Mar
10
Written by:
Brian Wray
3/10/2010 10:20 PM
by Brian Wray (Thryon)
What do you get when you combine the gameplay elements of Mario Kart Racing and the extreme feeling of speed and fine visuals of Need for Speed? I heck of a lot of fun that is what. Blur is the newest game from Bizarre Creations (the creators of the popular PGR franchise). The game is not due for another few months, but Bizarre has been holding a private beta of the multiplayer aspect of which I was fortunate enough to gain access to. How does the game stack up so far you ask? I am glad you asked.
For those not in the knowing, Blur is a realistic looking racing game with a kart style gameplay. The game features plenty of power-up and weapons that will allow racers to destroy each other in style. Blur allows up to three such items to be held at any one time, (cleverly displayed as license plates). Just as in other kart racers, targeting a single opponent with multiple attacks works wonders.
Initially the beta allowed two races types, one with 2-10 cars and the other for 4-20 cars. I did not get to experience a full game of 20 cars, but did enjoy a couple with 14 racers and let me tell you that races get crazy extremely fast. The leader normally does not remain in the lead for very long as they instantly become the affection of every other racer with weapons. Some of the weapons, such as mines, remain on the track if not detonated and play havoc with future laps. 20 cars each dropping several mines to lap x 3 laps equals a very dangerous racing track.
As you complete races, you will earn experience for not only winning the race, but for completing challenges such as power slides, evading enemy fire, taking down another racer etc. As you gain levels, new cars become available. I tested out a couple tracks last night. The tracks are what you expect from a realistic racer, there is nothing outstanding. To be honest, the tracks were rather bland. But this is only a couple tracks out of a much larger promised track list. Maybe some of the other tracks will be a bit more stylish.
The game controls are similar to those found in PGR. Some of the turns are difficult to manoeuvre, but overall it is quite easy to evade enemy fire and navigate the race tracks. What else could one ask for?
Blur is also the first Xbox 360 game to tap the power of Twitter. The game will actually tweet on your behalf the results of your races, increase in ranks and fans gained. This feature is quite cool. I am glad that the player must trigger a tweet for there is already enough useless information on Twitter.
Blur is set to be a very fun multiplayer experience. After all, cartoonish kart racers are for kids.
2 comment(s) so far...
I am in this Beta as well. I am really enjoying this game. Honeslty, the only thing I've noticed are some graphical weirdness (at a race intro), but other than that it seems pretty awesome.
By ibanezdropd on
3/12/2010 2:48 AM
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sure is taking a while for my code from them...
By POSEIDON D on
3/12/2010 3:08 PM
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