BlazeRush attempts to zoom its way onto the owners of the Playstation 3 with its car racing antics. With its gameplay approach similar to that in Micro Machines, this particular game was already released for the PC and appears to be very ambitious in terms of entering into this genre. How will this play out on the Playstation 3 console?
You have a standard race which you drive your car around three laps. And your objective is simple: try to reach the finish line in first place. BlazeRush consists of a number of tracks to race across three planets featured in this game. When you engage in career mode, you can receive one of five cups depending on your performance. These are important in allowing you to unlock new races and tracks. In addition, these rewards will make it possible for you to progress to the next planet, similar to Mario Kart.
But there can be more to it than that. There can be a survival race where a giant vehicle that is following you to crush your cars. Whichever gameplay type you end up engaging in, you’ll be racing against a number of computer players as you race your way along an isometric camera perspective. Here, all the cars share the same screen. With that in mind, ideally you’ll want to pick up speed boosters to keep yourself on screen. Furthermore, there are various weapons you can pick up to slow down your opponents.
In terms of controls, it’s surprisingly easy to move your car in such a fast paced combat game like this. The left analogue stick allows you to steer while your face buttons are responsible for using your speed boost and firing your weapon. There’s no gas pedal to be concerned with as all the cars move on their own. So for true car racing enthusiasts, this may feel a bit off. Still, there isn’t much of a learning curve with such straightforward controls.
But what fun is there in a racing game without having the ability to play against friends. In the case of BlazeRush, four players can play against each other locally. Not only that, but this arrangement can be taken to the online realms as up to eight players in total, be it local, online, or computer players, can jump right in to see who will reign victorious.
What gives BlazeRush its replay value is the amount of unlockable content waiting to be discovered. For instance, there are more than 15 unique cars that you can get access to. And depending on the type of race you are attending, some of these particular cars can come in handy. Plus, with additional tracks to unlock, BlaeRush can be pretty easy to get addicted to. While this is a great game to play on the Playstation 3, especially online, I must say that it doesn’t necessarily stand out a whole lot once you do gain access to all these unlockables.
Visually, BlazeRush looks reasonably acceptable, even though the details and graphical textures aren’t exactly of a high quality nature. It’s not the most spectacular racing game I have seen, but it’s decent enough when you consider the amount of action from all the weapon firing and bulldozer chasing. While the soundtrack fits appropriately with this game, I don’t find it memorable or impressionable whatsoever. Nevertheless, the audio effects manage to keep the whole experience lively and uplifting.
With BlazeRush priced at $9.99 at the Playstation store, this particular game has some fun multiplayer antics and replay value fit for casual plays. While it’s not exactly a complex or in-depth car-racing title, its simplicity is a source of attraction for players who just want to have a good time on their Playstation 3.
