Blur

by ACTIVISION

Product Features

• Real Racing - Stunning racing environments in real world locations and licensed cars that look and feel great
• Power-ups - Collect addictive dynamic power-ups and use them independently or combo three of the same power-up strategically to gain an advantage over your competition
• Cinematic Realism - Experience insane collisions with licensed photo-realistic cars flipping and rolling with panels crumpling and bumpers ripping off ? all brought to life with panning, cinematic camera work
• Multi-player - Features 4-player split-screen and online multiplayer supporting competitive and cooperative game play for up to 20 racers, including team racing, objective based events and custom groups
• Unique multiplayer modes are immediately shared through Blur?s social network

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B002AQNT96
• Item Weight: 8.3 ounces
• Media: DVD-ROM
• Release Date: May 25, 2010
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,832 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #8 in Video Games > PC Games > Racing & Flying

Product Description

Platform: PC

Amazon.com Product Description

Blur is the ultimate powered-up racing experience, dropping you into electrified action with a mass of cars targeting the finish line and battling each other as they trade paint in both single player and multiplayer action. Travel the globe from LA and San Francisco to Spain, the UK and more to take on the best the streets have to offer. Utilize an arsenal of powerups like nitro speed boosts, shock attacks, defensive shields, and landmines to beat your rivals across the finish line. You choose how and when to use your arsenal of powerups for ultimate impact in a race where the outcome is never certain. Arcade style racing. View larger. Addictively devastating powerups View larger. Realistic damage and beautiful in-game environments. View larger. Tons of locations and 50+ licensed cars. View larger. Story In Blur the storyline plays out in the single player campaign. Here players assume the role of an up-and-coming racer who is looking to make a name for himself in the underground racing scene, but the competition is fierce. As you take on the series of races, you'll meet a bunch of recurring characters. Some of these characters will be rivals, others perhaps will act as mentors, and some may be something else entirely. The only thing that is certain in the world of Blur is that in a race there are winners and losers, and racers will do anything to reach the finish line first. Gameplay Although filled with the beautifully elaborate racing environments, realistic damage effects and a long list of available cars usually only found in simulation racers, Blur is an arcade racer through and through. Its single player campaign revolves around the game's Career Mode, while in multiplayer there are additional options, including customizable cooperative and competitive races. In both of these though the second-to-second, fast-paced action is rooted in the wealth of powerups strewn throughout the track. These are addictive in their use and dramatic and devastating when used against opposing racers. With each successive race that players engage in they will use their collection of powerups to engage in vehicular combat of all sorts as they make their way to the finish. The game employs a fictional in-game social networking system allowing communication between drivers, and through this a way for players to establish alliances, find mentors and get familiar with the tactics of opponents. Monetary rewards are accumulated by drivers not only for success in competition, but by generous fans earned during races and for predetermined side challenges within races, proposed by those same fans. With the cash accumulated through all these, players can buy new cars and upgrade their ability to use powerups and keep their career going. Powerups An impressive array of powerups are part and parcel to the vehicular combat that takes place Blur. These are spread across each of the game's tracks and for the most part can be used at any time. Drivers start out with the ability to sock away up to two of these, but with success players can upgrade to add additional slots and even increase the potency of the powerups that they have. Powerups in the game include: Shock - An electromagnetic pulse that homes in on the nearest car or packs of cars, surrounding you. Barge - An energy wave weapon designed to be unleashed at close range to hurl enemy drivers off course. Shunt - A forward firing projectile that can be used to bring you closer to competitors or blast them out of the way. Nitro - A short, powerful speed boost designed to get the driver back in contention when he/she falls behind. Mines - Explosive devices dropped out on to the track that blow apart any car that runs them over. Repair - A way to regain health without making a pit stop at a repair shop. Unlike other powerups, these are used instantly instead of being stored for later use. Multiplayer Support and Game Modes Blur is designed from the ground up to provide an enthralling multiplayer experience both online and offline. Online players with enjoy support for up to 20 player races, while local offline play features 2-4 player, four-way split screen support through a single console and up to 20 player support via system link console configurations. Within races players will have the choice to play either competitively and cooperative, in a variety of play modes that offer a mix of customization and automation. Just a few of the race parameters that can be customized are locale, car class and number of racers. Players can also choose to let the game handle the specifics of race particulars with World Tour mode, which will string together race after race randomly, allowing friends to simply concentrate on the fun. Tracks and Cars The gameworld of Blur contains an impressive array of tracks and cars. Players can expect to pile up the powerups and put the pedal to the metal across tracks set throughout 14 real cities and other locations throughout the world, each of these featuring recognizable streets and landmarks. Just a few of these include, London, San Francisco, Barcelona and Los Angeles. The game is also filled with over 50 fully licensed cars, unlockable and purchasable throughout the game. Key Game Features Powerups - Collect a variety of addictive dynamic powerups and use them independently or combo them strategically to take out your opponents. Real Racing - Dramatic collisions, realistic damage, stunning racing environments, real world locations and more than 50 licensed photo-realistic cars from the top manufacturers around the world. Social Network - Unique story-driving social network interface evolves as you compete in different races, make new friends, rivals and fans, and connect with other racers both in game and in real life. Multiplayer Support - Features online multiplayer supporting competitive and cooperative game play for up to 20 racers and 4 player split-screen multiplayer in local offline play. Multiple Reward System - Players can receive cash rewards to be used in-game in multiple ways including: winning races, gifts from in-game fans, and by completing fan determined side challenges.

