Blur

Another game I played a bit before deciding to sell was "Blur" a 2010 racing game produced by the now defunct Bizarre Creations studio, whose "Project Gotham Racing" series had been a highlight of the previous generation of consoles.

"Blur" is an arcade style racing game, where drivers participate in competitions taking place in rough approximations of real-world locations, such as the Los Angeles river, Barcelona circuit and Brighton Beach front. Various actual car models are available, each with particular acceleration, speed and durability statistics. The events themselves take the form of time trials, destruction derbies and more traditional races where various "Power ups", such as offensive weapons, defensive shields and speed boosts can be collected and deployed. Each race also includes specific fan sections, where the racer can earn more supporters by undertaking an additional trial, such as a lengthy drift around a corner, or long distant hit with a missile, the success in which may detract from your overall race performance.

I'll be the first to admit I am not great at racing games, and on the medium difficulty setting I could barely make any progress. Often I would find that I was racing OK, only to be hit with a homing weapon (lets call it a red shell, as that's really what it is) at which point I was overtaken by the majority of the opposition, who all seem to be racing as one throng, rather than spreading out around the course. I did switch to easy, which you can do dynamically during the career mode, at which point I started to make progress but after just a couple of sessions I felt like I'd seen all the game had to offer - with the play modes and the courses starting to become repetitive fairly quickly. At another time in my life I might have stubbornly fought my way though all of it, but right now, it feels like it's time to move on.

I did like the menu's and the odd "previously on blur" that meets you when you come back to the game, once you've got one in progress, which recaps what you did last time and reminds you of your next goal (a feature that countless open world games could do with). The presentation across the board is excellent. Sadly, that was not enough and the game couldn't find an audience, despite strong reviews and proved to be a primary factor in the demise of Bizarre Creations.