is the game’s title character Blinx, who is virtually indistinguishable from any other Time Sweeper and who you don’t even get to play as in the game.

You begin the game by creating the look of your character. You can select your cat’s fur color, facial features, and clothing pattern and color, and it is possible to create a large number of different looks for your cat. This is a pretty cool feature of the game and lets you put a bit of your personality into your game character. The downside is that if you really, really want to be Blinx, you need to create a reasonable facsimile yourself. Another issue is that the game has a strange art style that looks a lot different from most other platform games out there. Not different “great”, but different “odd”. You may eventually get used to it though, even if you don’t embrace it.

Once you begin play you’ll face the standards for the genre in places to jump, evil critters to kill (in a cutesy way, of course), and puzzles to solve. Baddies are stopped by using your vacuum cleaner-like gun that resembles an electric guitar. You can bash them over the head with it, or use it to suck in objects such as crates and barrels and then shoot the objects at your enemies. I use the terms “critters” and “baddies” because in most cases it’s not obvious as to just what the heck it is that has it out for you. The Tom Tom Gang are obviously pigs, but after that it is anybody’s guess as to what most of the enemies are supposed to be. It takes away from the game’s character when you can’t even describe the things you are busily dispatching.

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