Blur (Playstation 3)

Nothing has been able to replicate the sheer joy of all those years trying to shave off seconds in Mario Kart or strategically placing a turtle in the right spot. Then along came the SSX series where the speed, collecting of items and upping the difficulty setting a new standard in a 'racing game'.

Now let me clarify why I am mentioning SSX here. SSX especially the later games had an amzing amounts of things to collect and tons of unlockables. So does Blur. It seems like 100 times more.

The game play is very similiar to that of Mario Kart. Go fast, be tricky and beat the pack (or destroy them).

The overall package and replayability of Blur is HUGE. If you want a sim racer stay away from this game. It comes nothing close to a sim. If you want to relive that previous Mario Kart experience with a grown up attitude this is the game for you.

If you want a more relaxed experience start the game on easy mode. Playing on normal ramps up the difficulty of the AI really high really fast and you may find yourself getting frustrated at retrying tracks. I for one like the normal difficulty but that would be one thing to point out if you are just starting out.

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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 Star 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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Most people compare this game to Mario Kart, and it is similar! Until now Mario Kart was my favorite driving game. I'm not a huge fan of driving games such as gran turismo and need for speed. They seem very repetitive to me. Drive around in circles bla bla bla.

I like games that have different elements to it and THIS IS IT! I actually find myself driving like a maniac when I am done playing because I am all amped up.

Power ups, very challenging tasks, vibrant colors, big track selections that look amazing, a huge selection of cars (new and old), very fast paced...what more could you ask for!

There's a lot included in this game that will have you playing for quite some time. Plus its more than just racing. There are many objectives other than just racing cars. There are destruction tracks where you have to destroy other cars and checkpoint tracks where you have to race against the clock. Haven't tried the online play yet, but I'm planning to soon.

Some people complain that the graphics aren't that great. I think they look just fine. Guess people are a little too picky these days. Maybe they forget what Atari was like...??

I thing I did notice and should mention is that my driving speed was seemingly a little slow. I couldn't keep up for the life of me with the other cars I was racing. I initially switched my control settings so that the X button was used to accelerate, but just recently set it back to R2 to see if this would help and surprisingly IT MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE!!! I'm blazing past cars and keeping up with ease now. Not sure why this would even be a problem. Tried it on 2 different controllers to make sure my controller wasn't the issue. It was very weird, but also something to look out for.

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