Review: Blur

JourneyThroughHell

New member
Sep 21, 2009
5,010
0
0
Finally, an Escapist review I can easily and fully disagree with.
I don't think the game is forgettable and I sure as hell don't see any flaws in the multiplayer integration.
 

Darktau

Totally Ergo Proxy
Mar 10, 2009
917
0
21
Warning Warning Flame war incoming Warning Warning Split/Second vs Blur. Lol :)

Played both, like both, prefer spit. :)
 

Swifteye

New member
Apr 15, 2010
1,079
0
0
addeB said:
Nothing can replace Mario Kart in this genre.
Ya probably but seeing as none of them are on the wii it wasn't really the intention.

Split/second, blur, and even modnation. Man it used to be fairly easy to choose which non mario kart racing crashing game you wanted to get. Speaking of which. Where's twisted metal? Offroad thunder? Burnout? You'd think they'd be in on this little craze.
 

NeuroShock

New member
Jul 14, 2009
132
0
0
Kermi said:
AvsJoe said:
Great. More lightning. Because it is so much fun to get hit by it in Mario Kart. Is there a blue shell too?

Actually, this game looks like a b-b-blast. D-definitely worth a l-look.

EDIT: Good job there, Steve. Great review. But no more "I see what you did there jokes". Those haven't been funny in a while.
There's the Shunt which is a red shell, the Bolts which are like having three green shells... the lightning actually makes big static fields appear on the track which do damage - so they're not magic "fuck you everyone!" shrink rays.

And there's no blue shell equivalent, which is completely AWESOME.
Also, the power-ups are laid out on the track so the guy in last place doesn't get preferential treatment in terms of power-ups.
 

Rarhnor

New member
Jun 2, 2010
840
0
0
THe singleplayer was...well boring. The AI doesn't really create any tension. It's a game to be played with friends or online. If you want a better singleplayer experience i'd recommend Split Second.
 

VulakAerr

New member
Mar 31, 2010
512
0
0
Rarhnor said:
THe singleplayer was...well boring. The AI doesn't really create any tension. It's a game to be played with friends or online. If you want a better singleplayer experience i'd recommend Split Second.
I'd say this is pretty fair. Blur excels in multiplayer. Single-player less so. I can see Split/Second being pretty fun all the way through the SP campaign.
 

Elec0

The Master of Fractals
May 29, 2009
82
0
0
Hileict said:
dragon_of_red said:
Damn, I was hoping this game would turn out really good. Shame really, ah well, May as well rent it anyways.
..Yo... You're taking one review from "Random Guy on the Internet #5644657643231" as gospel and just from that, it's not a good game? Grow up and actually try it yourself. I never take reviews as law. I take it as "advice of what may or may not be expected". Hence why I haven't even touched Red Dead Redemption due to how unbelievably boring and dull it is. I've seen reviews giving it 9.5's and 10's. Doesn't mean it's good at all.
You're contradicting yourself. First you say that you should take reviews as advice and try the game yourself, then you say that reviewers gave Red Dead Redemption 9s and 10s, but you won't touch it because it's boring and dull, but you haven't tried it, so how could you know?
 

SenseOfTumour

New member
Jul 11, 2008
4,514
0
0
I've played it, only for a short time and it felt...fun!

Isn't that the most important part of games?

It's certainly no driving sim, and it's no Burnout, in terms of car combat, but the weapons are fun without being unfair, and if you play cleverly, you can hold some powerups back for defence, for instance the 'Barge' which sends a small shockwave out in all directions, pushing other cars away, can be used when you see the 'red shell' equivalent looming large in your rear view to knock it away. Mines can be shot away from in front of you, etc.

I agree the drifting element is rather weak however, but I felt I had some good battles to get 1st place at times, with my main problem being once you get first it seems very easy to keep it, and not very interesting as there's no-one to blow up with stuff! This in turn means you're not earning points or the checkmarks needed to unlock later things.

For all you achievement whores out there tho, it's an almost constant flow of 'ding - 5 shunts, grats' 'ding - you shielded yourself against 10 mines' 'ding - you've healed 500 damage' etc, and they actually mean something, as the leader of each league won't even challenge you until you've proved yourself by meeting his/her bullet points of showing off.

Also, if you liked PGR, it's got a similar kudos system, which is a nice addition.
 

