The Urban Shogun

Gamers everywhere will have been hit with a conundrum this week on which of two racing titles to go with, but Blur hopes to get one leg up on it’s opposite number, Split/Second in bringing a twist to the racing car genre. Without taking itself too seriously, racing title is better suited for the veteran racing gamer. The last few weeks we’ve seen a general cool down of game releases at least on the PC front with only Alpha Protocol, Prince of Persia and Split/Second to be big named titles in recent weeks, but a game like Blur has entered the arena providing a breath of fresh air.

Read on for the full review and game trailers.

Here is the Blur trailer for Xbox 360/PS3.

I must point out that I’ve only been playing this game on the PC and not on the console so my opinion is only reserved for that platform.

Positives

Brilliant core idea of power-ups
Large selection of (licensed) vehicles
Well rounded driving mechanics
Diverse number of levels across many continents
Good selection of Licensed music
Impressive visual effects

Negatives

“Silly” objectives
Unbalanced difficulty level
Lack of vibrancy or vividness in environments
Laborious game mode
Odd and Un-configurable Control Scheme

I’ll skip the formality of explaining the format of the game and just provide my own opinion but The Guardian has a decent explanation of the basic fundamentals of the game for those of you who don’t know what the game is about.

There are straight races, checkpoint races (in which you have to pick up stopwatch and speed-boost power-ups in order to pass a specified number of checkpoints), destruction races (in which you must use triple-shot gun power-ups to acquire extra time by destroying rival cars) and one-on-one races. Each of the tracks has Fan Runs you can trigger, opening up a series of gates you have to steer through for bonus fans and lights (which are what you otherwise win by finishing in the top three). Source: The Guardian

So basically the game is Super Mario Kart but for adults with a few changes in game modes and presentation. The first thing I shall say about the game is that it’s an absolute blast to play on just a purely “fun” scale. The mix of what is essentially Need for Speed Underground and Super Mario Kart is very smart. There are over 55 licensed vehicles ranging from a 1950’s pickup truck Ford FR-100 all the way to my favourite car the Volkswagon Scirocco 24 to a large Land Rover LRX. The big range of cars means that for most levels you usually find a good enough vehicle to do the job.

The Power-ups in the game are fantastic. They really do set the game apart from other racing games out there. Amongst my favourite are the homing bolts that track the next opponent flipping them into a somersault as well as the protective shockwave that shunts all nearby cars away from you and temporarily slowing them down. The power ups in this game is definitely the highlight of the game. It vastly increases the tactical element to a driving game whereby rather than deciding to drift round a corner and bump an opponent out the way, you could decide to “Nitro Ram” him or lay a mine just in front of your opponent or fire reverse shunts in mid drift onto unsuspecting trailing opponents. There are numerous possibilities which is helped when you can not only fire forwards but also defensively backwards. You can use bolts to shoot down incoming missiles, mines that fire forwards and into the opponent in front, there really is a wealth of possibilities. This in itself is probably worth the cost of getting the game in itself and it’s such an underrated factor but just pure enjoyment factor alone, this game wins hands down. It’s an addictive and viscerally satisfying experience to be able to port the fun from Super Mario Kart over to a more adult audience and to serious racing fanatics.

In terms of driving mechanics, the vehicles feel pretty well rounded if a little on the heavy handed side. With tight turns, most times you’ll find yourself needing to slow down even a little as drifting can be bit of a hit or miss in the game as there is such a small margin for error. The game itself is actually surprisingly tough, it starts off simple enough with you being able to come first in most the starting races. However as the game progresses you’ll find the difficulty curve taking a distinctively upward direction and rather sharply. This is where I get to my first gripe of the game, it’s too fracking hard. Not in the way in which repeated attempts at a level will get you through it, but tough as in the amount of “perfect” driving, ridiculous prerequisites and tactics required in the later races is far far too high. That and when you do give in and shamefully turn the difficulty down, it becomes too easy to the point where it’s almost unsatisfying or even boring to win an event.

