Blur

Concept

Blur is a racing game that features stylish racing in realistic locations and 50 real-world cars fighting it out using power-ups and speed boosts. It also features realistic car damage modeling, and is frequently described as a combination of Mario Kart and an arcade racer. It could be most easily related to the racing game Wipeout than more simulation heavy racers like Forza. Unlike many of the games that currently feature power-ups, Blur relies strongly on it's realistic physics model and Bizarre's Ben Ward has stated, "Blur isn't about the power-ups, it's about your ability to drive with power-ups augmenting that".

The game moves away from the clinical and precise nature of sim-like racers that force the player to work within strict time limits and perform inch-perfect turns. It moves towards a more arcade experience that will reward experimentation. Progress through the game is influenced by 'Fan Points', a new version of Project Gotham's Kudos system, awarded after each race for good racing and use of powerups. You can also get mid-race challenges from your fans to complete for bonus fans. There are also car specific challenges that can be completed to attain upgrades for that car. The idea is that the more skilled you are, the more fans you attain and the more money they donate to you, allowing you can upgrade your car further and move onto other circuits.

Blur is designed to tie closely with the game's website, and integrates with popular social networking sites Facebook, and Twitter to allow you to post race results as soon as they are completed. The website also has a stats page integrated within the site to allow players to link their accounts. A leaderboards are available for the website as well. It's menu and hub system is a fictional social networking site, where players and NPC drivers communicate with each other to organize the street races and progress the story.

Now with Activision disbanding Bizarre Creations, it is safe to assume that the website will not be completed. The leaderboards for one were never finished along with the 'community' tab. It is also safe to assume there will be no updates for the game either.

Modes

Single Player

Within the single player campaign the goal for the player is to achieve "Lights". These lights are awarded after each race and based on your performance/finishing place, fan target and fan run. In each race you can earn lights by coming in 1st, 2nd or 3rd (1st = 5 lights, 2nd = 4 lights and 3rd = 3 lights) with one additional light each for meeting the fan target and completing the fan run. You'll also need to complete certain challenges to receive Lights, such as knocking a set amount of opponents off of a bridge into the water. These Lights are needed to eventually "duel" the boss character for that location, where assuming you win you will receive a special version of a vehicle.

Multiplayer

In multiplayer, the same or similar networking system is used to create races and groups with particular settings. The game features 4 player split-screen multiplayer locally, and ive online multi player modes wherein up to 20 players can participate. The five multi player modes are Motor Mash (2-20 players) with the goal of simply damaging other players' cars, Skirmish (2-10 players) which is a tradition race mode, and Powered-up (2-20 players) which is another traditional race mode. Other online multi player modes present are Super Car Racing (2-20 players) -- a race mode wherein only Class A cars are allowed, Team Racing (2-20 players) where two teams of players battle it out for first place, and there is also World Tour that is essentially the 'quick play' mode who want to get into a race as quick as possible. A special playlist is also present that served the purpose of allowing the developers to upload custom game types and playlists, though this was never taken advantage of.

Locations and Tracks

Races take place in 4 countries, with over 15 locations which take place at night or dusk through 'remixed' versions of cities such as London, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Barcelona. Many of these locations are the same as those featured in the Project Gotham games. However unlike PGR which showed some of the most recognizable tourist spots and landmarks, Blur takes players to much grittier locations to suit the pace and feel of the game. Each track features alternative routes and shortcuts. The locations are not all one to one with the real places that the tracks are located. To create the best racing experience the developers of Blur have altered some of the locations from satellite, aerial, and on site photos. One example is San Francisco, where the developers changed the shoreline to create a fast paced race.

Power-ups

Blur features vehicular combat using power-ups collected along the race track. You can hold more than one power-up at once--up to five depending on purchased upgrades--and they can be cycled using the shoulder buttons. It is possible to stack the same power-ups to use in quick succession, and they can be dropped back onto the track at any time.

*Note: The weapon descriptions refer to the standard weapons' behavior before Mods are applied.

