Blur Review

Were you one of the lucky ones who got the Blur beta to this game before it was released globally? I was! And quite frankly the disappointing thing is, there’s exactly the same people playing multiplayer right now than there was with the beta (about 1000-4000 players), compared to Modern Warfare 2′s millions of players, which is rather sad because you get a great company like Bizarre and they lose out on money they used to make a great game. But alas, they got my money at least. I bought Blur from HMV when I went to Bath (the town) with Seb. Cost me £40! And according to Seb, it would have cost me £30 in Tesco. Thanks for telling me AFTER I’d bought it. The typical thing about HMV as well, is that they gave it to me with all the wrapping already opened. I would have preferred it if they had given me a fresh copy with the wrapping still on it (I like the feeling when you open up a brand new game). But alas (I keep saying alas :l) I’m here to review the games contents, not its outer packaging.

So there isn’t a story in this game, which is a little disappointing. I do love a game which tells a story, but this is a racing game, so why on earth would there be a story? (Hello Charlie. Fast and Furious? … Even though that was a movie, it still told a story) Instead, in the single player, it is known as the Career mode. There are around 12 sets of careers to complete, each with 50 lights to fill (7 races with 7 lights to obtain, and a one-on-one with 8 lights to obtain). In order to unlock the one-on-one race battle, which speaks for itself, you need to complete a list of demands the person in the career section wants you to do. This can be to complete a race at a certain time, wreck a certain amount of cars, win 4 races etc. It depends on the racer. Once you complete their demands, you unlock their one-on-one and if you beat them, you win their car and the upgrade that comes with it (Note that the upgrade will be used on whatever car you use, not just with the car you win). In order to unlock the next career, you need to unlock enough lights, and once you do, you get a whole new set of races to complete. Each career gets tougher and tougher no matter what difficulty you have it in, so it would be good if you practice more.

The gameplay now and it’s time to talk about what Blur is really about. You could say that this is Mario Kart only grown up and not on the Wii (and it looks like it never will be). When I say that, I do mean that you have power ups that will help you through the entire game. There are 8 power-ups to try and the list is below (icons are in order from left to right):

• Shunt – Shoots a homing missile either backwards or forwards (depending on where you want it to go) that will make the nearest car in your chosen direction flip over. This is also useful to defend yourself in incoming attacks.
• Shock – Causes 3 EMP beams to appear in front of the car in first place, and if you drive through them, will slow you down.
• Mine – When shot backwards, it will drop where your car was last at, and will cause any car that drives through it some damage, and will cause the car to spin. If shot forward, it will hit the car you aim at if close enough. If not, it will shoot forward and will stop if it hits no cars, and will remain there until the race is over, been destroyed or a car drives through it.
• Nitro – Does this one need explaining? Once used, it causes your car to move faster. If fired backwards, this will help you to turn corners that are otherwise difficult to get past using brakes.
• Barge – Forces cars to move out of your way if the attack is in range of them. Also can be used to defend against any incoming attack.
• Shield – Does this need explaining also? This shields you from any incoming attacks and from receiving damage from collisions. This will work for a short period of time.
• Bolt – Shoots 3 bolts behind or in front of you depending on which you choose at any car you aim it at. If you miss a car with this, then tough luck. When it does hit, it causes cars to swerve and deals heavy damage.
• Repair – Again…. does it need explaining? It repairs any damage done to your car.

There are a decent set of power ups which are very fun to use, but I would have liked it if there were around 12-15, rather than just 8, just to make things a little bit more exciting.

In the career mode, there isn’t just car racing. There are different typed of mode, such as Checkpoint, where you have to drive through each checkpoint, making sure there is still time on the clock. Whilst in checkpoint, you can use Nitro to get to your checkpoint faster, and you can pick up stop watches that will add 2 seconds onto your time. The faster you get to the final checkpoint, the more lights you’ll earn. In another mode, known as Destruction, the only power up you get is Bolt. Once you pick up a bolt, you can use it on the cars in front of you. They have very low health, and you need to shoot the bolts at the cars. For every hit of a bolt, you get points, but for every wreck, you earn extra time. The more time you have, the more cars you can hit. The more points you have once your time runs out, the more lights you will earn. Destruction is by far my favourite one of them all as it’s so easy to complete and I just love seeing cars get wrecked. There are great selections of things to try out in the career which are very fun indeed, but like I said, I would have preferred it if there was more of a story in the career, rather than just a small character bio on the challenger.

In order to pick up the power ups, you need to drive through them, and then press the allocated button, depending on your console, to use it. Fans are awarded depending on uses a power up successfully or skilfully…. Oh did I not talk about fans? Well basically Fans are your experience points, which is what you use to level up in the game. The more damage you deal the most fans you get. The more skilful you use power ups, the more fans you get. Get it? Fans can be earned in both Career and multiplayer mode, but of course, the multiplayer mode levelling up system requires fewer fans to level up than career.

Not only are there power-ups, but there are a great selection of cars to choose from. There are 4 car classes, known as A, B, C and D  (how original). Each map, whether it’s multiplayer mode or career mode has their own allocated class. As you earn fans, you will of course level up. Every time you level up, you will unlock new cars to try out. Do note that all your cars in career mode are not carried over to multiplayer, nor is it with your multiplayer cars. Each car has their own personal rating system for 5 settings, which are Speed, Acceleration, Health, Grip and Difficulty (how difficult it is to control the car). The big downside to this is that it’s usually the cars with a higher difficulty that have a higher speed and acceleration ranking.

I’ve been talking briefly about the multiplayer, but not the multiplayer as a whole. As you level up in Multiplayer, you unlock more ways to race, for example, you get other racing modes similar to destruction in career mode, only whilst you’re trying to destroy cars, they’re trying to destroy you, and so it is best to choose a car with a lot of health when playing this mode. There is also a mode where it is just racing, where you are given a fast car, and it’s just you, the track and your opponents (and yes, that means no power-ups!). There are many more modes like it which you can tell Bizarre have thought about carefully in trying to please everybody, in which the multiplayer does. Also as you level up, you receive upgrades which don’t just benefit your car, but can benefit you too. You can get upgrades such as a “Fan Bonus” depending on which position you came in the race. Another upgrade is to have the “Shield” power-up shield you for twice as long as it normally does. There are many more as you level up but you can only have three upgrades at a time. Each upgrade also comes with their own colour, so you have to pick just one upgrade from each colour, which can be a bummer as I do have two favourite upgrades, but they are the same colour. Overall, Multiplayer is great fun, but I can’t help but feel like something is missing though but I just can’t think what. If they did release DLC for the game, I would like it if they added a drift mode, as I do love a good drift.

What I also liked about Blur is that it tries to be a bit more interactive with our favourite social websites. You can send updates to your Twitter and Facebook page about the car you are currently looking at, the stats you just received from a race and more, which is very fun in trying to impress your friends.

Overall, Blur is a great thrill-ride and can sometimes have you ducking a swerving, even though all you have is a controller in your hand. Who needs 3D eh? There is a great selection of things to try out and the career mode does have its upsides. The downsides are is that the game feels a little empty in some places, as if something is missing, but I just don’t know what. A background story in the career mode would have been great but it just goes to show that not every game needs a story. It’s just a shame not many people have gone and bought Blur, with less than 5000 people on multiplayer at a time. You can tell Bizarre have worked on the game a great deal and do deserve some credit. The car settings are a little off and some cars do have disappointing stats but some of them you end up falling in love with. This isn’t the best racing game ever made but it’s certainly a game to play if you are a fan of racing.