If Project Gotham Racing and Mario Kart were to get it on, their love child would surely be Blur. Quite frankly, Blur is for the most part, non-stop action. Run at the front of the pack and constantly find yourself under fire from the competition. Trail at the back of the pack and still have the ability to affect the outcome of the race via various “power-ups.” Either way you should never find yourself bored with this game.
“Power-ups” play an integral part to almost every race, whether you utilize them offensively or defensively. Accordingly, here’s what one each does.
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Shunt: A powerful homing missile when fired forward that flips cars into the air. This can also be fired backwards, though without the homing aspect. |
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Shock: Fires three EMP fields in front of the race leader. Any car driving through the EMP field finds themselves temporarily disabled. |
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Mine: Throw it ahead or drop it behind you, a Mine spins vehicles out |
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Barge: A close range attack that sends a shock blast radiating out in all four directions from your car into nearby vehicles. |
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Bolt: Shoot three energy rounds to nudge your opponents. Can be fired forwards or backwards. Land all three rounds for the most affect. |
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Nitro: An intense burst of speed. Can be fired backwards as an airbrake. |
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Shield: A bubble around your vehicle which protects you from power-up impacts and collision damage. |
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Repair: Exactly what it sounds like, a full repair to your vehicle |
Shameless plug: Like the power-up images? Buy some sweet Blur shirts designed by Jaleeb Curu here!
So now that you know what each power-up does, where do you get to use them? Blur offers 30 tracks and as expected has both Single Player and Multiplayer modes. What does each mode bring to the dance you ask? Well, let me tell you.
The heart of the Single Player mode can be found in the Career progression. You begin in the Proving Grounds, which as expected, allows you to get a feel for the game. There are eight other levels to work your way through. Each level is comprised of seven challenges to complete which take on three different varieties…race, destruction and checkpoint. Race is a 20 car free for all in which you need to place in the top three to advance. Destruction is a point based challenge that requires you to use a specific power up to inflict damage upon your opponents. Checkpoint is a race against time run through gates. Once you reach certain goals for the level, you unlock a final one on one boss battle. Take out the boss and claim their car as your own.As an added feature, Blur includes social networking options. Link your account to Twitter or Facebook and share your progress with the world, as well as photos from Single Player. Use the official website BlurTheGame.com to track stats including victories, fans and power-up accuracy. In addition, any time you complete a challenge in Single Player, you then have the option of issuing a challenge to others on your friends list to beat the bar you’ve set.
Fear the Shunt!
Of course, as part of an online gaming community, what most of us find truly important is a game’s Multiplayer mode. With Blur, you won’t be disappointed! The most basic mode is simply mayhem based racing, with either 2-10 or 4-20 players. At the end of each race, you are awarded fans based on both your finish position as well as moves you executed throughout the race. Fans are the in-game currency in Blur (think Kudos from PGR). As you secure more fans, you level up. To help with leveling up, there are also daily challenges (unlocked at Level 12) to complete for bonus fans. As you level up, you unlock more than 50 licensed cars and several more Multiplayer modes, including Team Racing and Motor Mash. In Team Racing, up to 20 players and split into 2 teams to battle it out. Each player is awarded points based on their finish and the teams’ points are totaled to determine the ultimate winner of the race. Motor Mash is essentially a destruction derby, and can be played alone or on a team. Reach Level 50 and become a Legend (think Prestige from Modern Warfare), which unlocks a total of 10 legendary levels.
Multiplayer also offers the ability to build custom modes. Bizarre Creations has said they will monitor the game’s servers directly and will be able to keep an eye on what games people are playing and the most popular custom modes the community has created. If a custom mode proves popular enough, Bizarre plans to incorporate it into the game via an update and make it available to everyone.
Another area where Blur really shines is the party/lobby system. This is hands down the best system - second only to Halo. Start your own room and invite up to 7 of your friends to join. Move in and out of any ranked matchmaking (including a voting system for the next race) or private game, keeping your own room intact throughout!
Based on the fun and mayhem we’ve had with this one since release, I’m guessing it should see a long life within the community. Do yourself a favor and at least take the Multiplayer Demo for a spin. I expect you’ll find yourself quickly hooked!
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