At every rung of the career ladder, there’s a boss car to beat at the end, however even if you’ve beaten all the competitions, come first and obtained all the “lights” required for all the events leading up to the boss, there’s still a further 4 demands that must be met in order to take on the boss car. Oh and these are 4 puny challenges here, these are full-on “collect 100 of this item” sort of challenge. I can understand extending the life of a game by including these, but some of them are simply ridiculous. One boss required that you must knock an opponent into the water as part of a pre-requisite to face him. There isn’t even a lee-way of some kind or a middle ground of doing 3 out of the 4 requirements. Off the top of my head, I can only think of two stages that even have accessible water in them and the points in them at which you can knock an opponent into the water are few and far between. So rather than naturally playing a game with an objective to win, you’re constantly distracted by this notion that you may at some point in order to progress, need to lie in wait at the side of the road, wait for an opponent to conspicuously drive into your road side trap and then ram him into the water. This really ends up hurting the pacing of the game.

Speaking of which, the highlight game modes of the Blur game are your basic race, and destruction mode. The first is a simple first to the finish whilst the second requires you to destroy as many vehicles in front of you in a given time period. However by including a checkpoint game mode, I find this to be seriously tiresome and almost a chore to work through. Some are easy and can be dealt with quickly, but others are simply difficult beyond explanation. So why might this be such a big deal after all? It’s that you can’t progress any further in the game without doing all of these tasks and not just passing them, but actually doing them well. This often leaves you as the gamer at an empasse in the game many times and makes you go back to previous levels and repeat them over and over again in order to scrape together the odd “light” here and there to get through to the next round.

Although I’ve mentioned a lot of negatives about the game, I genuinely believe that the amount of fun you do have driving around and smashing other people’s cars up really does set this game apart. It’s one of those games that although unpolished, it’s a hell of a lot of fun playing and isn’t that just what games were made to do? Anyways I believe anyone whose ever enjoyed Super Mario Kart and needs a good driving game to get their teeth into, should really get their hands on a copy of Blur.

Ratings

Story :- N/A

Design :- 6.0

Gameplay :- 9.0

Graphics :- 8.1

Enjoyment Factor :- 9.4

Overall :- 8.1

LiveJournal Tags: Blur

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This could well be the future of transportation as we know it. From the makers of such cars as the M3 comes the GINA Light Visionary Model. A car that will be made from not your traditional panels of aluminium or steel but from a single sheet of fabric stretched over a movable metal frame.

Check below for more on the amazing concept and a 3 minute video of it in action.

Taken from the Autopia:

Chris Bangle, head of design for BMW, says GINA allowed his team to "challenge existing principles and conventional processes."

"It is in the nature of such visions that they do not necessarily claim to be suitable for series production," company officials said in unveiling the car Tuesday. "Rather, they are intended to steer creativity and research into new directions."

Giving Bangle and his team that latitude to design so radical a car "helps to tap into formerly inconceivable, innovative potential" to push the boundaries of appearance and materials as well as functions and the manufacturing process, BMW says.

Bangle and is team actually built GINA — which stands for "Geometry and functions In ‘N’ Adaptions" — six years ago, but BMW kept it under, er, wraps until Tuesday. It’s built on the Z8 chassis and has a 4.4-liter V8 and six-speed automatic transmission. BMW says the fabric skin - polyurethane-coated Lycra - is resilient, durable and water resistant. It’s stretched over an aluminum frame controlled by electric and hydraulic actuators that allow the owner to change the body shape. Want a big spoiler on the back? Wider fenders? No problem. "The drastic reinterpretation of familiar functionality and structure means that drivers have a completely new experience when they handle their car," BMW says.

GINA has just four panels - the front hood, two sides and the rear deck. The doors open in jack-knife fashion and are completely smooth when closed; access to the engine is through a slit in the hood. BMW says the shape of the body can be changed without slackening or damaging the fabric. The fabric is ~~opaque~~ translucent so the taillights shine through, and small motors pull the fabric back to reveal the headlights.

The interior is equally innovative. The steering wheel and gauges swing into place and the headrest rises from the seat once the driver is seated, making it easier to get in and out of the car.

BMW says GINA is built on a space frame that provides all the safety of a conventional car, but we suspect people - not to mention BMW’s lawyers and government regulators - wouldn’t embrace fabric bodies. Still, the company says GINA could influence the design of future Beemers.

Here is a video of it in action: