This surprisingly good arcade-styled racer is rewarding and exhilarating both offline and online.
While the racing is pleasingly sufficient on its own, there are two additional events throughout Blur's career. Those two additional events would be checkpoints and destruction. Checkpoints are essentially time trials, and destruction events have you pitted against other drivers to see how many points you can earn by blasting them away with bolt attacks in a set amount of time. In total, there are 9 levels with 6 events each, plus a seventh one that is a one-on-one match against a specific boss that requires certain tasks to be completed in the given level before they can be competed against. Some of these requirements can be rather absurd, but luckily they don't have to be defeated right away to advance to the next level. Earning a set amount of "lights" is what allows the next level to be accessible. Each event (with the exception of one-on-ones) has 3-5 primary lights that can be earned. With racing events three lights are obtained for getting third, and five lights for winning. Destruction events and checkpoints have a set amount of points to be earned or time to be beaten for their corresponding primary lights. There are two extra lights that are acquirable for racing between fan gates, and achieving the stated fan target. Fans basically act as points, which are gotten by chaining stunts, power up hits, blocks, drifts, etc.
The gameplay itself is highly satisfying. The four classes of cars (D through A) have a pleasant variety of recognizable licensed cars. They also fit into different categories such as "drifty", "off-road", and "grippy". The entire arcade style is merged together with that of a kart racer really well. Using power-up items can take some getting use to. AI opponents will swiftly crush you if you don't know how to use items properly. That said they are actually balanced as they are regularly accessible, can be used to block other power-ups, and up to three of them can be held at once. The career overall is a challenging experience, even on the easiest level of difficulty at times. Some of the boss demands can get to the point of frustrating. Thankfully a leveling up system makes replaying events not a waste of time. On the other hand, the level cap is fairly low for the amount of re-playability there may be in order to accomplish everything.
There is also a nice range of tracks that significantly differ as far as environmental features go. Some favor specific car types, but they are, for the most part, simple to play on. The only trouble one may have with the handling would be making sharp turns. It's quite a task to perfectly maneuver around a really tight turn without colliding into a wall or similar structure. That's really about the only problem with the racing mechanics. If in any case a spin-out or wreck occurs, the game will quickly place you back into the race, with only a few valuable seconds lost. Getting the hang of everything isn't too hard, but again, this game isn't going to be a complete breeze to get through. In all it's a rewarding experience, as more cars are unlocked, as well as additional mods that are earned by defeating bosses. There are always lights to go after, with oftentimes difficult fan targets to complete.
While the offline career feature has its fun fulfilled moments, it will come to an end after a short while, unless you really want to earn all the lights or stickers, (which are equivalent to trophies). And this is where the ever exciting and addicting multiplayer comes into the picture. What astonished me the most about it was the similar leveling and challenge set-up that can be compared to that of a Call of Duty game. There are unlockable cars, perks, and of course, challenges. Experience is earned in the form of fans, just like the single-player. There are also multiple game modes to choose from, all though the most viable option is simply 2-10 or 4-20 racing. Like aforementioned Call of Duty games, Blur's online multiplayer is much alike in terms of competitiveness and addicting. Thanks to the much higher leveling cap and many unlockables, the incentive to keep playing online is much more better than the incentive to continue playing offline after a while.
In all, Blur is a superb game and wonderful experience. The vivid graphics, and overall presentation is fantastic. Sounds effects are great, but sometimes there isn't really anything to hear when you are way out in the lead. Fast paced racing action keeps you coming back for more. The controls are well laid out and obtain alternate options, but some turns will always be tricky to handle with most cars. The difficulty of it at times again be frustrating, and opponents won't hesitate to beat the living crap out of you in a cheap fashion, but it's still overall enjoyable to win an intense event.
Any fan of racing games, especially any sort of arcade or kart styled ones should definitely check Blur out. It absolutely deserves to be played. The lasting appeal is very high assuming the online mode is played a lot. If not, it is well worth the rent, but either way this truly exceptional game does not deserve to be overlooked.