Blur is still good
A couple months ago I praised the new racing game Blur for being the best of both worlds, a great real-world racing game while channeling Mario Kart. That review was based on the XBL demo which was naturally limited and only offered on-line multiplayer. Well, after I fixed my Xbox, I treated myself to Blur and I can confirm that it is still awesome.
Everything that was in the demo is still there (and still awesome), but the complete experience the full game brings is impressive. Even the campaign mode is fun and full of modes that you might not expect, like the one where the only object is to shoot other cars. The pace of the races is still fast and furious but I sense that the pace of leveling up is going to be long and rough.
Even the losers have fun
So far Blur is the only racing game I’ve played where fighting for 8th place is seemingly a matter of life or death. I’m banging into opponents and dropping mines while hitting jumps and turns. It’s fast, it’s loud, I manage to pull ahead of my challenger and it’s seemingly clear road ahead. I’m stoked that I managed to out-drive the guy and then find I’m currently 7th out of 10 racers. Wow. Any game that can give you a sense of accomplishment for earning 7th place has something going for it.
Earning points and earning fans are now two entirely different things that don’t seem to cross over between multiplayer and solo modes. Unlocking cars in one area doesn’t necessarily unlock the car in the other, which is a bummer. It would have been nice to seem some of the solo rewards translate into multiplayer. There were only 4 tracks in the demo and that’s been upped to probably dozens and the several I’ve raced on after one night have all been really well designed. And I hope I’m not alone in really enjoying how the game is presented overall, form the menus to track intros and beyond.
If you’re a racing fan, a Mario Kart fan, or just looking for some fast-paced run-n-gun type gameplay, Blur will deliver. If you see AngryEdison in your race lineup, that’s me…and don’t tailgate me or I’ll flick a booger on your windshield.
So after a gaming night with friends, found a few things that Blur kind of lacks. One is lack of info about track conditions. Since some cars are better on concrete vs. dirt, it would be nice to get some info, icon, or something giving us a hint so you can pick your car appropriately.
And after dozens of races, it would have been nice to have a replay, at least for local multiplayer races. There were some spectacular crashes and action that I would have loved to see again from various angles.
Both of those are kind of nit-picky, but Blur is such a well built game otherwise, it comes down to the minor things anyway.