Game: Blur
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Bizarre Creations
Platform: PS3
Price: $59.99
Genre: Arcade Racer
Pros: Awesome action, beautiful graphics, perfect arcade fun.
Cons: No drifting :-(
Way back in 2001, following the release of Project Gotham Racing, I wrote a letter to its developer, Bizarre Creations. In that letter I suggested that they take the ever so popular Mario Kart series from Nintendo and put a PGR skin on top of it. Every year since then, I have written a letter with the same request. It seems that my prayers have been answered in the form of Blur.
OK. So I never actually wrote any of those letters. I’m not a compulsive liar, I just thought I would look cool if you all thought that I was the creative genius behind Blur. Nevertheless, Blur is exactly as described above. It is a Mario Kart-style racing game with a more realistic setting, and it is awesome.
The basic premise is similar to any street-racing game out there: compete in races to earn enough points in order to challenge the lead rival, move on to the next rival and start again. In Blur your advancement points are tracked by lights, and your unlock points (to unlock cars) are tracked by fans. Get enough lights in a certain area and you can move on to the next area before facing the rival of the first. In order to face a rival, you must meet a series of goals. For example, the first rival’s requirements include having 7,000 fans and winning four races with different cars, among other things. If you beat a rival, you win their car and mod.
Blur is not all about racing. True, the goal is to win, but not by driving alone. True to Mario Kart form, there are weapons and defensive items that you can pick up along the way. You won’t see any turtle shells lying the tracks in Blur, but there may be a land mine or two. There are long-range weapons, short-range weapons, shields, repair power-ups, and speed boosters. As any Mario Kart aficionado knows, knowing when to use these power-ups is truly an art (take that, Roger Ebert). Blasting them off at the first guy in front of you without thinking it through is truly the neophyte thing to do.
Blur controls extremely well, but I do have one complaint: there is no drifting in the game. This time I am not comparing Blur to Mario Kart, which does have drifting, but rather to more aesthetically similar arcade racers, such as Burnout. When I am driving a death machine at top speeds and a sharp curve is looming, I do not want to have to slow down in order to make said curve. I want to go into an amazing drift and live out my wildest vehicular fantasies. If I wanted a more realistic representation of rounding a corner, I would play Forza, which I loathe (I’m so not a fan of realistic racers).
Other than that one issue, I think Blur is the bee’s knees (giggle). It is a stunningly beautiful game, with beautiful work done on both the cars and the environments. The damage that the cars take looks amazing as well. If you’re the guy who secretly plays Mario Kart with the volume down because you’re 45 and STILL PLAYING MARIO KART, then go grab Blur. You can play it with the volume up, and there are none of those awkward channel-flipping moments when your spouse walks in on you playing Mario Kart.
Popularity: unranked [?]
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