Previews// Blur

To get to that boss battle, things are a bit more involved than just placing first to third in each of the races. As you go, you have to earn 'lights'. In a given race there are seven lights up for grabs. Five of those are based on whether you finish first, second or third. Two more, however, are awarded based on whether you complete 'Fan Targets'. One of these will revolve around doing something such as using power-ups in a certain way, while another will require you to complete an in-game slalom which you activate by hitting a particular power-up. You also have to earn 'Fans' which, for all intents and purposes, are points. If you've played Rock Band you know the drill. Get enough lights and fans and you'll open up boss battles.

Not every event is a race, either. Other 'Challenges' are thrown in for good measure. One I completed involved speeding round the streets of Brighton while causing as much damage to other vehicles as possible. Only the 'triple shot' power-up, which shoots un-targeted blasts from your vehicle, was available and a clock was counting down...

No over-arching plot has been provided to explain how you come to be driving a Ford Focus that can make lightening bolts shoot from the sky at random, and I think that's for the best. It's a game, and Bizarre trusts you to understand that without a hokey story to ease you in.

Playing through a few levels, I got the feeling that Bizarre has nailed the realism of the cars. I'm no sim expert, but the handling quickly demonstrates that Blur is a very different beast to kart racing games, despite the heavy emphasis on power-ups. I barely scratched the surface of the 50+ vehicles on offer, but it was pretty clear that there's a lot of difference in how the different models handle. They don't drift like Shadow the Hedgehog, either... You might be getting hammered on all sides by mines, shunts (rockets) and barges (shockwaves), but you've still got to put some thought into that corner.

I have to say, though, that as much fun as the single-player campaign was, split-screen multiplayer was where it was at for me. Several of the Bizarre staff I spoke to seemed a bit baffled by the fact that more games don't feature offline multiplayer these days and I'm inclined to share their befuddlement. While I enjoyed pushing through the campaign and I enjoyed fending off real players in the online multiplayer beta, neither's quite the same as hearing someone in the same room as you let fly with an unrepeatable string of expletives because you just made them explode. Or in my case (I was playing against Bizarre community managers Ben Ward and Ami Langton, who were undeniably my betters at Blur) reaching new creative peaks with my swearing as I got left somewhere in their dust.

Annoying as it can be to get turned into scrap, however, I never felt too frustrated. Bizarre has put in a lot of work to make you feel like you've not been cheated. There's no 'magic bullet' to take you out if you're heading the front of the pack and every attack can be blocked or avoided. In other words, if you get the shit kicked out of you, you only have yourself to blame...

Blur is due out on May 28th.