Blur is the now defunct Bizarre Creations' third racing IP after Project Gotham. It's style is quite unique. A kart racer with real cars and cities and an exceptional neon art style.
Bizarre created this game with multiplayer in mind and it obviously is the game's biggest strength according to a lot of people. With all the hype on the game's MP modes there was something I thought I'd focus my review on, the single player.
A lot of people weren't very happy with it due to no type of exhibition mode and the relatively short campaign but I'm here to give my opinion on the SP which I actually enjoyed quite a bit.
Gameplay 9/10:
The single player is met with some brutal AI which gives the game a lot of life. Especially on Medium and Hard modes. The opponents are quite smart, competitive and try their best to win. You will have quite a challenge.
There are 8 power-ups in the game which include the kart racer cliches like Shunt which is basically the missiles as seen in Crash Team Racing and the obvious Nitro power-up which gives you a significant boost in speed. Almost all weapons can be shot forward and backward like a lot of kart racers such as the Mine which can be quite important firing forward even if it's a back weapon mostly.
There are also some weapons which are unique like the Shock which can launch EMP domes at the front of the pack and can shock people who drive into them and Barge which is a wave that blasts opponents out of the way.
There are three main modes in the single player which include Race, Checkpoint and Destruction.
Race is the classic "race to the finish line in first place" but with every power-up available.
Checkpoint is a challenging race against the clock. The track is composed of checkpoints, stopwatches and nitro power-ups. You start with 30 seconds counting down and each checkpoint gives you 12 more seconds as well as stopwatches you collect which give you an extra 2 seconds. There are also Nitro power-ups around the circuit which can give you an extra boost in speed. This is my favourite mode besides Race.
Destruction is made up of wrecking cars which you shoot at with Bolts. Each car you wreck gives you points depending on how many hits it takes. There are four types of cars which have a certain amount of hits to wreck. Each wreck shoots a certain power-up at you to dodge and there is a timer so concentrate and don't slack off! It can be quite a challenge.
Then there are one-on-ones which I'll get more in-depth below.
The controls are one of the games' weakest points. The drifting slows you down too much and feels heavy but other than that it should be fine.
Overall the gameplay is very strong in this game and provides some great challenge and great fun.
Single-player structure 7/10:
The structure of the single player could be better but it still holds.
There are 9 teams with rivals to beat. Each team has 7 races and 4 demands you need to accomplish to beat the rival on their one-on-one. Each rival has a unique car and power-up mod which can help your adventure to become the best.
Each race has a total of 7 lights to collect. Third place gives you 3, second gives you 4 and first gives you 5. The other two are fan targets and fan runs. I'll explain more down the track.
The problem I have with the objectives is that they are very situational. As in, they rely on being in the right place at the right time. Some of them include Barging an opponent into the water and Barging multiple cars at once. Basically meaning you have to actually be next to the car(s) at the right time which can lead to frustration if you're not lucky.
There is a point structure called "fans". Each race has a fan target and you get fans by doing tricks like successfully landing power-ups, drifting and also fan demands. Fans contribute to leveling up too which gives you more cars.
Then there are fan runs which there are gates you have to go through in a certain amount of time. These give quite a few fans and also a light.
Lights are important to proceed to the next team.
Another thing I didn't like was since there is no exhibition mode some tracks have no races and are left out of where the game truly shined, the races of course.
Overall the structure has a few flaws and is a little awkward and luck based. Other than that though it has enough content to play and can leave you hooked. There's even leaderboards to see how you compare with your friends or the world.
Presentation 8/10:
I love the graphics and art style. It's all comprised of neon lights and real locations and cars. The tracks look fantastic and you can get dazed by all of the neon and colours.
All of the power-ups are basic neon balls and waves. The game's very heavy on simple light icons so overall it's really pleasing on the eyes.
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This game took me about 8-10 hours to complete and has a lot of replayability to boot. Getting all the lights and cars can take quite a while. There are even bragging rights for beating a level on hard which is mainly of a red icon on the level select screen. So you'll be spending some time here.
So to sum this review up, the single player has a few flaws such as the awkward way of beating rivals and some minor annoyances.
If you're planning on playing this game single player only like me, I think you'll have a lot of fun as there is a lot of content to enjoy but as this game is very multiplayer focused the SP has taken the back seat but even with that, Bizarre sure put some surprising love in for the single player which makes me happy.
I recommend this game wholeheartedly, especially if you can find it for $30 or less.