It’s a butt load of fun. There. Impressions put to paper/blog or whatever. But, no, seriously, the short time I’ve spent with Bizarre Creations latest entry into the racing genre has been filled with nothing but me laughing like a buffoon. In a good way, of course.

What I loved:

It. Is. FUN – As mentioned above pretty much my entire time spent with this has involved me laughing. Whether I was at the back of the pack hopelessly losing, or jostling violently with the forerunners desperately trying to sneak over the finishing line before them, only for a sneaky hit from a Shunt to send me veering wildly off course, the game has quite clearly been designed with one clear factor in mind: fun.

The weapons – It’s rare to see weapons in a racing game these days that isn’t a kart based game, or the wonderful Wipeout, and the ones on offer here certainly are a diverse and incredibly useful bunch. Shunt acts like the homing missile you’d expect to be here, and Nitro obviously behaves exactly as you’d expect, but elsewhere there are some devious entries into the foray. Barge acts as a kind of 360 degree shotgun blast, knocking any other car trying to overtake you (or indeed, you trying to overtake them) flying. Mine is as you’d expect, but rather than the Wipeout style trail of mines, it acts more like the devastating Bomb from that series, and can also be aimed forwards for anyone refusing to let you pass them. Misplace a forward placed mine, though, and expect to have a massive taste of your own medicine. There is a wonderful array of tactics available with Blur’s weapons, and using them tactfully once the whole ‘OMG press to fire them all!’ thing wears off, the risk/reward setup is immensely satisfying when it pays off.

The handling – Blur strikes a fine balance between the realistic handling of the Project Gotham’s before it, but with a hint of the ridiculous from Burnout. Anyone with a previous knowledge of PGR’s kudos system will be right at home here, albeit with a need to learn Blur’s own exaggerated take on it.

The tracks – The few tracks on offer in the beta are superb, rewarding fine driving skills with cat-like reflexes, and never once feeling unfair with unexpected obstacles bringing you to a standstill. The obstacles that are there are all easily avoided, but the fun comes from using these obstacles to your advantage against the competition.

The ranking/unlock/mod system – Only really teased at in the beta, but clearly displaying the potential for diversity, Blur’s grading system will be a point of major interest in the final release. Behaving more like an FPS in the ranking and perks department, Blur offers superb customization for different play styles. Want to advance in rank more quickly, but don’t care much for outright combat? Then give yourself a ‘Show Off’ set up, but expect to get destroyed if someone does land hits on you. On the other hand, want to go all out, then kit yourself out with extra splash damage for the Barge attack, and give yourself the extra ram damage and nobody is really gonna be arguing with you.

What I didn’t love:

There is simply not enough of it – Yep, it’s a beta, and I shouldn’t complain about getting the chance to play this nearly three months before it hits the shelves, but the game is just so much god damned fun that I want the disc in my 360 right now.

No music! – Nitpicking for sure, but the beta has no music to accompany the onscreen craziness. Bizarre Creations always throw great OST’s together, and having that currently missing does take away a bit of the magic. Still, throw your own high-octane playlist together from your  hard drive or an iPod, and the situation is soon remedied.

I have to wait until the end of May to play the full thing – Balls.