Caltrops - Gamerasutra





	[quote name="Jerry Whorebach"]That's not going to stop me from commenting on it. Blur was developed by Bizarre Creations, and since I'm pretty sure they only know how to make one game, I'm just going to assume it's Project Gotham with weapons. In which case it's probably a solid, middle of the road compromise between a survey sim (like Gran Turismo) and a flat-out arcade drifter (like Ridge Racer) that requires none of the technique of either. It probably takes place in a series of dreary, colourless urban environments, and you're probably being constantly showered by some kind of numerical progress points, even when you're losing. I imagine the addition of weapons adds a frustrating and pointless (at least in single player) layer of randomness, where the punishment for taking first place is every CPU driver trying to shove a turtle shell up your exhaust pipe. Also, if you're playing the console version, it probably runs a "cinematic" 30 FPS instead of the desired 60. All that being said, it's still probably a highly polished and reasonably enjoyable game, from a developer with a long and respectable racing pedigree, and I suspect you'd be hard pressed to find a legitimate critic willing to go any lower than an 8/10. As an introduction (or re-introduction) to the genre, it might even be ideal. Just remember: when you start to get bored, there are places to go. Funner places. [CREDIBILITY DESTROYING SIDEBAR: For the longest time, I couldn't understand the internet's complaints about Doom 3 - the flashlight, the pacing, etc. Then I found out the PC version, which released almost a year before the Xbox port, was actually a slightly different game. Both the level design and the lighting had to be simplified for the original Xbox, which the developers accomplished by excising any rooms that didn't have firefights in them (including, I've been told, about a half-hour(!) of walking around before you even see your first monster), and cranking up the brightness in the ones that remained. On top of that, all the corridors were widened to accomodate two-player co-op over Xbox Live. The result was a dumb, fatless shooter with excellent weapon effects which, despite paling in comparison to the originals, was likely a little bit closer to them than the graphically- and atmospherically- "superior" PC version. Which is a roundabout way of saying <i>I kinda liked Doom 3.</i>][/quote]