Blur is awesome.

So today, checking the Steam sales, I noticed Blur was on there for $14.99. I have always wanted to try this game and at that price I figured "hey, why not?"

Totally, totally worth it. As soon as I started I was gleefully taking out other cars with powerups and getting ahead, laughing with joy as I was drawn in by the graphics. I had some crashing issues with the PC version but most people would go for the 360 or PS3 version instead, which is perfectly fine.

Blur is Mario Kart with real cars, in case you never saw the (humorous) ads. It also has a great powerup system. The powerups are fixed and they act somewhat like Mario Kart items (the Shunt is like a red shell, Nitro is like a mushroom) and you can carry 3 at once and switch between them. Powerups counter themselves and can be defended against easily, unlike say the Spiny Shell in Mario Kart Double Dash onward.

You unlock new cars by gaining fans, kind of like experience in an RPG. The cars range from hot hatches (Renault Megane, Ford Focus) to sports cars (Nissan 350Z, Toyota Supra) to even off road vehicles (Bowler Nemesis, Land Rover Discovery). They each have their upsides and downsides, some drift a lot while some grip easier.

Do not believe IGN's video review, this game is not hard. It is fair to the player and having the right powerups to defend helps immensely. Some of the challenges to race the rivals in Career mode are a bit tough to pull off but can be done with practice. The controls are great, but drifting feels slow and can sometimes be nearly uncontrollable. Music is off by default but can be switched to a quite good licensed soundtrack. Courses range from the urban streets of LA to the waterfront of Brighton and the twisty downhill of Mt. Haruna (the real Mt. Akina from Initial D!)

Online play is good despite a dearth of players, but usually someone is ready to race at times.

Considering the state of Bizarre Creations I would say this is worth it to support them in this hard time. Although PGR is their more well known racing game this is also very fun and well thought out.