Traditionally, if a gamer wanted to hop into a racing game that had you wreaking havoc on the other racers so you could win, you had to endure goofy, cartoony characters. While games like Mario Kart have proven themselves to be well-designed, hectic and addicting, hardcore gamers had to deal with an obviously casual-geared game. Fortunately for the hardcore and casual alike, Blur aims to bridge the gap between them with an awesome kart-style racing game.

You may or may not remember Blur’s development team, Bizarre Creations, from their Project Gotham Racing series, where they pushed the envelope of racing games by adding in a system where you could drive stylishly and end well. Once again, they’ve made a racing game stand out: this time they’ve took the basics of kart racing and used real cars instead of goofy characters. While it may be odd to see, say, a Camaro firing off colorful, beautifully-animated power-ups at 19 other cars (a total of twenty drivers at once!), it’s certainly a lot of fun.

The meat of the game lies in the ingenious mechanics beneath the hood. All of the game’s plentiful cars are balanced nicely; each car is built for a specific purpose like drifting or being grippy. Mixed in with the vehicles are the game’s power-ups: they cap out at eight and each one is designed to work with and against each other. An example would be the “Shunt” power: it can be fired both forwards and backwards, and its main use is to explode your opponents and slow them down. However, it can also be fired into a mine or into another Shunt to stop it from hitting your car.

It’s the brilliant gameplay that brings players back for more; no matter how many times you get blown up or fall behind, the game never managed to feel cheap or unfair. The various tracks are fun to race on and power-ups are never randomly placed (though there is an option to make them randomized for those old-school kart racers), allowing you to plan ahead during a race.

Blur’s gorgeous visuals are another plus point: this is one pretty racing game. From the detailed vehicles to the eye-popping power-ups, your eyes certainly won’t get bored while you play. The aforementioned Shunt power takes the shape of a car-sized neon meteor hurtling around the track, showcasing Bizarre’s talent for awesome light-shows. This won’t be surprising to those fans of Bizarre’s colorful Geometry Wars series.

Unfortunately for those solo gamers out there, Blur’s weak point is its grind-happy career mode. It takes place across several “episodes,” each of which ending with a race against a boss car. While these are some of the most fun races, the bosses demand you achieve certain objectives before they’ll face you. Usually these take the form of things you’d normally do during a Blur race, some of them are so specific you’ll end up replaying races just to meet the criteria.

The multiplayer does an amazing job of making up for the lackluster singleplayer experience. Taking cues from Modern Warfare, of all places, pays off big; as players win races, they unlock new cars and “mods” that give their cars small, specific powers. With things like nitro boosts for drifting and extra health, the mods manage to not unbalance the game whilst expanding your choices.

So would I recommend Blur? Yes, most definitely; everyone can have a good time with Blur, from the hardcore to the casual. With Blur’s only issue being a pointless career mode, it’s hard to find anything else to really hate. I’ll give Blur an A; now if you’ll excuse me, my ’65 Camaro needs to Shunt a few of the new model ones!

Cody Webb lives in Live Oak.