Product Description

Blur is the ultimate racing experience, dropping you into heart-pumping, electrified in-the-pack action with 20 cars targeting the finish line and battling each other as they trade paint. Intense power-ups, including the ability to blast other cars out of the way with huge bursts of energy, as well as defensive shields, nitro speed boosts, and landmines create realistic damage and destruction. Featuring 4-player split-screen action that offers you a new kind of racing experience, one that allows you to race with your friends and as part of a network of players in high intensity competition and fun. The new racing game from the award-winning team at Bizarre Creations delivers the most intense and fun racing experience ever. Beyond the action-packed tracks filled with fast curves, sneaky alternate routes, and hair-raising jumps, Blur’s story unfolds through a unique and innovative community-based interface, reaching far beyond the game itself. Build a community of allies, rivals and fans where you can share personalized racing experiences with friends both inside and outside the game. Blur is non-stop racing competition, intense and neck-and-neck action ensuring you’re always in the race and battling for position.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast paced driving action with a few small PC port faults, May 26, 2010

By 

M. Park "Gaming Fanatic" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Blur (DVD-ROM)

The main reason why I've made this review is purely because of the review right below me, which complains about requiring a "separate video card" to play. But I'll get to that in a moment.

This is basically a fast paced arcade racer with powerups. Take a game like Gran Turismo and mix it in with some Mario Kart powerups, and you have this awesome, awesome game. The goal of the game is to drive around in your vehicle of choice, all of them real life cars, and basically blast each other to smithereens with powerups that are strewn throughout the track. Driving is VERY arcade style - you can accelerate, brake, and e-brake and you steer left and right. Handling is fairly straightforward. Cars handle very much like they do in Ridge Racer. Instead of getting busted up after just one hit from an attack, your car has a health meter, which goes down as you take hits from enemy attacks. If your health meter depletes, your car gets wrecked, and you're put out of commission for a short period. You can pick up powerups to repair your car back to full health so this doesn't happen, but that can get challenging when you have 19 other players trying to fight for first place. Yes you heard me, you can have up to 20 opponents racing simultaneously, both in single player and multiplayer mode!

That's the basic mechanics. Variety-wise, you have multiple modes you can choose from. You have Blur's equivalent of Last Man Standing, where your main goal is to just smash the daylights out of your opponents, racing, where you go around a track and try to get first place while fighting off attacks from your opponents, hardcore "simulation" racing, where powerups are disabled and your racing skills are put to the test, team modes, and much more.

Plus, the game has unlockables both in single player AND multiplayer mode which are earned through "bulbs" from placing as one of the top 3 in races and through fans you gain from blowing other cars up, completing in-course challenges, and doing fancy moves like drifts - these are basically more or less like points. You can actually play multiplayer LOCALLY (great LAN party game!), online, or even do a 4 player split screen with four controllers (freakin insane). As you gain fans and bulbs, you unlock more mods, more cars, and more courses and game modes to play. Since the unlockables are available for both single player and multiplayer modes, you'll have twice the amount of replayability, and you'll still have a very solid single player game even if you can't go multiplayer. The online play is dedicated, so you don't have to worry about the host getting any sort of ping advantage.

Oh, and this game has NO rubber band AI. If you get in front, however, expect to be attacked by the "blue shell" of this game, a powerup that drops 3 pits of lightning that will damage and slow down your car (but they can be dodged, unlike the blue shell). The AI is challenging because it is quite relentless in its aggression and will do whatever it takes to stop you from gaining first. They will smash into you, launch powerups, and gang up on you if it means they'll get past you. They'll dodge your attacks, purposely block you from picking up powerups, and generally do what a regular player will do to win. And if the action is too hard for you, you can dial down the difficulty to something a bit more manageable too.

Soundtrack is excellent, a bit of techno and rock mixed in. Nothing out of this world spectacular, but nothing that particularly bad. You'll be too busy spending most of your time smashing up other cars to really care.

Unfortunately, this game does not support a third party controller. It does support XBox 360 controllers. You can use 3rd party software out there to have your regular controller emulate a XBox 360 controller, however, and IMO this game definitely needs a gamepad for you to get the fullest out of it. The other problem here, however, is that the game doesn't allow you to customize the controls, only pick from a small set of preconfigured layouts, which is very un-PC-like. You can play this game on keyboard, and it's still very playable on it, so don't let the lack of direct third party controller support stop you!

