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Blinx 2: Masters of Time & Space coming this Christmas

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
maybe the graphics look a little weak for split screen play? and yeah, those screen caps make the game look great
 

novery

Member
Hi guys, I attended today's Microsoft press conference in Harajuku. It's late here in Japan and I really need to get to bed, but I thought I'd give a few tidbits about Blinx 2.

I was able to spend about twenty minutes with the game. Microsoft had two monitors on display, one running a level starring Blinx, the other starring the pig character. The pig-focused gameplay is fairly different from the standard Blinx formula. No pausing or rewind time here. But the pigs have a number of tools they can use to kick Blinx's ass and complete levels.

The pig-based levels gave me flashbacks of Pandora Tomorrow multiplayer. In the level I played, a Blinx cat was patrolling a dark alley and as the pig you had to take out the cat through a variety of methods. The cat is holding the key to the next room, so you can either launch banana peels to make the cat slip, fall, and cough up the key, or you can use other methods like simply shooting him in the back with your slingshot. To be honest, the level I played was far too short and I can't really judge well whether the pig-oriented gameplay will work or not. It's got potential, though.

The standard Blinx level I played was actually pretty fun. Again you scoop up stuff with your vacuum and shoot it at other stuff to progress. Artoon has implemented a FPS option to get more accurate shots from your vacuum. This can be accessed by pushing in the right thumbstick. It was actually pretty easy to maneuver in FPS view mode. A Blinx FPS? Not quite, but it works for when you need precession shots.

On quick thing about the Super Mario Sunshine comparisions. I get the feeling that it was just a bad joke, but just to clarify things - Blinx 2 is nothing like SMS. It has water, yes. And I saw a palm tree, too. Other than that, what are you guys thinking?

The guys at Artoon said that as far as character design, they want Blinx to be more "cute" this time around. I think they've done a good job so far of addressing the criticisms from the first game. The most intriguing thing about Blinx 2 is the co-op mode. The demonstration we saw looked really fun.

That's it for me tonight. Phantom Dust is also coming along nicely, although it's pretty complex. Once you get used to the controls it works pretty well. I just hope MGS lets you configure your controls. I don't like jumping by pushing in the left thumbstick.

-rp
 
Sweet! Does this mean some exclusive cool pics and extended coverage of PD and B2 in the next XBN? I can't believe PD is going to stay in Japan...
 

jett

D-Member
Eh...looks pretty bad. It's a mish-mash of textures(poor quality textures in this case) with no clear sense of art direction. :p
 
D

Deleted member 284

Unconfirmed Member
ManaByte said:
From this point forward, ANY game that has ANY sort of WATER in it is a RIP OFF of Super Mario Sunshine!

Mana, you never did answer my question....
 

Jak140

Member
Redbeard said:
And as we all know, Nintendo's ideas are completely new and original.

ghostbusters.jpg
I wasn't being completely serious, thus the "copied" in quotes. ;p
 

Koshiro

Member
novery said:
The guys at Artoon said that as far as character design, they want Blinx to be more "cute" this time around.
No, NO. Those pigs are not cute, they are not anything other than gay (I'm serious). They're appauling character design that has no right reaching a finished game, let alone one with a decent budget. Blinx himself is often panned as bad design, but he's not horrible, just not very good. At least he's tollerable, unlike these pigs.


And the new cats are pretty fucking awful too. Anyone that has read my posts knows that I'm not a flamer, these are simply points that are painfully obvious and need to be addressed before this game is released.
 

novery

Member
Koshiro said:
No, NO. Those pigs are not cute, they are not anything other than gay (I'm serious). They're appauling character design that has no right reaching a finished game, let alone one with a decent budget. Blinx himself is often panned as bad design, but he's not horrible, just not very good. At least he's tollerable, unlike these pigs.

Do the pigs look ridiculously stupid? Yes. No getting around that.

The Artoon designers said that with Blinx 2 they have designed the Blinx character with a more cutsy look. I think that's the right approach for the game. I mean, look at the old CG models of Blinx. He's not cute; he's a little bit scary looking, really.

Perhaps the Japanese market will respond better to Blinx's new look.

And the new cats are pretty fucking awful too. Anyone that has read my posts knows that I'm not a flamer, these are simply points that are painfully obvious and need to be addressed before this game is released.

You know that you can customize your own cat character, right? They build a variety of character models during their demonstration to show off the feature. The standard Blinx model that will be used in advertisements will look pretty close to this I believe:

sim-jpblinx2-0008.jpg


-rp
 
I think it looks pretty interesting. Never played the original, and the textures in the screenshots are meh, but the GS preview makes it sound appealing.

P.S. I must be really tired because I read one of the fuzzy shots near the end of the first page as, "X: Pause Y: Blow."
 
I liked some parts of the first Blinx. I liked the style they were going for. In motion the game is charming and the character design works for me. In some parts the level design was actually kind of neat even though it was sort of dated in a way and the ballance was WAY off later on.
I bet with a little determination Blinx could become if not a winnder at least a few steps up from being a total looser.
Thing is, I have to wonder how Microsoft gives this a green light while other platformy titles get the ax?
 
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