Blur

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List Price: $39.99
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Preliminary review. Playing it right now.

Repeat this mantra "Not a sim, Not a sim, Not a sim..."

If you read many of my other game reviews you'll see I like driving games. Specifically sim driving games. Being I am no where near a millionaire I probably will never drive any of these cars in my lifetime. So I think of sim driving games as a way to bring a bit of realism into my living room. When I got Blur from my game rental place, I was about to pack it up and send it back to them asap. I had seen the clips and other snippets of the game and a driving game with power ups and all that had no place in my stable of _real games_,

or so I thought.

My son and I really enjoy Mario Kart Wii. This game is a more grown up version of that. The commercial you see on TV now with the mario like character wanting to play a grown up racing game is spot on. It combines the fun of that with real cars. Unlike Mario Cart, you can get up to 3 power ups and keep them in a queue on your back bumper. When you want to use it hit X and fire away.

Models: +

First off I love the realism of the car models. They really do look pretty good. You start off like many other car games of this genre and you get a hooptie to begin with.

Fan system: +

Play this online and you earn fans. Fans are like Rock Band games ( musical ones not the company) and these fans can get you benefits, boosts and cool toys for your ride.

Lights: +

Lights unlock the cars. The higher you finish, the more lights and better cars you can get.

Damage: +/-

Damage in this game is pretty good. Based on an arcade model of damage that is. Your car will be blown up and shot into the air, land on its roof and keep going. Its done well though and not too kitschy.

Lack of Achievements: +

As of right now I don't have any and that is a good thing, some games seem to launch them at you for just logging in. Not here. You have to complete some tough challenges to get a _sticker_. These are your badges that can be seen as a trophy. 4 complete challenge = 1 sticker. These are tough.

Power Ups: +

This game has a ton and each are a blast, literally. Of course there is nitro and boosts to speed. Also there are some really crazy ones that can take your opponent out in a blaze of less than glory.

Ease of play: +

This is very easy to control with the six axis controller. Right trigger is gas, left brake and X is fire off the next power up you have in your queue.

First Impression: +

Overall this game has won me over. Its definitely something you would see in an arcade, but that doesnt make it any less fun. Take it as it is and I think you will have a good time with this game.

I plan on playing this a ton this week and will update this review as I get more into it.

Thanks for reading my review.

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After spending now 6-8 solid gameplay hours both online and offline, here are my impressions of Blur:

Graphics: This game looks awesome. Damage to the cars is as "realistic" as you're going to get for a kart style game. The real vehicles are used in this game, and look the part. Powerups are really cool when used, and the color in this game is incredibly vibrant. The tracks that I raced looked great as well, from the actual track to the scenery. Everything in the game pops with vibrant color.

Music: Nothing that got on my nerves, but nothing that was incredibly memorable so far either. It's appropriate, high energy for a racing game.

Controls: If you got frustrated in games like Gran Turismo that you couldn't take a tight turn doing 100 in a Dodge Viper, you'll find more of the same here with some of the cars, as they handle just like their real life counterparts. For those that can handle the drifting cars, you'll definitely gain a boost in speed. The controls are mapped logically as are most PS3 games (accelerate with R2, brake with square, etc.). One of the major keys to the game is matching the car type (drifting, off road, etc.) with the track type.

Presentation/Ingenuity: Each races starts out with a neat take on a countdown (not just a simple 3-2-1). I found that to be really cool. You're never really out of a race with the powerups available, though the Shock one that is shot out in front of the leaders is really hard to avoid if you ARE the leader. You likely won't win too many blowout races in this game. I found the powerups to be neat takes on other ideas (example: The "Shunt" acts like a Red Turtle Shell in Mario Kart, which homes in on your target). Your goal in each race is to light up all the "lights" to move onto the next race. However, the secondary goals (getting enough fans, and going through all the gates) do add replay value to each track.

Online play is where this game really shines...as you advance in rank you unlock more cars, there are tons of trophies/accomplishments that can only be done online, this game runs butter smooth even with 20 cars racing at the same time, simply put, it's the best online racing experience on the PS3 and Gran Turismo 5 better have this figured out as least as well.

Replay Value: With all the stickers to earn, online leaderboards, challenges you can put to friends, Facebook/Twitter compatibility, as well as all the challenges on each track, this is one racing game you're not going to blow through in 5-10 hours. Through 8 hours I'm only 16% complete on the single player campaign, and heaven only knows how long it will take to get everything.

