In a time when having a strong mascot takes second place to having a strong first party line-up, Microsoft Studios makes its bid to appeal to a crowd that thinks Mario and Sonic determines a console’s outcome. If that crowd still had that much power, I think, they may be a little confused by Microsoft’s Blinx The Timesweeper. Neither full platform adventure nor puzzle game, Blinx is an awkward mix of two genres. Conceived by Artoon (run in part by the team that created Sonic The Hedgehog), it could be argued that Blinx is simply a glorified demo for the Xbox Hard drive. Haters in that sense would be partly right. Planned as a game that actually showcases the Xbox hardware, Blinx was supposed to be the revolutionary platform game that pushes the power of the box, bringing a uniqueness to both game and genre, that none of the other next generation consoles could hope to match. Sure, there are tons of gorgeous Xbox reflections, eye-bulging surface textures, and the bulbous worlds are full of bright-colored eye-candy, but what makes Blinx truly innovative, is the game’s integration of ‘time’ into the standard gameplay.

Like some marriage between TIVO and Mario, Blinx can fast-forward, pause, rewind, and slow-down time