There seems to be a inner conflict among many gamers: should I get Blur or Split Second? I haven't played Split Second (and I honestly don't plan to as I'm not particularly interested), but the awesomeness of Blur makes me feel perfectly comfortable recommending it in spite of my lack of experience with the former. So what makes me so confident in Blur?
Pros:
As I'm sure many of you are aware by now, Blur is constantly rewarding the player based on almost everything they do in any given event (the game's events are reasonably varied BTW). In other games, all the awesome stuff you did in a race seems to be ignored if you didn't win, but that's not the case with Blur. The game is always giving you something tangible for your efforts. Not only does this make losing not a big deal, but it makes the races more dynamic than they would be otherwise. Instead of simply racing to the finish line, you find yourself completing other objectives (which the game requires as bosses require you to perform a certain amount of tasks before you can race them) at the same time. This can be a tense and thrilling balancing act in some of the harder races.
While the game doesn't use its high octane feel as a gimmick like other arcade racers that I could mention, the racing in Blur extremely fast and thrilling and the emphasis on wrecking cars makes races feel very exciting. Fortunately, Blur has enough depth to make the fast and exciting racing feel like it's resting on a substantial foundation.
While Blur is lacking in the area of customization (which I will get into later in this review), the car selection is a strong point. The cars are well balanced are there is an astounding amount of variety. Blur even manages to make cars that are normally not very appealing (like Slug Bugs and old trucks) seem cool and worthy of being used in a race against sportier cars.
Blur's advertising campaign represented it as an mature kart racer (remember that hilarious commercial poking fun at Mario Kart?) and in many ways, this is true. However, the item use is handled much better than the kart racers it makes fun of. While I love charming kart racers like Mario Kart and Sega Kart (not the real name, but you know what game I'm talking about), the item use in these games relies on charm as it can be somewhat random. The developers of Blur avoid this problem entirely through smart design choices such as allowing the player to see the power ups they are picking up and the ability to hold three power ups at once and switch between them, which makes the use of items more strategic. These design choices also contribute to the sense of "balance" that is one of the game's strongest assets.
I don't usually play online multiplayer, but I spent an adequate amount of time with it to do this review. Based on what I played, I have a strong feeling that it will endure for a long time. Everything that is great about Blur's single player campaign is enhanced when you add human opponents into the mix. The reward system and the presence of perks are a perfect fit for online multiplayer and it all comes together extremely nicely. The fact that players are constantly being rewarded makes this a game that anyone can enjoy online regardless of how skilled they are and how often they win. Whereas other games make you feel like you have to win to get anything out of the online multiplayer, Blur does everything it can to avoid this kind of discouragement.
I'm very puzzled as to why IGN made the game out to be frustratingly difficult and punishing because I find the difficulty to be just right. While it is true that you have to maintain your aggression levels to win races, the difficulty has a nice progression and for the most part, it feels like a healthy challenge. I never felt like racers were impossible and as I mentioned earlier, the fact that you get rewards in spite of winning does a lot to combat the inherent frustration of losing. Furthermore, while you will get pummeled with many weapons items and will almost certainly get wrecked, the game gives you the tools to avoid this fate, like allowing you to see what's coming at you through the rear view mirror.
While they may not be most interesting looking tracks out there, Blur's tracks look great for the most part and are designed extremely well. They strike a good balance between being built for speed and encouraging the player to drift and drive skillfully.
Finally, the boss battles are extremely fun. They can be won two ways: crossing the finish line first or wrecking your opponent. The fact that you don't respawn after being wrecked in these encounters (you simply fail the event) makes them extremely intense and makes you more mindful of the healing items that are placed on portions of the tracks. But it is oh so satisfying when you put the boss out of commission!
Although none of the flaws are big enough to discourage a purchase, there are definitely some worth mentioning.
Cons:
The game is very attractive for the most part, but in spots, the visuals feel a little half-baked. The flashy colors, the general "shine" and "rave-like" visual ambiance of the game is appealing to the eye and the cars look very cool, but there is definitely a certain lack of detail to the environments and even the car models that make the visuals feel like a bit of an afterthought. Like I said, it looks nice and the graphics definitely suffice, but the game could have been better in this area. Prepare to be pleased with Blur's graphics but not particularly impressed.
Another con is the lack of customization. While the mods (mods have certain effects like making shield items last longer and rendering weapon items more accurate) go a reasonable way towards giving the core gameplay more depth, they don't feel like anything close to true customization. A customization system as deep as the one in Midnight Club: LA would have been very welcome here and a significant improvement. If there is ever a sequel to this game, I expect it to do much more in the area of customization.
This is very minor but the soundtrack is deeply uninspired. I turned on custom soundtracks almost immediately.
One last very minor con is the menus. They feel somewhat cluttered and more confusing than they need to be. Picking a track and car should be much more simple and intuitive.
However, don't let any of these flaws deter you from what I consider one of very best arcade racers this gen. This is a game in which the high octane feeling is backed up by substance. That little creature that wanted to leave the world of colorful kart racing in the commercial (the one makes fun of Mario Kart) would be very pleased by what the world of Blur offers.
GAMEPLAY: 4.5/5
DESIGN: 5/5
STORY: doesn't really matter.
VISUALS: 3.5/5
PLAYABILITY: 4.5/5
VALUE: 4.5/5