My son and I really enjoy racing games, so we were very happy to see Blur, the new racing game from Activision, available as a demo on Xbox Live.  Those of you who enjoy racing games will note that Activision also runs the hit racing game Project Gotham Racing (newest would be PGR4).  So, we know that Activision knows how to make a good racing game, and after playing Blur, we think that this might not be an exception!

In the demo of Blur, you are online allowed to play online, which is where my only problem with the demo lies.  We sat for a good 10 minutes tonight waiting on other players to show up before we could start.  If the official release for online play makes people wait, then Blur is going to have one serious problem!

However, once connected to other players, we played for about an hour.  And we really enjoyed it!  As a player, you start with an Audi TT roadster, but based on how many races you win, and how many points you achieve, you can quickly add to your garage of cars with a Ford Shelby Mustang, Land Rover, Ford Focus RS, and Chevy Camaro (among others).

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Blur List Price: $39.99 Sale Price: $17.25 You save: $22.74 (57%)

Gameplay in Blur is very fast paced.  The cars are quick and feel light.  Plus, most of them (aside from the Land Rover and Chevy Camaro) were really good at drifting around corners without washing out.  Driving isn't the only skill you need with Blur.  There are power ups and weapons in multiple places throughout each course, which means even if someone drives away from the rest of the pack, they can be pulled back in rather quickly by issuing one of the pretty harmful weapons.

In the multi-player version of Blur, we do feel like your best bet is to try and drive away from the rest of the pack, and then shoot the weapons backwards at your opponents.  This will keep them on the defensive the entire race, and keep you ahead.  The more players in one race (we had 9 online for two races), the more important it is to get away from the rest of the pack.  With 9 players, we noticed two cars would usually pull away every time, leaving the other 7 players shooting at each other, and getting further from the front 2.

All in all, if the offline mode of Blur is as good as the online version, we'll give this game an A rating.  And it honestly needs to be, because I'm afraid that the online version will continue to have the wait time once the game goes live to the masses. Blur is available for pre-sale right now, with a video game credit available from Amazon ($10 currently). The game is available for not only Xbox 360, but the PS3, and for PC, and will be officially released on May 25, 2010. So if you like what you've seen in the demo of Blur, go ahead and pre-order so you can have the game in your hands on release day.

If you've played the demo of Blur, let us know in the comments below what you think about it!

B. Daniels is the lead review expert with Find Cheap Bargains. B. was more than likely the person responsible for the hands-on review of every product on the site. He also spends time searching for sale bargains when not conducting and writing the reviews.