The maps shown in the beta were a bit uninspired.  Fun to race but I didn’t have a single point on any track where I was wowed by a building or a particular set of shortcuts.  The cars actually are the same.  They look good enough and you have your choice from multiple cars before the race starts.  The cars range from Tuned up sports cars to heavy 4×4 land rovers.  The sound follows the footsteps of the graphics.  It’s all good enough to pass and each power-up has a really distinguished sound with it.  But the music wasn’t all that great and in the menus it annoyed us to no end.

Gameplay

Unlike Project Gotham Racing, Blur is a full-on Arcade racing game.  Don’t even think about trying to use the perfect racing line because that’s where everybody is aiming for with the power-ups.  But Bizarre Creations didn’t switch to a full new game.  You’ll be glad to see the Kudos system from Project Gotham Racing back.  Though a bit different the core aspect is still the same.  Make loads of overtakes, drifts and you’ll be racking up Fans in no time.

Fans is the equivalent of experience in this game.  You get Fans for almost everything you do.  Make chains with cool driving and good shooting and you’ll be getting bonus Fans.  Getting a higher level on Blur unlocks new cars, modifications and other stuff but more on this later.

When you enter a room, either with a party or alone, the first thing you have to do is probably wait for the current race to finish.  After that race finally finished, you’ve got a couple of seconds to choose one out of two random drawn maps which also have random car classes.  The problem is when the people make their choice, you’ve got some more waiting to do.

Even after the race you have to wait for a couple of seconds before being returned to the lobby and when people haven’t finished yet you’re busy waiting until they do.  There is a timer running by then so it’s never more than 30 seconds but still the majority of the multiplayer felt like waiting, doing a quick race, and then more waiting.  The loading times were ok.  I found them a bit too long for what you got but Chronootje88 had little problem with them.

Power ups

Blur is all about the power ups.   Forget about making that perfect turn, because right when you hit that apex you’re also hit by some random dude firing shunts up your butthole.  Power ups are lying at certain spots on the tracks.  They always stay in the same spot so you know when to use that boost to get another one.  You can get up to 3 power-ups at one time.  A stylish menu behind your car lets you know how many you have and which ones they are.  Use X to cycle through the power-ups and use A to fire them off.  One more thing…got a power-up that you don’t want?  You can drop it by pressing Y but these can be picked up by the people following in your tracks, so It might be wiser to just use it.

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