Hashbrick

New member
Mar 20, 2009
135
0
0
VulakAerr said:
Kermi said:
Onyx Oblivion said:
I was going to actually buy an Activision game again...Guess not. Ah well, I'l probably get Split/Second.
For what it's worth, I've heard the shine comes off of the Split/Second apple even faster than Blur. Guess it depends what kind of game you want.
I definitely agree. Once you know what can happen on a Split/Second track the novelty is gone completely.

My favourite thing about Blur is that different things happen each race, and the outcomes are almost always very good fun.
Ya blur is far superior then that action cinematic game called Split/Second. It's like your the producer and just take the same shots over and over again, once the satisfaction of blowing shit up passes and it will pass fast, it's over.
 

Steve Butts

New member
Jun 1, 2010
1,003
0
0
Thanks for the comments. This is my first review for The Escapist, but I've been reviewing games professionally for nearly twelve years now. I've always felt that the purpose of a review is not to tell you what you should think of a game, but merely to tell you what I think of it. If I do that job well enough, my opinion can help to tell you whether you'll like a game more or less than I did. As always, disagreement is a crucial part of the process.

My interpretation of the difference between a 2-star and 3-star game is simply this: A 3-star game is fun but has some bad qualities. A 2-star game isn't fun but has some good qualities. Sadly, the video game market has adopted a hit-driven mentality that sees moderate successes as failures. This cynical belief that "good" isn't "good enough" keeps us from honestly appreciating the variety of games that exist between the extremes of perfection and disaster.
 

VulakAerr

New member
Mar 31, 2010
512
0
0
Steve, I don't think anybody has a problem with the review itself. It was fair (though I do wonder if the lower-than-expected rating could just be down to a case of "not your cup of tea") and well-written. The view in it, though different from my own and some others, were well-structured and explained. I don't think right-minded people have a problem with that as I'm sure your years of experience should be able to tell you.

You also raise a good point with regards to the star-rating system. For all its flaws, I do rather like a percentage system. It's more granular. I, personally, would probably give Blur somewhere between 80% and 85%. You're right in that it doesn't set the world alight, but it does what it aims to do, very well.

Anyway, I hope to see more reviews from you in future. Thanks for sharing it with us.
 

SimuLord

Whom Gods Annoy
Aug 20, 2008
10,077
0
0
Wait just a damn minute. When did The Escapist get Steve Butts on staff? IGN's best reviewer, now on my favorite gaming site? Rock!

Steve, you get instant props for recognizing the greatness of Paradox Interactive and the EU/HoI series.
 

MattAn24

Pulse l'Cie
Jul 16, 2009
656
0
0
Elec0 said:
You're contradicting yourself. First you say that you should take reviews as advice and try the game yourself, then you say that reviewers gave Red Dead Redemption 9s and 10s, but you won't touch it because it's boring and dull, but you haven't tried it, so how could you know?
No, you obviously misunderstood. I said that I often take no interest in what a reviewer rates the game. If I personally look at it and don't like what I see, then I'm not going to let a review decide what is and isn't a good game. I also saw enough of RDR to know that missions involving hideously long distance on a horse, checking out a fucking barn as the first mission, and not even doing anything remotely fun.. Why should a review change my mind at all?

First five hours of Red Dead Redemption;
-Sat on a train listening to people talk about shit I don't care about.
-Looked at a barn, as part of a mission.
-Shot some rabbits and coyotes. Again, a mission.
-Got incredibly bored and went off to explore the world.
-Found out I could do shit-all out there, so I came back.
-Got on a horse and ran around in a giant circle, as the Mission God commanded me to do so.
-Went to the local store to get some medicine. Mission.
-Walked really motherfucking slow behind some cows. Mission..
-Threw some rope at random objects and a horse. Mission.
-To really spice things up, I had to throw rope at cows next.
-Ditched the missions, ran out into the world and found absolutely nothing to do.
-Nothing to do that was exciting anyway.

But anyway, this is about Blur. I don't quite see the point in the single-player other than "training" for multiplayer. The multiplayer is damn fun. You gain fans even when you DON'T win. The races are always insanely hectic. Split/Second, however.. It's purdy and has a load of things blowing up, but.. It's mainly drifting.. It's a shinier Burnout 3: Takedown..
 

Steve Butts

New member
Jun 1, 2010
1,003
0
0
SimuLord said:
Wait just a damn minute. When did The Escapist get Steve Butts on staff? IGN's best reviewer, now on my favorite gaming site? Rock!

Steve, you get instant props for recognizing the greatness of Paradox Interactive and the EU/HoI series.
Wow. Thanks! I joined last week as managing editor.

It's nice to finally meet my fan!