So overall, since people like those 1-10 scales:

Graphics: 9.5/10

Cars look great, explosions are awesome, and the tracks are nice and varied

Sound: 8/10

The 8 is on the strength of the sounds, not necessarily the BGM. Burnout Paradise

is far superior as they had licensed songs in their game.

Controls: 9/10

Pretty good for a racing game, not so punishing as a Gran Tursimo would be, but not unrealistic like many arcade racers are. It's a really good fit.

Presentation/Ingenuity: 8.5/10

Some of the ideas (like the whole powerup thing) you've seen all the way back to games like RC Pro AM for the NES. However, the layout of the races, the different modes, the linkability with FB/Twitter, etc. shows the developers are paying attention to the changes in techonology.

Replay Value: 10/10

There is SO MUCH to do in this game and accomplish, and when you add in the online multiplayer/challenges, you will most certainly get your $60 worth out of this game.

In closing...

Buy this game if:

You've got fond memories of Mario Kart and like the fact you're never out of a race

You want a robust, deep online multiplayer racing experience

You like collecting trophies and a game that takes a while for 100% completion.

Don't buy this game if:

You're expecting a simulation style racing experience

You're hoping to hear epic BGM while you are racing

You're going to play split screen (2 player) multiplayer a lot (this is one place the graphics/gameplay take a hit)

UPDATE (25 May 2011)

As some of you may know, Bizzare Creations ceased to exist in February. This has had a direct impact on Blur. As a result...

you can no longer post your updates to Facebook

you can no longer view individual race leaderboards; the only leaderboard remaining are those you access online (Driver's Score/Fans/Power up hit rate/Legend stats)

the official website no longer supports account linking

Just something to be aware of if you have no purchased the game...as it appears Activision is content to let those features go away.

UPDATE #2 (6 Oct 2011)

This is the only game on the PS3 that I have earned the Platinum trophy for and outside of maybe Gran Turismo or the Dirt series this is the hardest Platinum racing trophy to obtain.

I'm also fully maxed out at Legend 10, Rank 50, and at one time I was ranked 39th in the world (PS3) but now I am hovering in the 150's or so.

This game is now an incredible value, despite the items I mentioned in Update #1, even if the online community is lagging at around 150-200 players during the nighttime hours (far more are on between 9 AM-3 PM, especially on weekends due to this game still being popular overseas).

Call of Duty numbers it ain't, but it still remains the most fun I have ever had playing online of any game, period.

Buy Blur Now

After playing Split Second and Blur at the same time, it would seem the only thing they have in common is the genre. I won't compare the two since they are completely different in look and feel; the whole apples and oranges thing.

The graphics are better than most racing games. The gameplay is challenging because it is not the simple drive to the finish line type game. Having played Project Gotham, I expected some of that to leak into the gameplay but Blur has very little of the Gotham feel. The concept is not unique. Drive and use power-ups to beat your opponents. What makes this unique though is that driving and power-ups is not enough to win. Track physics and vehicle type is extremely important to winning the race. Besides winning the race, there are fan requirements as well. Winning the race will get you to the next event but without the fans, you will not have the car selection to make a difference.

Overall this is a challenging driving game. I did give it 4 of 5 because some of the minor annoyances throughout the game including the initial install makes it difficult to avoid yelling at the TV screen at times. When comparing Split Second and Blur, Split Second wins in the single player part but Blur wins in the multiplayer part.

Read Best Reviews of Blur Here

Almost perfect, but falls short in all around game.

Pro's-

Looks good

Easy to learn

Mario Kart for adults

Online is Good

A lot to do

Con's-

Gets a little hard as you progress

Way too many hard requirements

Old too fast

The game is still great, but after a few days the repetiveness and crazy things you have to do catches up. must rent game. If you like the hard stuff, this game is for you.

Want Blur Discount?

My wife liked to play Mario Kart when we had a Gamecube. Since then, I have moved on to PS3 and I have no games that interest her. This game changed that. Graphics are stellar, the game is loads of fun, the controls are very simple and this is a very addicting which leads to high replay value. There are some long reviews on this game that are extremely accurate. I just want to reinforce what they state. And, don't let the fact that this game has been out for years deter you. You will not be disappointed if you go into this game knowing what to expect.