The underrated Blur should get its sequel after Microsoft's Activision purchase

The talk of the video gaming town this week has been without a doubt Microsoft's takeover of Activision-Blizzard. For a frankly ridiculous $70bn, Microsoft now have the largest video gaming developers under their wings.

Whether you think this is a good thing for gaming or not, it's something that will definitely shake the industry up. There are always opportunities when it comes to new ownership, and we can't think of many series that are due a revival more than Blur. Let's take a look at the game and what made it special!

A neon dream

A look at Blur's box art will show you what you're in for when you pop the game into your system. Blur is fast, mind-mindbogglingly fast. The few laps you get to race against your opponents can easily flash by, but that's all part of the fun.

Developers Bizarre Creations blended the fun of karting power-ups with the high-octane action of a serious racing game. This is something we haven't before or since in the racing genre.

The sound and feel of the cars were great, but the game literally shone when it came to its graphics. The neon visuals of the power-ups at night made for an incredible view and one you never got tired of seeing. Add that to an extensive garage of real-world cars and locations to race around and you've got an instant classic.

Blur was extremely fun and addictively re-playable, so asking why we haven't seen a sequel in over a decade is something we didn't see being asked back in 2010.

Why Blur commercially failed

You might be wondering why, after twelve years, we still haven't got a sequel to Blur. That's a very legitimate question, especially given the rave reviews that the games got from players and critics. The professionals and the casuals rarely agree on anything, but they both sang Blur's praises together.

However, commercially, Blur fell short of the mark. While half a million sales worldwide may sound like a lot, it's not by video gaming standards. This was largely down to both a new Need for Speed and Gran Turismo game also being released during 2010, as well as the similarly bonkers Split/Second.

Activision, Bizarre's new parent company, gambled big-time on Blur becoming a cash cow for their new outlet. Blur was meant to take on the likes of Forza, NFS and GT, but ended up suffering because of them. Despite Bizarre stating that they intended to make more Blur games, this never happened.

In 2011, just a year after Blur's launch, Activision closed Bizarre Creations down for good. With it, all hope of a new Blur game went away, as Activision moved away from the racing genre.

What Blur on next-gen would look like

Blur launched on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC back in 2010. Since then, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X have entered the market and are miles ahead of their predecessors. The visuals of Blur would definitely benefit from a 4K resolution and the 60 frames per second it would run in would make the experience silky smooth.

An expanded car catalogue and more new locations and power-ups would also be on the agenda. Add in the instant loading that the PS5 and Series X both offer, and this is an experience that you wouldn't forget in a hurry.

Blur launched when the arcade racing genre was arguably over-saturated, but nowadays there's actually a hole that is yet to be filled. Forza Horizon 5 is an exception to this, but on PlayStation 5 especially, there isn't a great arcade racer out yet. That will likely change when NFS 2022 is launched this year, but there is definitely a place for Blur 2 in the current market.

Let's not avoid the elephant in the room though, we'd definitely tone down the AI's aggression and improve the drifting model for Blur 2.

What we absolutely do not want though is a re-textured remaster, which would be a cop-out. A ground-up remaster though, would be something we'd like to see, but a brand-new game would be ideal.