Power-up	Behavior	Range	Associated Mods
	The Mine power-up can be dropped behind the racer, or shot as a projectile for a short distance in front of the racer. When dropped behind or shot ahead, if left untouched the Mine will stay in place for the entirety of the race. Additionally, when shot ahead the Mine can impact a wall and not disappear -- it will simply stop and rest against the wall. And moreover, the Mine can be used defensively and be shot ahead to impact other mines laying on the track, or dropped behind to avoid being hit by a shunt that is homing in on the racer. Upon a successful hit, it causes the car to spin out. With the Mastermine mod equipped, near-missing a Mine will cause it to explode into multiple, smaller Mine fragments which when hit 'cause tire blowouts.	Short -- Medium when shot ahead	MasterMine Showy Flourish Bribe
	The Shunt power-up is a slow-moving homing orb projectile that upon a successful hit causes the car the spin out. It will seek out the racer one place ahead of the player. In addition, it can be shot behind -- but the Shunt will lose its homing capability. The Shunt can be evaded by making very unpredictable moves -- drifting wildly and simply side swiping a wall can often cause the Shunt to hit the wall instead of the player. Additionally, the Shunt can hit other racers it isn't locked onto if they get into its path.	Long	Bribe Showy Flourish Iron Fist Saftey Net
	The Nitro power-up is a speed boost. It can also be used as an 'air-brake' (by holding down the thumbstick), that when activated almost completely stops the players car and allows for precise steering before the speed boosts starts. It is handy when used just before a sharp hair-pin turn.	N/A	Drifter Frontrunner Bribe
	The Repair power-up when activated restores 4 of your damaged vehicles' health bars.	N/A	Bribe
	The Barge power-up when activated releases a powerful energy burst around the car, and is as much a defensive weapon as an offensive one. Offensively, it's used to hit close-by racers with a blast of energy which slows them down considerably, and can even be used to knock them off the sides of cliffs. Defensively, it can be used to shield yourself against a variety of other weapons. The Shunt, Bolts, and Mines can all be evaded successfully by using the Barge just before impact of the offending weapons.	Short	Last Gasp Bribe Slash Damage Showy Flourish Safety Net
	The Shock power-up rains down 3 balls of energy in close proximity to each other, in front of the racer in first place, that stay on the ground short amount of time before disappearing. This power-up can be stacked -- meaning the more racers that pick up this power-up and activate it, the more balls of energy will appear in front of the first place racer. When hit, the racer the will slow down considerably.	Long	Bribe Showy Flourish
	The Bolt power-up allows the player to shoot 3 small, extremely fast moving, non-homing projectiles in a straight path ahead, or behind the player. They can also be used defensively, and can destroy an incoming Shunt or Mine (2 of the 3 Bolts have to hit the incoming threat for this to be successful.) When shot, the Bolts will not disappear until they hit a wall, a racer or another weapon -- and upon a successful hit will cause the racers car to veer around wildly. And additionally, if a Bolt successfully hits a vehicle that is mid-flight the vehicle will overturn.	Long	Bribe Showy Flourish Overbolt Safety Net
	The Shield power-up is strictly defensive. When activated it makes the players' car impervious to damage for a short time. When hit with a weapon while the Shield is active, the Shield will disappear. Additionally, when active it will also make the racer extremely resistant to taking damage and slowing down when slamming into a wall at high speed.	N/A	Bribe Adaptive Shielding Safety Net

As you gain more fans you will earn 'mods' to create your own personal 'load-outs', similar to the method found in Modern Warfare 2. There are a total of 24 mods you can unlock. These mods can be used tactically to give yourself an advantage in different types of situations. Players choose their load-out before the race, and once it is chosen you cannot switch it out until the race is complete. You have a total of 4 preset load-outs you can customize (and even rename), whch allows you to quickly switch to the appropriate set in in the precious seconds between races. In multiplayer you have 3 mods active at once, in single player you have one (once you earn one). There are separate mods for multiplayer and single player:

Multiplayer Mods

Single Player Mods

• Armor Plating (Boss) - Reduce the damage sustained from heavy Power-ups

• Nitro Rift (Boss) - Clear the path ahead by firing a rift of energy forward every time you use a Nitro Power-up.

• Scatter Shot (Boss) - Fire off all three Bolt Power-up rounds at once.

• Titanium Shield (Boss) - Increase your Shield Power-up strength and use it to smash opposition cars out of your way

• Super Shunt (Boss) - Increase the power of your Shunt Power-ups.

• Overbolt (Boss) - Gain an extra Bolt round for every Bolt Power-up.

• Quadshock (Boss) - Gain an extra Shock dome when using the Shock Power-up.

• Fan Nitro (Boss) - Gain a Nitro Power-up for every 500 fans earned.

Vehicles

There are ~50-55 vehicles available to the player. You start with a small selection and unlock more as you progress through the game. The different classes of vehicles are D, C, B, A and Off-Road, with D being the lower quality vehicles, A being the supercars and Off-Road vehicles specializing on off-road tracks. There are also different driving categories of vehicles. These include Very Grippy, Grippy, Balanced, Drifty and Very Drifty. The "Grippy" cars are very good at taking corners, but are very hard to drift. While "Drifty" cars are very good at drifting, but much easier to lose control of your vehicle. These different categories are meant to separate the good drivers from the great drivers. This is because you need to have excellent control over the drifty cars and in order to be successful on all tracks one must be efficient with a variety of vehicles.

When you complete One-on-One races you will can that "Bosses" car. These cars can then be used in multiplayer as long as you have reached the proper level and unlocked the stock model in multiplayer. These Boss cars are already fully upgraded so they have an advantage over the stock models.

Vehicle List

*Note* This chart does not contain the Legendary Vehicles

(SP) = Single Player

(MP) = Multiplayer

Ranking System

The game features 50 multiplayer ranks, 10 Legend ranks and 25 single player ranks. The Legend ranks can be achieved once you reach level 50. This will cause your rank to be reset to 1, but in return you will receive a legend car and a legend rank. In order for the player to progress through the levels they need to achieve fans. Fans can be achieved in several different ways, such as completing the 50 challenges in the game or performing well in the race (drifting, hitting opponents with power-ups and your final placing). The number of fans you achieve can be increased by using certain modifications in your load-outs.

Challenges

Drivers Ed

Most basic challenges

• Airbrake III - reverse nitro 20 times
• Barge III - Barge 50 cars
• Bolt III - Bolt 100 cars
• Minesweeper III - Destroy 20 mines without taking damage

  

• Nitro III - Overtake 50 cars using nitro
• Rear Guard III - Block 20 attacks using reverse power-up
• Reverse Bolt III - Hit 20 cars with reverse bolt
• Reverse Shunt III - Hit 20 cars with reverse shunt
• Shield III - Block 50 attacks with shield
• Shock III - Hit 50 cars with shock
• Shock Evader III - Evade 50 shocks targeted at you
• Shunt III - Hit 50 cars with shunt
• Shunt Evader III - Evade 50 shunts
• Top Three III - Finish in 1, 2 or 3 50 times
• Mine Lobber III - Hit 20 cars with forward mines

Demolition

Challenges based around aggressive driving

• Brutal Delux I - Push a car off a cliff or into water
• Carnage I - Cause the most damage in a ranked event
• Vendetta I - Wreck an opponent twice in a ranked event

  

• Bruiser III - Deal out 300 heavy hits
• Brute Force III - Wreck 20 cars by ramming them
• Fully Bolt III - Fully bolt 50 cars
• Light Weight III - Deal out 300 light hits
• Master Exploder III - Explode a mine with another mine 50 times
• Nitro Ram III - Nitro ram 50 cars
• Bully III - Bully 20 cars
• Cause and Effect III - Hit 5 cars with one barge
• Punisher III - Wreck 15 cars during a ranked event
• Retribution III - Perform 5 revenge attacks during a ranked event
• Rivalry III - Wreck your rival 50 times
• Wrecking Ball III - Wreck 200 cars

Daily

Challenges that reset each day (bonus will be given if all challenges are completed that day)

• Face Plant - Crash into 100 cars
• Hard day's work - Win 5 races in a day
• Overtake - Overtake 100 cars in a day
• Participant - Finish 20 races in a day
• Pied piper - Earn the most fans in a 20 player race
• Demolitions expert - Wreck 50 cars in a day

  

• Distance - Drive a total of 150 miles in day
• Hoarder - Pick up 500 power-ups in a day
• Aggressive personality - Hit 250 cars with power-ups
• Car Crazy - Use 30 different cars in a day
• Chain Reaction - Achieve a 10x combo
• Hat Trick - Win 3 races in a row
• Head in the clouds - Spend 10 seconds in the air
• Well traveled - Visit each country in the game
• Style - perform 500 scoring moves

Specialist

Very specific challenges aimed at power-ups and mods

• Afterburner - Win a race only using nitro
• Backwards Thinking - Win a race using only backwards attacks
• Barge Specialist - Win using only barge in a race
• Bolt Specialist - Win using only bolt in a race
• Jumper - Perform 3 nitro jumps in a race
• Mine Specialist - Win using only mines in a race
• Pacifist - Win a race without using any Power-ups

  

• Adaptive Shielding III - Absorb 50 power-ups with adaptive shielding
• Battering Ram III - Hit 100 cars with battering ram
• Deceiver III - Hit 50 cars with Decoy Drops
• Drifter III - Earn 50 nitros using the Drifter mod
• Mastermine III - Trigger 50 mines using the Mastermine mod
• Road Sweeper III - Collect 300 power-ups with magnetic field mod
• Scrambler III - Scramble 100 cars with Scrambler mod
• Stealth III - Overtake 100 cars while invisible using Silent Running mod
• Last Gasp III - Hit 15 cars with Last Gasp mod

