Blur Preview

Behind the power-ups there's still a complex physics engine

Perhaps, though, power-ups aren’t what make Blur interesting. Perhaps it’s something else, something a little more left field. Perhaps it’s the social network and, shock horror, the storyline. That’s right, Blur has a story, a sort of plot, with characters and everything. Rather defensively, Bizarre says Blur’s nothing like Need for Speed, no Z-list celebs, mini skirts or cheesy cutscenes. Nor is it War and Peace.

The story begins in LA, where a small group of friends start racing. More people hear about it, get interested, and it snowballs. By the time you reach New York, Barcelona and Tokyo, hundreds of people flash mob the hastily-arranged races. But you can never spend too long in one area – the attention of news helicopters force you to move on. As you progress, new groups will unlock, new power-ups will be introduced, and you’ll be able to buy more power-up slots for your cars with cash donated by your fans.

So, you’ll race actual characters, not just cars. Khan, for example, is an unsavoury fellow who you race in Hackney. He’s an aggressive sort, and loves using the more devastating power-ups. He’s even got bodyguard racers who protect him on the track. But there are more friendly characters to meet, who use the more passive power-ups like Shield and Nitro. In LA you meet an experienced ex-NASCAR racer who becomes disenfranchised with the local scene and heads off for a spot of destruction racing. You join him. All Bizarre’s doing here is providing a premise for the racing, nothing more, nothing less.

The story, for want of a better word, is told through the social network, a mechanic that forms the backbone of the entire Blur experience. In Facebook-style groups, AI characters will talk to each other in speech bubble messages, commenting on your actions in the previous race. If you’ve taken out an established veteran driver, for example, the group will be amazed at your achievement. Your victim, however, might not be so impressed.

Community has been one of Bizarre's main focuses

A gimmick? Perhaps. By Bizarre’s own admission, nobody is going to play Blur for its social network. But you might end up loving it for it, especially in multiplayer (20-player online, four-player splitscreen). Here the AI racers are replaced by real players, their icons displayed in iPhone-esque small squares. You’ll be able to create your own group tailored to your every whim. Everything from the number of races to the vehicle set can be tweaked. Even the rules that govern victory can be altered. Points might be rewarded for getting a certain distance ahead of second place, or for using power-ups, or for driving like a maniac. Or anything you want. This is Bizarre giving the community the tools to create their own game. If they want a hardcore racer, more akin to PGR4, create a group with power-ups turned off. If they want Cat & Mouse, create a group with Cat & Mouse rules. In many ways, Blur is as much the community’s game as it is Bizarre’s.

It is only after Bizarre reveals this fascinating facet of the game that we truly breathe a sigh of relief. And when we learn that Blur’s game data will be exposed to the internet via a Blur application programming interface (API), which will enable gamers to build iPhone or Facebook apps, we become genuinely excited. The game will even report to Twitter, if you fancy proclaiming to the world your in-game achievements.

Blur is the result of a hugely talented development team bored by a decade-long commitment to the PGR series and desperate for a mainstream racing game hit. Yes it’s got power-ups, and there will be some die hard PGR fans who will turn their noses up at it as a result, but Blur really is hugely ambitious, and the community potential is tremendous. This is not the crazy shift in focus it might feel like at first. This is natural evolution. This is a modern racer for modern times, and there’s no going back.

Blur is due out for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in autumn 2009.