Despite how cute he was (or freakish, depending on how you feel about felines), Blinx didn't quite take the world by storm. His first game, although innovative, was at times a bit confusing, and it just got boring after a while. However, sequels often remedy the problems found in their predecessors, and such is the case with Blinx 2: Masters of Time & Space. It's packed with gameplay variations that keep things fresh, and despite its lack of ooph (which I'll explain), it's an amusing and easy-to-play platform game that's among the Xbox's finest.

Blinx 2 continues the story of the Time Sweepers, cats who have the ability to pause, fast-forward, rewind, record, and slow down time. On the opposite side of the spectrum are their rivals, the Tom Tom Gang, a band of thievish pigs who are after treasure as well as the Big Crystal. Unlike their rivals, they can't mess with time, but they do have the power to alter space, so they can make use of cloaking devices, travel through warp gates, teleport, and make use of nasty traps. The game's story weaves between both groups, and like chapters in a book, it alternates between the factions, so you'll start out as the Time Sweepers, but after you complete a few missions you'll experience things from the Tom Tom perspective. Both groups employ different tactics, so while playing as the Time Sweepers, you'll do a lot of running around and hopping about, but while playing as the pigs, you'll need to employ stealthier maneuvers to go undetected by the itchy trigger-fingered cats.

Manipulating time was the first game's biggest draw and once again it's effectively used to alter the environments, so you can rewind to repair destroyed bridges, pause arrows and knock them from the air, and leap across wide gaps by going into fast forward (as well as combine abilities to create combos). There are numerous cool effects (including a neat Matrix-style sequence that often plays when you slow down bullets), but my favorite has to be when you activate switches underwater. When paused, liquid can be wiped away like jelly and it's a really awesome effect.

As for the Tom Toms, their stealth tactics are a tad simplistic compared to what I'm used to, but their missions are still fun. Often times you'll need to avoid being detected by Time Sweepers in order to reach a goal, and there all sorts of tricks you can use to foul them up, including tossing banana peels onto the ground, shooting them with tranquilizer darts, and trapping opponents in bubbles, among others. There are various ways to complete missions, and you'll always know what to do because both sides have operators that are constantly checking in and providing you with hints.

When alternating between the two factions, you begin in the "base" of each. They serve as hubs to the game's levels, but they also serve other important functions. You can take rank exams to gain badges (basically teaches you the gameplay mechanics) to open up new areas to explore, buy and sell weapons, and customize your character/team (sometimes you'll start a mission with more than one character). The level of customization is pretty impressive, so you can create a cat or pig of any size and select things such as their style of clothes, earrings, and eyewear.

Much like the first game, Blinx 2 is a feast for the eyes. The fur-shading during cut scenes is very well done, and in game, the visuals shine, as the characters as well as environments are varied and highly-detailed. You'll visit beach, ancient temple, and futuristic locales, and the game's numerous effects are equally impressive. There's some minor slowdown when too much is going on at once (when time isn't slowed down, of course), but it doesn't affect gameplay.

Moving onto the game's sound, Blinx 2 features a good soundtrack that's enjoyable to listen to, but none of its tracks are particularly catchy. In addition to the game's score, sound effects as well as the voice acting are above average.

Ok, so now we come to moment you've all been waiting for (or not). At the beginning of the review I spoke of "ooph" and what I meant by that is Blinx 2, even though it looks great and is generally fun to play, just doesn't have that special something that would've elevated it above most platform games. For starters, playing as the Time Sweepers is a lot more fun than messing around with the pigs, so being ripped away from rewinding and pausing my brains out so I can perform fairly straight-forward stealth missions is a huge downer. The game also lacks drama. Ok, so the Tom Toms are after the crystal shards, and the Time Sweepers need to get them back, but there's never any sense of urgency. You just plod along completing tasks, some of which are the usual, "push and pull large object to activate this switch and blah, blah, blah."

Also, where's the online play!?! There's a Vs. Mode where up to four people can destroy one another (and it's mildly satisfying) as well as a cool two player co-op option, but a 16-player Xbox Live blast fest between Time Sweepers and members of the Tom Tom Gang would've really shoved Blinx 2 in the spotlight, and it's baffling why Microsoft didn't push for it.

While it's far from phenomenal, Blinx 2 is a serious improvement over its predecessor, and as far as Xbox platform games go, it's at the top of the list. It's pretty as well as fun to play, and its long quest guarantees that you'll get your monies worth. However, this game would've really soared online, and the lack of Xbox Live play almost sours the overall experience. With so many ways to personalize your character (you can even select flag designs and colors for your team), it could've really given Sony's Ratchet & Clank 3 a run for its money.