Mario Kart meets Facebook for a stunning electrical rush that redraws the rules of combat racing
Format: PS3, Xbox 360 (version played), PC Dev: Bizarre Creations Pub: Activision
Out: 28/05/10 Players: 1-4, 2-20 online
For a studio possessing so much experience with simulation racers, Bizarre Creations have admitted that moving away from that style of racer has not been an easy shift for them. And with a new title as ambitious as Blur it’s not hard to see why. Fusing traditional manoeuvring with power-ups and up to 20 cars on-track, races in Blur are a cacophony of carnage and neon explosions. Its integrated social network features are also another pioneering step.
On the face of it, you might expect Blur to buckle under the weight of its parts, but the end result is transformative. Driving for the first time is slightly mystifying if you expect straight arcade gameplay. Vehicle handling is arcade-like, but not as automatic as Burnout. To master cornering you’ll have to alternate between feathery touches of the brakes and accelerator – and it quickly becomes clear that choosing the correct ride for an event, from the game’s collection of stunning licensed cars, does make a difference.
On top of the handling, power-ups add a pivotal layer of skill and strategy to the game. These eight, finely balanced power-ups will get your heart pounding faster still, but the most commendable thing is they don’t affect the state of play in unfair ways. Aggressive power-ups, like shunt and bolt, can be fired at opponents in front and behind. You can boost, lay traps (shock, mine), and with this level of mayhem it’s impossible to ignore the defensive shield and repair power-ups. It’s also possible to counter other power-ups. For instance, the circular pulse emitted from barge will eliminate a mine and a reverse bolt shot can save you from the ego-bruising effect of a shunt. All of them will aid you, but they won’t win the race for you.
From the luminous power-up icons to the cars’ dazzling lights, Blur’s visual style marks it out from the pack. The blinding neon energy from power-ups along with subtle lighting touches and trackside details combine to exude a feeling of hyper-reality. Sound, too, does an excellent job of grounding the familiar and heightening the action with sound effects that could have come straight off the starship Enterprise.
There are 14 environments in the game, each one a hybrid of real world and fabricated locations, and more than two dozen track layouts. Fan points replace PGR’s Kudos system as a means of encouraging you to perform ever more daring feats. Events also have several fan demands dotted about the tracks. These require you to fulfil tasks, like hitting an opponent while drifting or making it through checkpoint gates, to jump up your fan count. They’re modest additions that committed racers will welcome. Gaining fans unlocks new cars and events.
Blur’s single-player career is split into nine stages with seven events each: races, checkpoint events, destruction events, where you eliminate as many vehicles as possible before the clock runs down, and one-on-one boss races. In order to challenge bosses you must first meet all of the boss demands, achieving specific on-track targets. Successfully beating bosses unlocks mods that provide things such as extra Bolt ammo or a free Nitro every 500 fans. Battling tooth and nail for pole position on the circuit is exhilarating and the career has longevity, but it isn’t especially memorable. The suspicious omission of custom races for single-player is another hole that brings the joy down a few notches if you intend to play solo.
But any game that has a dedicated ‘share’ button on its menus was never intended to be played alone. Blur boasts strong online multiplayer options, a very enjoyable split-screen mode, plus support for Facebook and Twitter. The point of this connectivity is to engage players with greater social depth. Friend challenges are a means of throwing down the gauntlet to friends, challenging them to best a track time or event of your choosing via the connected networks. It’s a remarkably simple evolution that tears down the technical (and corporate) barriers that have kept players from sharing experiences in the past. Blur is ambitious if nothing else. What it lacks in structure it makes up for in gameplay with its addictive racing formula.
Aaron Lee
Tags: activision, bizarre creations, blur, driving, multiplayer, racing