Ace

The hardest challenges

• Choose One - Fire 6 reverse bolt landing each shot while driving fast
• Extremely Extreme - Jump 150 meters in a single jump
• FLT - Maintain 225mph for 5 seconds
• High Slider - Drift 175 meters or more in a single drift
• Quick Draw - Wreck 3 cars in 5 seconds
• Tearaway - Finish at least 30 seconds ahead of 2nd place

  

• Ultimate Comeback - Get into first place, then last, then win the race
• Skeet Shooter - Wreck an airborne opponent
• Aim to Please III - Earn 5000 fans in 30 seconds
• Unguarded III - Complete 5 races without using a shield
• Thick Skin III - Complete 5 races without using a repair
• Untouchable III - Take no damage for 5 races
• Rampage III - Wreck 10 opponents in a race without being wrecked yourself
• Sidewinder III - Drift into 500 power-ups
• Elf Eyes III - Score 100 long shot bolt hits

Car Upgrades

When you race a certain car you can gain upgrades for that specific car. These upgrades include:

Fan Boost

Earn extra Fans when racing in that car.

Health Boost

Gain an extra block of health for that car.

Performance

Unlocks a boost in speed for that vehicle.

Paint Jobs

Coming in first in a race unlocks a series of paint effects to make your rides even more unique. The styles are Metallic, Opalescent, then Candy.

Post-race Game Awards

At the conclusion of every online multiplayer race, up to 5 post-race humorously named Game Awards are distributed among the players. For example, an award for picking up the most power-ups (named the 'Squirrel' award) in the race will be given to that specific player (ties are possible) for all to see. One player can win multiple awards, and also note that the awards are present for simple amusement -- winning a post-race award does not amount to the player receiving extra Fans. The following is a complete list of the post game awards;

Soundtrack

The Blur soundtrack consists mostly of electronic dance music. Featuring 14 artists, many of the tracks were edited (some very heavily) specifically for the game. The song that plays when first booting up the game to the main menu is an edited version of The Crystal Method's track "Smile?"

• Coldcut - "Atomic Moog"
• Coldcut - "Everything Is Under Control"
• Daedelus - "Make It So"
• DJ Kentaro - "Harvest Dance"
• Hexstatic - "Red Laser Beam"
• Pest - "Delucid"
• Pest - "Pat Pong (Solid Groove Remix)"
• Spank Rock - "Bump (Best Fwends Remix)"
• The Heavy - "Coleen (Rhythmic Beater Remix)"
• The Herballeer - "Gadget Funk"
• The Qemists - "S.W.A.G."
• The Qemists - "Dem Na Like Me (V.I.P. Mix)
• The Qemists - "Let There Be Light"
• The Qemists - "On The Run (V.I.P Mix)"
• The Qemists - "Stompbox (Spore Remix)"
• The Crystal Method - "Smile?"
• Thunderheist - "Nothing 2 Step 2 (Trevor Loveys Remix)"
• Two Fingers - "That Girl"
• Zero dB - "Te Quiero (ATFC Remix)"
• Ennio Morricone - "The Ecstasy of Gold (Bandini Remix)"

Avatar Awards

The Xbox 360 version of Blur has 5 avatar awards, all T-shirts.

• Wreck Tee - (Achievement: Been there, got the T-shirt) Wreck your first opponent.
• Sticker Tee - Complete the sticker book. (earn all achievements)
• Legend Tee - Unlock the first Legend rank in multiplayer.
• Showdown Tee - Beat all boss fights in the single player game.
• Friend Rechallenge Tee - Beat a friend's rechallenge.

PC System Requirements

Minimum:

• Windows XP/Vista/7
• Intel Pentium 4 @ 3.4 GHz
• 1 GB RAM
• 7.8 GB Free HDD Space
• 256 MB Video Memory
• nVidia GeForce 6600 GT or ATI Radeon 1600XT
• DirectX 9.0c
• DirectX Compatible Sound Card
• Broadband Internet Connection for Online Multiplayer
• Keyboard
• Mouse
• DVD Rom Drive

Recommended:

• Windows XP/Vista/7
• Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.2 GHz
• 2 GB RAM
• 15 GB Free HDD Space
• 256 MB Video Memory
• nVidia GeForce 7800 GT or ATI Radeon 1800XT
• DirectX 9.0c
• DirectX Compatible Sound Card
• Broadband Internet Connection for Online Multiplayer
• Keyboard
• Mouse
• DVD Rom Drive