Blur
Bizarre delves into the arcade racer
Posted August 12, 2010
I’ve been a fan of Bizarre Creations for years, namely their work on the Project Gotham series; despite my lack of patience for simulation style racers. When Blur was announced, I was very excited to get my hands on a racer that was created to capture the car combat elements of games like Twisted Metal and Mario Kart, while still retaining the highly polished graphic engine of their previous car titles. By design, Blur is an arcade racer with the car library of Project Gotham Racing or Metropolis Street Racer. The presentation is highly polished and speaks to the quality of the team working at BC.
Simply put, this is a game made for online player and the intelligence of real life players, but more on that in a moment. The title has a fairly substantial career mode split into nine different sections with a smatter of races in each to complete before moving on. At the end of each section, there’s a boss battle waiting for you to complete as well. After winning the boss race, you get their fancy new car to race in the next round. Remember the Kudos system from PGR? There’s something similar in Blur in the form of your fanbase. Fans are gained during a race by using power-ups, not taking damage and ultimately winning the race. Gaining enough fans will open up new cars to purchase as well as other upgrades.
The concept is really quite simple. Speed around the track, pick up power-ups, knock out the competition and win the race. There are several power-ups available including lightning cages that cause other cars to slow down, similar to a low level EMP, missiles, shields, mines and nitrous to race away from other cars. Power-ups are assigned to buttons and up to three can be stored in your inventory. They are always cued up for you to use, so it’s just a matter of tapping a button rather than scrolling through an inventory during a race.
Unfortunately, the career can be frustratingly difficult due to punishing A.I. Making mistakes on boss battles or even the normal races can make you want to throw the controller out the window. It gets progressively worse as sections are completed and seems to be forcing replay, even if it’s overly repetitive. That being said, PGR fans will probably eat it up seeing who those games can be overly tough if you don’t learn how to handle each car.
The true entertainment value comes from the online multiplayer modes, specifically designed with career modes elements in mind. As you progress in multiplayer matches, you can unlock car modifications and even new street racers. Similar to the career mode, you can progress by using power ups and evading enemies. Of course, the maximum rewards come from beating other online players. The leveling cap is double that of the single player career mode, hence it’s easier to spend more time battling it online. Also, if you have friends also playing the game, you can send out challenges and see if they can beat your time on the track or other goals. It’s a cool way to promote interactivity over the online infrastructure as well as social media. Also, there’s a split screen mode you can use if a friend is over at the house, but the rewards system doesn’t really come into play.
In the end, I found Blur to be an extremely entertaining game, despite the overly challenging career mode and lack of visual quality. The online multiplayer mode is definitely worth the purchase price or at least a rental to get the feel for the game. If you are a fan of kart based combat racers like Mario Kart or the recent ModStation Racers, you will be pleased with the gameplay in Blur as well as the online community.
Discuss This Game on Our Official Forum Thread Here
Simply put, this is a game made for online player and the intelligence of real life players, but more on that in a moment. The title has a fairly substantial career mode split into nine different sections with a smatter of races in each to complete before moving on. At the end of each section, there’s a boss battle waiting for you to complete as well. After winning the boss race, you get their fancy new car to race in the next round. Remember the Kudos system from PGR? There’s something similar in Blur in the form of your fanbase. Fans are gained during a race by using power-ups, not taking damage and ultimately winning the race. Gaining enough fans will open up new cars to purchase as well as other upgrades.
The concept is really quite simple. Speed around the track, pick up power-ups, knock out the competition and win the race. There are several power-ups available including lightning cages that cause other cars to slow down, similar to a low level EMP, missiles, shields, mines and nitrous to race away from other cars. Power-ups are assigned to buttons and up to three can be stored in your inventory. They are always cued up for you to use, so it’s just a matter of tapping a button rather than scrolling through an inventory during a race.
Unfortunately, the career can be frustratingly difficult due to punishing A.I. Making mistakes on boss battles or even the normal races can make you want to throw the controller out the window. It gets progressively worse as sections are completed and seems to be forcing replay, even if it’s overly repetitive. That being said, PGR fans will probably eat it up seeing who those games can be overly tough if you don’t learn how to handle each car.
The true entertainment value comes from the online multiplayer modes, specifically designed with career modes elements in mind. As you progress in multiplayer matches, you can unlock car modifications and even new street racers. Similar to the career mode, you can progress by using power ups and evading enemies. Of course, the maximum rewards come from beating other online players. The leveling cap is double that of the single player career mode, hence it’s easier to spend more time battling it online. Also, if you have friends also playing the game, you can send out challenges and see if they can beat your time on the track or other goals. It’s a cool way to promote interactivity over the online infrastructure as well as social media. Also, there’s a split screen mode you can use if a friend is over at the house, but the rewards system doesn’t really come into play.
Graphics
- It seems like there was a ton of attention paid to how power-ups interact with other cars in terms of the quality of the physics engine, but the visuals took a back seat. The maps feel somewhat barren and lifeless. There’s little distinction in the style of the overall design and it starts to wear on you around hour 10.
- I also hated the visual cue on the health system. If you are driving along and start to lose life on your car, the screen starts pulsating like you are in a Resident Evil game. It doesn’t help me try to regain my health with the distracting visuals of my dying car.
Audio
- I disliked the music, but that’s fairly easy to remedy. The sound effects on the power-ups are decent and listening to them can help you avoid upcoming obstacles.
Conclusion
In the end, I found Blur to be an extremely entertaining game, despite the overly challenging career mode and lack of visual quality. The online multiplayer mode is definitely worth the purchase price or at least a rental to get the feel for the game. If you are a fan of kart based combat racers like Mario Kart or the recent ModStation Racers, you will be pleased with the gameplay in Blur as well as the online community.
Discuss This Game on Our Official Forum Thread Here