Blur: The Overview

Bizarre Creations is releasing Blur, which is not an entirely a new genre of racing but rather a revamp of a fore mentioned series. It has been done before in games like Super Mario Kart, but in the creation of this game the studio at first seemed unsure as to whether they wanted a realistic racer, like Project Gotham Racing, or if they wanted a casual fun racer, like Super Mario Kart, and this caused it to end up being neither. Recently they decided to go in a completely new direction. To quote what was said: “In the new Blur ‘power-ups win you the race’ – and thus they made their mind up it would seem.

Give me the power

If you think this is a realistic racing game, wherein you think you can win by simply driving like a professional, and you won’t need those pesky little powerups, you are sorely mistaken…and will get eaten alive.

The power-ups range from the Shunt all the way to the famous Nitro. They are obviously what make the game more fun but also more arcade-ish and thus appeals to the casual crowd who enjoy this sort of thing.

The power-ups are:

Shunt – This is your basic rocket kind of move, it shoots a bolt out which knocks the car ahead of you out of the way, allowing you to blow past your enemy.

Mines – This is obviously a mine, which helps you by allowing you to blow those pesky enemies that are on your tail, so you can keep the lead and come on first.

Nitro – The classic nitrous, giving you that energy boost so you can run like a panther and leave all those slow losers behind you.

There are more power-ups out there which you will be able to use, like a fake power-up, etc. If you ever find the opportunity to use then, go ahead otherwise you will be dead meat.

Cars and places to go

There are over 50 licensed cars and places to race in, ranging from L.A to Japan. Since all of the cars are being created to the best they can be, there are very realistic-looking cars featured in the game. Each location will have you dealing with different racing cultures, be it Rat, smooth, tuner or import.

Socialise, socialise and socialise

YouTube and Facebook should be familiar to you, but if they aren’t, well, then you are not up to date with the times it would seem (:D). Anyways, YouTube is a website used for sharing videos and Facebook is a social networking website. These concepts have been applied in this game and instead of those names (obviously) you have Racebook, which will allow you to know when and where races are happening, and a YouTube kind of a site wherein I presume you will receive video messages from friends and rivals.

Bring ‘em on

And last, but not least, what makes you really enjoy these games, the multi-player. First off we have been told of the basic 4 player couch co-op, but even though it is there you will not be able to use it online apparently, which is really sad. Nevertheless once you go online you will not go back. Points are awarded to you for performing stunts which you can use to unlock mods. You can have a max of 3 mods ranging from defensive, offensive or just really useful (like the car cloaking model).

On a final note this is something I’m really looking forward to trying out. For those who have access to an Xbox360 and an internet connection, go get yourself a beta code from Gamespot ASAP!