Blur!!

Title: Blur
Developer / Publisher: Bizarre Creations / Activision
Genre: Racing

Storyline
If Blur had a storyline it would probably involve Super Mario sleeping with one of the Need for Speed ladies and giving birth to an arcade racer that lets you mangle your opponents with well-timed power ups.

The basic idea of the game is to race against others to the finish line, but the twist is the fastest doesn’t always win; it’s the person that can well-time the power-ups to destroy their enemies and prevent them from running away with a win.

Gameplay
Playing Blur is relatively straight forward with the standard controls of most racers on the 360; RT to accelerate, LT to brake and B to drift, the only real difference is using the power ups; A to shoot, X to cycle through up to 3 power ups and Y to drop the selected power up.
Power ups can be collected from set points in the track, which will see everyone fighting for select items. Powers come in a range of flavours;

- ‘Shunt’ is a giant red orb that can be fired forwards by pressing A or backwards by pulling down LS and pressing A; this simply targets a driver and tracks the car until it either smashes into the car or the driver evades.

- ‘Barge’ simply does exactly what it says on the tin, when you hit this power up it simply barges vehicles away from you. You can only use this in close vicinity of other cars.

- ‘Mine’ leaves an explosive orange orb behind your car, which will spin out any driver that happens to crash into it. This can also be fired in front of you by holding LS upwards.

- ‘Shock’ is an EMP shock system that strikes the road in front of the lead driver. Slowing down and weaving through the electrical storms is the way to avoid this, as coming into contact with it will drastically slow the car down and remove health.

- ‘Nitro’, yet again another power up that does what it says; it gives the driver a temporary speed boost helping you overtake other racers.

- ‘Bolt’ gives you 3 arrows to shoot out at your own will which will make cars fish tail.

- ‘Shield’ places a white bubble around you, protecting you from the power ups listed above.

Racing in this game can sometimes become very frustrating, as the AI can be very unforgiving in the single player game. For example, you can get hit 3 times in a row by ‘Shunt’ orbs just as you’re about to finished the race in 1st place. I found that in the single player game you should always carry a power up to use defensively for incoming attacks.

Multiplayer offers a few more game modes but a majority of players go for the 2-20 player games which offer maximum carnage and a lot of swearing – Trust me on that one because I think I may be getting an ASBO.

Although the multiplayer element can be stressful at times I find it extremely hard to put down, which is probably due to the ranking system and challenges. There are 50 ranks in total and ranking up requires fans; you earn fans by completing races, beating challenges and wrecking cars, the higher you place in a race the more fans you earn.

Challenges range from breaking speed barriers to destroying cars in an artistic fashion but one of the more noticeable challenge sets are the daily challenges which reset every 24 hours giving you the chance to rank up fast if you play on a day-to-day basis.

The range of cars available is quite obscure, with the likes of Audi TTs pitted against an off-road beetle and a Ford Supervan. Cars unlock fairly frequently and there is definitely a car for everyone.

Thanks for this