Blur

Blur is the latest racing game from Bizarre Creations and is available on Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC.
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I haven't been into any racing games in quite some time (probably since the Need for Speed games dropped in quality) but based on a suggestion by a friend i downloaded the beta for Blur a few months ago and was blown away. There were a few issues with the beta but i decided to buy the game anyway and i'm glad i did. Blur is a simple enough concept, Powered up racing. Crossing the look and feel of Need for Speed: Carbon with the weapons and frantic action of Mario Kart, Blur manages to make a fun racing experience that balances somewhere between the racing of Forza Motorsport and the over-the-top action of Burnout.

The single player career mode is moved forward by acquiring 'Lights' which you get by winning races and performing special tasks while new cars are unlocked by earning more 'fans' (basically the Blur version of PGR's Kudos system) and with a set of over 55 licensed cars that range from supercars to Land Rovers there's a fair bit to unlock, but ultimately it quickly becomes repetitive due to a lack of real customization options. The real fun comes in multiplayer though. While there is little difference in the game itself, the ability to level up cars and acquire more upgrades encourages people to stick to a car and with up to 20 people in each race things can quickly get chaotic and all to often a single power-up can be the difference between winning and losing.

At high speed, a single powerup can have serious consequences

Graphically, Blur is about what you'd expect from a racing game. The cars are highly detailed and look just like their real life counterparts and the tracks, while feeling a bit generic at times, have plenty of things to see and break. The game features a photo mode similar to that of Forza Motorsport 3 which allows you to pause mid-race, move your camera around, adjust some setting such as brightness and contrast, then snap a pic and upload it directly to either the Blur website or your Facebook account. While the photo mode works great it would have been nice to actually watch a replay of the race and get photos, as having to pause mid-race can get distracting.

The in-game effects settings can produce some interesting photos

In terms of sound, It's all pretty generic, but there's not a lot you can do with a racing game anyway. Cars sound like cars should and a constant soundtrack of techno plays but doesn't do much to stand out and ends up being forgettable background noise.

With up to 20 players in each race, you better learn how to race in tight packs

Blur is a solid racing title that looks great and plays fine. I'm not sure it will last the test of time because once the multiplayer gets boring, it doesn't have much left to stand up on. Blur is definitely worth checking out because it manages to bring some excitement back into racing games that has been missing for too long, but i don't see many players holding onto it for too long.


Graphics 7/10 Everything looks great and the game has a distinct visual style but locations can start to look and feel somewhat generic.

Audio 5/10 Not much it can do for audio, after all, a car is always gonna sound like a car, but maybe a better choice in soundtrack would have made it a bit more enjoyable

Gameplay 8/10 All the excitement of street racing and all the fun of blowing other cars up. Great multiplayer environment but a lack of varied events can make it feel repetitive.

Overall 7/10 An exciting new attempt at making racing games interesting again but quickly runs out of steam. Worth a look, but not too much beneath the shiny exterior.