Racing video games are becoming more and more popular in the industry, with multiple arcade style and realistic style titles being released for the Xbox 360 every year. The latest release comes from fan-favorite developer Bizarre Creations, famous for their work on the fantastic Project Gotham series of racing games as well as the very addictive Geometry Wars. The other game that came to mind during our review time with Blur that you may have heard of before, was a little Nintendo title known as Mario Kart. These three games merge together to create one heck of a fun little racing game on the Xbox 360. Not only does the game bring a massive amount of excitement and speed but also the power-ups used to progress in a race or destroy your opponents are insanely fun to use. It’s nice to see this veteran development take the time to create something that is not only solid in the gameplay and graphics departments but can make the player smile unlike so many other racing games out there. Considering how much of an importance is placed on the multiplayer component Blur really had to succeed in that area, and it does so in every way. Reminding us of a Call of Duty type multiplayer but with super fast cars and explosions, the upgrade system locked into the online section forces the player to put major time into Blur, and the final pay-off is awesome.
Unlike Split/Second, which was also release on the Xbox 360 this month, Blur features a full line-up of actual cars (Audi, Chevrolet, Hummer, etc.); this ads a large level of realism that we like to see in racing games, even though Blur is obviously an arcade-style game. The single player section of Blur is broken down into multiple stages, each with its own set of goals to accomplish and a final boss that when beaten his or her car is added to your garage and can then be used against your opponents. You will also get a new mod for each stage completed, these modifications can add subtle improvements to your vehicle and will become very important later in the game. One of the aspects of Blur that definitely needed some more tweaking was the difficulty, within a couple hours of play we had to scale back to one of the lower difficulty levels and from then on still had some trouble with certain challenges. The way you progress through Blur is kind of a double-edged sword, as the challenges needed to race against each stage’s boss are very unique and something not seen in other racing games. However some of the goals are so unique that they can take a lot, and we mean a lot, of work to actually complete. New cars are attained by gaining “fans” through a number of other challenges and by driving in a fashion most would describe as exciting. Helping break-up the repetitive gameplay that plagues many racing games Blur features multiple different race modes, from your normal three-lap winner takes all to a destruction mode where you have to destroy as many cars as possible in a set time limit.
Drifting is a part of the gameplay but it’s not nearly as important as we have seen in previous arcade-style racing games, thankfully. As we mentioned before each and every one of the power-ups is well thought out, and helps balance the race from every angle. A few of our favorites were the front-of-the-pack lighting storm and the homing missile; you can carry up to three of these at one time and some are offensive while others are defensive. There is just nothing out there that gives you the same feeling this game does when driving under a flipping car that was just struck with a shunt, seemingly out of nowhere. Blur features some very cool graphical elements, that can both be a joy to look at and a strain to the eyes at the same time. Some small aspects of Geometry Wars can be seen throughout the game, the most obvious are the neon lights and streaking graphics. The word blur is taken literally as the sense of speed is so intense that things seem to literally blur together, creating one very cool looking racing game. One of the first things we look for in an arcade racer is a great sense of speed, and Blur pulls it off with flying colors (literally). A strong soundtrack (and sound effects) round out a very solid performing game, helping to create an experience for the player that only serious developers can pull-off.
The multiplayer portion of Blur is easily the game’s strongest point and can, with amazing ease, hold up to twenty players per race (via Xbox LIVE and PSN). Being that each race features such a large amount of competitors, cars crashing, flipping and being electrocuted can and likely will be happening all around you at once. Such fast-paced action is just what the racing genre of video games needs, especially for the action/arcade sub-genre, and Blur brings it with brute force. Blur features a very cool level system for online play that is only annoying if you are on the short end of the stick, because as you level up you get access to much better vehicles. As you progress up through the leves you unlock new cars and mods, which are used to vastly improve your chances on the racetrack. Thankfully you can stay within a level group by choosing one of the lower online classes. A voting system for maps is also a nice touch. The energy of this game is second-to-none and will likely stay the king of that category for some time, but the tracks are more than a bit predictable. Blur counteracts that with a large number of tracks and locations to race on, as well as multiple gameplay modes for online play.
What do you get when you combine Need For Speed’s Racing, Mario Kart’s power-ups, and stylized neon graphics? Bizarre Creations’ upcoming title, Blur, has recently become the first video game I think of. Blur features arcade style racing, social network integration, and the ultimate driving adventure. At first glace, the look of this game is incredibly captivating. In accordance with the title, the graphical motif of Blur will indulge your eyes with its swift, smooth, too-fast-to-focus look. Although this game is bursting with beauty, it also has brawn. Powerful, unpredictable gameplay encouraged me to say, “Just one more race” over and over again. The impulsive, yet controlled use of many power-ups ranging from speed boosts to shield bubbles to homing fireballs leads to a gaming venture that can potentially lead to distinctively different outcomes every competition. Both the single player and multiplayer aspects of the game are strong in their own right, and the extra development time for Blur definitely paid off. Bizarre Creations has created something unbelievably fun and unique in Blur and it has the power (once you get over the high difficulty level) to be one hell of a racing game, and it stands-up well against the best of the best.
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