Blur runs really well- there aren’t many racing games out there that can have 20 cars on screen and run at such a silky-smooth frame rate with no screen tearing. The cars themselves also look excellent, but once you get through some of the stylised nature of the graphics, you’ll soon work out that the backgrounds don’t look all that great compared too many other games.

 

 

The powerups themselves, whilst having some decent lighting effects aren’t anything special, and I would have liked to see some more spectacular effects and explosions- I guess they look like to do to conserve the frame-rate, but they do get a little generic.

 

Sound is an interesting one. By default (oddly), the licensed soundtrack is turned off. To be honest, I couldn’t tell much of a difference between the two- both the in-game and licensed music seem to be pretty generic dance/ trance/ techno stuff that doesn’t really add that much to the game. However, the engine noises and the screech of tyres, along with the bassy explosions, are really pretty good. 

 

 

Multiplayer is definitely the best aspect of Blur. Think Call of Duty, mixed with Mario Kart. Add in some facebook & twitter integration, Halo-style playlists, and 20-player online battles, and there you have it. Matchmaking, can, in my opinion, be a bit slow, but once you get into a lobby (which is sometimes, annoyingly already in a race), everything is just smashing.

 

 

The quality of the online system is great, though, thankfully, with very little lag- especially considering the 20 player battles. Whilst some of the playlists can be pretty samey, generally, it’s great fun, whilst the persistent XP system will hopefully keep a decent community playing long into the future.

 

 

"Blur" is a pretty decent game. With above average graphics and sound, the usual tight gameplay that you’d expect from a Bizarre game, along with the best multiplayer suite that I think has ever been found in a racing game, and you have the basis of a top game. However, with slightly generic course design, and a pretty lacklustre single player compared to Split/Second, Blur is not completely perfect. However, for those of you looking for a grown up Mario Kart with better online functionality won’t go wrong here.

 

 

 

 

 

+ 20 player Multiplayer
+ Online system
+ Power ups