Blur (video game)

Blur
Developer(s)	Bizarre Creations
Publisher(s)	Activision
Engine	Horizon engine
Platforms	Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3 Xbox 360
Release date(s)	NA: May 25, 2010 EU: May 28, 2010
Genre(s)	Racing, vehicular combat
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Blur (stylized as blur) is an arcade racing video game for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Activision in North America and Europe in May 2010. It features a racing style that incorporates real world cars and locales with arcade style handling and vehicular combat.

Gameplay

In Blur's career mode, the player will encounter numerous characters and many licensed cars ranging from Dodge Vipers to Lotus Exiges to Ford Transit vans fitted with F1 engines, all of which have full damage modeling and separate traits such as Acceleration, Speed, Drift, Grip and Stability. Some special car models have been designed by Bizarre Creations themselves. Albeit simplified, the tracks are also based on real-world environments, such as the Los Angeles river canals and several parts of London. Depending on the character(s) the player races against or tags along with in team races, they will have their own racing styles, power-up set ups, match types, locales and cars. As the player races well, performs stunts and uses power-ups in certain ways during races, the player will gain 'fan points'. These points help the player progress through the career, purchase more cars and parts and earn more fans for the user base. During the career, challenges will take place midrace when the player drives through a fan icon. Completing these short challenges (e.g. shoot another car with a certain weapon, or perform a long drift) will reward the player with a fan points boost. During the career mode, each challenge features a final boss, which, once defeated will yield access to their specific mods (mods being upgrades that provide enhanced functionality to a standard powerup e.g. Khan's titanium shield), and customized cars. At the final boss challenge, all the bosses meet together for a final race.

Multiplayer

The game can be played with up to 4 players via splitscreen, and the game can be taken online for a maximum of 20 players over the internet, or over LAN in the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 versions. In a custom game, options can be set before each match that determine the layout of power-ups, car classes, amount of laps, and the track to race. A match type called "World Tour" is essentially a quick play option for players who want to jump into a match. Here, every player is given a random car and thrown into a random series of courses with a standard ruleset. Multiplayer also offers "Team Racing" mode. Two teams (Alpha & Omega) can put themselves head to head either publicly or private. During races, each player accumulates points for their finishing position. While in team racing, powerups will not affect the player's own team members with the exception of Shock. Players can send a racing challenge to an online friend. If the second player beats the time, they can send the updated challenge back. These challenges go back and forth until one person concedes. Players can also use the Share button, and post their achievements to Twitter or Facebook.

Beta

The beta for Blur began on March 8, 2010, and beta codes were given out from websites such as GameSpot and GameSpy. The beta allows the player to test six tracks, four game modes, 14 fully licensed vehicles, and over 30 challenges. Players can test out Blur's leveling up system, which unlocks various items. The beta also allows players to connect to Twitter to post updates via the game. Blur had a public beta starting on April 6, via the Xbox Live Marketplace. The beta ended on May 10.

A general multiplayer demo was released after the full game's release on June 3, 2010. This demo remained playable and available to the public until June 22, 2010.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 82.82% Metacritic 82% Review scores Publication Score 1UP.com B+ Eurogamer 8/10 Game Informer 8.5/10 GameSpot 8/10 GameTrailers 8.7/10 IGN 7/10 NTSC-uk 9/10

The game was very well received overall by critics, with a Metacritic score of 83/100 on the Xbox 360 and an 82/100 on the PlayStation 3 and PC.

Sales

In the United States, Blur sold 31,000 copies in its first five days of release according to the NPD.

Despite disappointing sales, Nick Davies of Bizarre Creations had announced in July 2010 that the studio intended to create more games in the series, and wanted to make it the biggest racing franchise. He attributed the sales performance of Blur, to the fact that the game was released at "a very busy time for racing games", and that it "came out at the same time as ModNation Racers and Split/Second." However, he believed "that the strong multiplayer component would give the game staying power", and "it's going to be a slow-burner".

On November 16, 2010, Activision announced that it was closing Bizarre Creations, stating:

Over the past three years since our purchase of Bizarre Creations, the fundamentals of the racing genre have changed significantly. Although we made a substantial investment in creating a new IP, Blur, it did not find a commercial audience. Bizarre is a very talented team of developers, however, because of the broader economic factors impacting the market, we are exploring our options regarding the future of the studio, including a potential sale of the business.

Sequels

A sequel was planned for Blur, and work had started on it using an all-new engine, but it was cancelled when Bizarre Creations was shut down by Activision. Work-in-progress videos of the intended sequel were released post-mortem, one of which show a race in Blur's Brighton track, adding a rainstorm, and another that shows an Audi R8 racing in a track set in Dubai, showcasing the ability to temporarily run sideways on the side of a curved building.

On October 25, 2013, a free-to-play spin-off mobile game called Blur Overdrive was released on Android, developed by Nottingham based App Crowd, and distributed by Marmalade, who licensed the Blur brand from Activision. An iOS version was released on November 1, 2013. Blur: Overdrive uses a top-down perspective and features eight different power-ups and six cars, which can be upgraded individually in ten steps. Touchscreen controls allow to choose from a floating steering wheel, a slide bar or a virtual pad. Player mods and Power Up mods are not connected to the car upgrading system and change how power-ups influence the combat.

External links

• Official website