Graphics are top notch. Everything looks well done, incredibly detailed, and very colorful. The cars look a little bit too shiny, and that fits in well with the overall theme of the game, which has more of a hyper-realistic/fantasy feel to it than it actually looking like real life. This makes sense, as the game lets you use powerups that you'll NEVER see in real life and be able to bust up expensive cars that we'll never get to drive. The game is also rather light on the graphics card; I'm running at full framerate with a GTX 260 at 1680 x 1050. Unfortunately, you can't tweak the graphics settings that much like you can in other games - you just have a general setting to adjust the visual detail and the ability to switch off or on fullscreen and vsync and change the antialiasing. That con makes the game feel like a somewhat not 100%-done PC port, since the game doesn't try that hard to take advantage of what makes the PC a unique gaming platform: the ability to run games at graphics settings that surpass that of their console counterparts.

Lastly, I'd like to address the poster below me who bought this game. This is a CURRENT GENERATION PC game that is meant for GAMERS. If you've never bought a PC game before, you will learn your first responsibility is to look up the system requirements, which are easily available online. If you want to play any half-decent PC game, you WILL need a separate graphics card (and not even a ridiculously expensive one!), which will allow you to play the game with graphics that will surpass those of the consoles. There are PC games out there that can work with integrated graphics cards, yes, but those are actually the *EXCEPTION* instead of the rule. Please, PLEASE do not rate this game one star for something you failed to look up yourself. For anyone else, buy this game! Although it lacks the configurability of most PC-native games, it's still fun, and is cheaper than its console versions. With the price drop on Amazon, it's actually cheaper to buy it here than Steam too!

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A 20/20 BLUR, May 28, 2010

By 

NeuroSplicer (Freeside, in geosynchronous orbit) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Blur (DVD-ROM)

This seems to be a racing season. A number of new racing games have been or are to be released. But not all GTs are created equal.

Only last week I was playing Split/Second and now the long awaited BLUR is out. Since both games are more Arcade-racers than Simulators, I decided to do a side-by-side review.

What BLUR has over SPLIT/SECOND:

(a) Licensed cars. Fantasy cars look great but it is always more satisfying to drive real supercars. Yes, that means you have to start with the obligatory stupid compacts - but good ones get unlocked soon.

(b) Much better music. Disney simply dropped the ball here, SPLIT/SECOND is in dire need for some epic music to go with the blockbuster mentality.

(c) You have a map that shows both your and your opponents' positions, something I would have liked in SPLIT/SECOND.

(d) More realistic damage (keyword: "more"). SPLIT/SECOND crashes are realistically spectacular but you can body-slam anything forever and the only thing that shows are some...scratches. BLUR is no simulator but it is more realistic (for a game that offers power-up repairs that is) - unless you dislike driving a car with its rear spoiler hanging out.

(e) You get a usable rear-view mirror (for as long as you can keep it from cracking). In SPLIT/SECOND you have to use the NUM-2 to sneak a peak back - and risk crashing since you cannot look both ways.

(f) No rubber-band AI. You earn a margin, you get to keep it. It may be less thrilling all the time but it saves you the aggravation of driving your heart out only to loose the No.1 position by a cheap pass at the very last second.

On the other hand, this is where I found SPLIT/SECOND to be better than BLUR:

(a) Much more spectacular driving. Drifting, drafting, jumping and, of course, exploding things is simply so much better than activating a white shield or firing some feeble electric charges.

(b) Better designed and larger tracks that can even be modified during a race.

(c) Less complicated. In SPLIT/SECOND you just drive, drop an exploding truck (or an entire...freeway) onto your opponents and avoid the same happening to you. In BLUR you have to choose and pick up power-ups (max of 3), select the next one, aim and fire at your target; you have to pick up and use the repair power-up to maintain the health of your car; you have to drive through a number of yellow gates to win over fans in order to unlock more cars; and then you have to earn lights to advance (I guess it had to be something, but ..."lights"?).

(d) Customizable controls. Come on ACTIVISION, this is not 1995, why do we have to use both ends of the keyboard to drive a car in BLUR? Turn left and right with the L/R arrows yet accelerate and brake with the Q- and A-keys? And someone thought this to be such a good idea that there is no customization option? Well, now you know what must be included in the next patch.

Different gamers have, of course, different preferences, so some of the above mentioned aspects may weight differently to everyone. Both games harbor SecuROM disk-checks, so their DRM scheme is comparable.

Nevertheless, in the end, where I think BLUR clearly lags behind SPLIT/SECOND is the pure fun factor. I know this is subjective but I enjoyed SPLIT/SECOND much more than I did BLUR.

I would never though the day would come that I would be recommending a ...Disney game over an Activision one.

But life is full of surprises.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of underappreciated fun!, December 13, 2010

By 

Juan Hidalgo M. "WM" (San José, Costa Rica) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Blur (DVD-ROM)

This is a great game! Fun to play online (potentially at least), and fun to play on splitscreen, too,

I just love the Mario Kart with real cars and places concept. I got almost everything I was expecting out of it. Maybe the car roster wasn't as rich as I hoped (okay, that just means it doesn't feature the Subaru Impreza STI, nor the Aston Martins), but still you get your Camaros, Corvettes, BMWs, Mustangs, etc.

I say give it a shot. You'll have a ton of fun.

I'll also say that after over 5 years of playing Trackmania on a weekly basis, this game is at fault for finally making me quit the habit.

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