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Bizarre Creations' Blur is the crack cocaine of gaming. It lures you in with a quick hit and then keeps bringing you back for more. It knows that break neck speeds and a levelling system shamelessly cribbed from Modern Warfare will lure in gamers and keep them in a spiral of arcade racing with no hope of release.

Blur is simple at its core: a dash of Mario Kart with some Modern Warfare and Burnout thrown in the mix. What makes it special though is that the game is more than the sum of its parts. Yes, you have power-ups scattered throughout the game's tracks like in Mario Kart, but here you can use skill to nullify your opponents' attacks. It's something that thankfully alleviates the frustration of leading a race only to be stopped dead in your tracks by an unavoidable blue tortoise shell ala Mario Kart.

The modes on offer in the beta consist of basic 2/3 lap races, with different tracks offering different challenges. You've got your small, sharp cornered tracks, as well as long, high speed races, with tar and dirt surfaces thrown into the mix for good measure. Although an arcade racer at heart, the vehicles in Blur have a weighty, realistic feel to them, meaning you can't just go full speed into a corner and expect to come out unscathed. Of course, your vehicle can take copious amounts of damage and you can normally just ricochet off the walls and continue on with only a minor interruption; the real danger comes from your opponents, who will be flinging all kinds of power-ups in an attempt to knock you off track, and even wreck your vehicle entirely, making for an agonising delay as your vehicle re-spawns. Using the attack, defence and speed boost power-ups at the right time is key to your success, and it will make all the difference in the last dash for the finish line.

The levelling up system rewards you with experience in the form of Fans that unlock newer and better cars, as well as the ability to add mods. The mods are targeted towards specific game styles such as aggressive or defensive driving, allowing players to customise their racing strategy with their strengths in mind. The mix of cars and tracks on offer in the beta are well balanced and designed, with shortcuts, alternate routes and power-ups carefully placed across the map making for challenging, and potentially different, races each time you take to the track.

If there's a minor gripe to be had with the beta, it would be with the odd design choices in the presentation. Specifically the menu music, which is down right annoying, and the race intro, which, although unique, looks more like a graphical glitch than anything else. As to be expected, there's the odd server problems but these should hopefully be ironed out by the time the game hits retail. Importantly, the lack of lag in the beta is very promising, even on a rusty 384k line.

Initial impressions point to Blur being the next arcade multiplayer racer to take up racing fans' time. Every race is challenging and filled to the brim with fun, and the levelling system should mean it won't wear off anytime soon. If the rest of the game lives up to what we've seen in the multiplayer beta then Blur won't have to work much harder to end up in pole position on many gamers' shopping lists when it releases this May.