Blur feels like, deep down at its roots, a classic game. There's no dignified voiceover guy (*cough*forza*cough) telling you in serious tones about how to tune your car. There's no (*cough*mario*cough*) characters yelling when they spin out. There's no goofy story (*cough*needforspeed*cough*) even necessary. You're in a fast car, you have missiles, and everything is neon. No one needs to tell you what to do. This is a video game. Hit the gas, shoot your guns, and go.
 
Instantly you can tell the game is about speed. The art style is fantastic, from the countdown at race start to the instantly-recognizable Tron-like projectiles. You get in a game, you vote on a track, you take a quick look at your car (if you want), and bang, you're racing. There's no handholding, and it doesn't seem necessary. Each powerup is very straightforward: short-range blast, long-range homing missile, 3-shot dumb missile, turbo, shield, repair, mine. We all know how this works. It's practically in the blood of anyone who's picked up a controller in the past 20 years.
 
The action is constant. You get a few seconds at the beginning of relative peace as you and up to 20 cars bang around through the first turn or two, and then everyone rank 3 or higher (and yes, ranks work pretty much exactly Modern Warfare 2) who's equipped it will have their Bribe mod activate, which gives them a free random powerup at the beginning. Remember you're in a lump of cars at this point - everything explodes. And it continues exploding, constantly, until the finish line -- when everyone who's got anything left in their inventory drops it, and ends the race with even more explosions. Even in last place - and I've never had so much fun being in last place - you are constantly jockeying for the right angle to get a Shunt (homing missile) onto whoever is unlucky enough to be in second-last. And on it goes.
 
The matchmaking is a little sketchy right now, but this beta is about testing and improving network code, so that's to be expected. Joining a room mid-race means you sit around staring at the  screen for a few minutes while everyone finishes up. I've been disconnected a few times. But I don't see why those issues can't be worked out before release.
 
I don't know the last game that got me this impressed this quickly. I don't think it needs a single-player mode. In the state it's in right now, it is pure video game, in all its arcade-y, bright, crazy glory, and it's great.

Blur feels like, deep down at its roots, a classic game. There's no dignified voiceover guy (*cough*forza*cough) telling you in serious tones about how to tune your car. There's no (*cough*mario*cough*) characters yelling when they spin out. There's no goofy story (*cough*needforspeed*cough*) even necessary. You're in a fast car, you have missiles, and everything is neon. No one needs to tell you what to do. This is a video game. Hit the gas, shoot your guns, and go.
 
Instantly you can tell the game is about speed. The art style is fantastic, from the countdown at race start to the instantly-recognizable Tron-like projectiles. You get in a game, you vote on a track, you take a quick look at your car (if you want), and bang, you're racing. There's no handholding, and it doesn't seem necessary. Each powerup is very straightforward: short-range blast, long-range homing missile, 3-shot dumb missile, turbo, shield, repair, mine. We all know how this works. It's practically in the blood of anyone who's picked up a controller in the past 20 years.
 
The action is constant. You get a few seconds at the beginning of relative peace as you and up to 20 cars bang around through the first turn or two, and then everyone rank 3 or higher (and yes, ranks work pretty much exactly Modern Warfare 2) who's equipped it will have their Bribe mod activate, which gives them a free random powerup at the beginning. Remember you're in a lump of cars at this point - everything explodes. And it continues exploding, constantly, until the finish line -- when everyone who's got anything left in their inventory drops it, and ends the race with even more explosions. Even in last place - and I've never had so much fun being in last place - you are constantly jockeying for the right angle to get a Shunt (homing missile) onto whoever is unlucky enough to be in second-last. And on it goes.
 
The matchmaking is a little sketchy right now, but this beta is about testing and improving network code, so that's to be expected. Joining a room mid-race means you sit around staring at the  screen for a few minutes while everyone finishes up. I've been disconnected a few times. But I don't see why those issues can't be worked out before release.
 
I don't know the last game that got me this impressed this quickly. I don't think it needs a single-player mode. In the state it's in right now, it is pure video game, in all its arcade-y, bright, crazy glory, and it's great.

Absolutely loving it.
The best of PGR, Wipeout and Mariokart combined.

Well put. That's the impression I got out of it watching videos. Hopefully, I'll get some time later today to actually play the beta...

I'm really enjoying this game too. Races turn into complete chaos sometimes,its great... Think I'll be buying this day one.

Couldn't agree more!  I honestly thought the game was gonna be shite, but I am so impresed with it that I didn't even go into town to pick up Final Fantasy today cos I was wanting to play this instead! I'm so buying it, what you say is true, it's so easy to get into, so mad and hectic and yet so fun even if your in last place. And I too love how everyone just drops everything on the line at the end lol

Definitely a lot of fun to play..  But it's pretty shallow, I don't think it offers the same kind of enjoyment as Mario Kart or even Sega All Stars Racing.  The cars don't handle as well as they did in PGR and while I hate to critisize a game based on graphics, this is barley above what you'd expect from the original Xbox. 
 
 I do love the big multiplayer matches though (especially if they can sort out the bad matchmaking/networking issues) it can get very tense and keep you wanting more, but I couldn't see myself paying full price for something like this, £20-25 tops.

" Absolutely loving it. The best of PGR, Wipeout and Mariokart combined. "

Hearing all of these positive reactions to Blur has me interested.  I might actively work at acquiring a beta key instead of my current who cares stance.  Thanks for the heads up!