Bizarre's Blur purrs on November grid

By Robert Purchese Published 6 August, 2009

PGR's wild child approaches.

Activision has announced that Bizarre Creations' racing game Blur will be released in November.

"In November we'll release our new racing game Blur from Bizarre Creations," Mike Griffith, Activision big cheese, told investors during a financial call yesterday (transcript on Seeking Alpha).

"Blur had a strong showing at E3 as well, including the nomination for best racing game. We're excited to be entering this genre and we think the game itself sets us apart from the competition and will establish a new franchise for the company."

Bizarre Creations is, of course, the creator of Project Gotham Racing, and so has serious genre pedigree.

Blur pelts down the arcade lane once more, only this time without seatbelts on and with a cannon fastened to the bonnet. Head over to our hands-on impressions of Blur to see what we thought.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (25) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • kangarootoo #1 3 years ago

    There seems to be an awful lot of slightly similar arcade racers coming out in the next year. I'm starting to lose track of which is which.

  • muscleblade #2 3 years ago

    Hmmm. I think AC2 and MW2 is more than enough for me in November tbh. This could be a fantastic game though.

  • AtomicBanana #3 3 years ago

    Being A massive PGR whore (loosing 1000's of hours to 2,3 and 4) I really wanted to like this. Sadly I just don't think the realistic cars gel with the arcade game play and power ups. I think it looks totally out classed by Split Second, in style and execution. I hope I'm not right, I really genuinely want this game to work for them.

  • StooMonster #4 3 years ago

    Great music in this game.

  • kinky_mong #5 3 years ago

    Bloody hell there's actually games coming out this year now?!

  • Darren #6 3 years ago

    I got the impression that Blur was poorly received at E3 but then Activision, who are publishing the game, aren't going to admit that.

    Much as I love Bizarre Creations and their PGR series, I can't say I'm too excited about this game from what I've seen of it but hopefully it'll prove to be another gem like PGR 4. If so then I hope it sells better than PGR 4 did!

  • Freek #7 3 years ago

    Yeah, the general impression I got from reading about the game was that the reaction at E3 was generaly "nice idea, but needs some work" .

  • StooMonster #8 3 years ago

    Blur is weird, it's very similar to Mario Kart but with PGR style graphics for cars. Items to pickup give you weapons, boosts or defence and there are jumps and hidden short cuts etc.

    Cartoon gameplay but realistic graphics, does this work as a mashup?

  • paulf #9 3 years ago

    havent they learnt the lesson of not releasing in november when shed loads of other games are out, didnt pgr4 suffer badly in sales because of this?

  • GreyBeard #10 3 years ago

    No malice here, but... this has got flop written all over it.

  • Darren #11 3 years ago

    @GreyBeard - I hope not but *another* generic looking racing game released at the busiest time of year doesn't bode well really. Might have done better if it had been released during the quieter summer months to be honest when it would have had far less competition.

  • DUFFKING #12 3 years ago

    I really want to like this - not enough games have 20 cars in a race.

    8 cars? Pah.

  • spammage #13 3 years ago

    I think this might be one that surprises. To be fair all the PGR's came out at the wrong time too, but quality will shine through and Bizarre Creations have a history of producing the goods.

  • metalangel #14 3 years ago

    I'm sure this will do a roaring trade in the already overcrowded, AAA-ridden holiday crush! Except not really. Car combat games are very often shit, and I can't help but imagine this will be as bland as Hi-Octane was on the Saturn.

  • GreyBeard #15 3 years ago

    @Darren

    Absolutely, the release timing on this is utterly atrocious.

    Its got no buzz whatsoever, and is a tricky sell in the first place, never mind up against behemoths like Forza, NFS, and very likely Gran Turismo.

  • MiniAmin #16 3 years ago

    I would be interested... But i'm still playing PGR4.

    Blur could be good. I hope they "finesse the fight" again this Winter. But as GreyBeard pointed out, it'll be difficult with Forza and NFS being released around the same period.

  • BillyBrush #17 3 years ago

    Dev has a history of making quality racing games....but...this is i imagine will be NFS, Midnight Club only maybe better...which, whilst good is not PGR, which was the perfect mix of arcade / sim they had lightning in a bottle, and they've changed to a new bottle

  • Der_tolle_Emil #18 3 years ago

    Well, PGR4 certainly was all kinds of awesome. However, I'm not quite interested in this yet from what I have read and by the time it will be released I will still be playing Forza 3.

  • db3 #19 3 years ago

    Power-ups...hmmmmmm sounds a bit shite. Leave that to Wipeout.

  • smelly #20 3 years ago

    Soudns like mario kart

  • Pirotic #21 3 years ago

    At E3 the PR chap showing this said, on the record:
    "I don't get this game, to me it's completely underwhelming"
    then moved on to the next game.

    Pretty worrying, but then when I look at it I feel the same way.

  • neems #22 3 years ago

    So is Split Second the one that has explosions, and track deformation and all-around whizz bang (alleged) awesomeness? Cause I get them all confused, but I quite fancy that one. Bright colours and loud bangs please.

  • RobotRocker #23 3 years ago

    Blur has some nice ideas and the "Racebook" feature sounds really intriguing. It was a total flop at E3 though (Mostly since Split//Second stole all its thunder) and launching it into a crowded market at Christmas isnt going to do it any favours. Its a shame, because Bizarre deserve a bit of success. But then, thats what they get for hoping into bed with Activision.

  • metalangel #24 3 years ago

    Perhaps if Blur comes with a pointless piece of plastic shit and they raise the price a bit, more idiots will buy it?

  • Suttieb #25 3 years ago

    Love the msr/pgr series... I think blur, as with pgr4 will come to me via a bargain bin in the new year...