Blur

If you have children (or grandchildren) who play video games, then you may have already seen games such as Mario Kart on the Nintendo Wii. The graphics are usually bright and bold, while the player drives miniature vehicles around a track, with weapons and power-ups that must be used strategically to knock others off the road.

Blur takes this formula and adapts it to a more grown-up style of racing game. There are licensed vehicles instead of go-karts, and the cartoony visuals have been replaced with realistic-looking environments based on real-life locations, such as Barcelona and even Brighton.

The driving physics are highly exaggerated, and the tracks are liberally peppered with colour-coded neon icons. Steer through one and your vehicle picks up a single-use weapon or power-up, such as a homing missile, electric shock, speed boost, shield and so on. These can be either used against other drivers or to protect yourself against opponents’ attacks.

Blur is thoroughly enjoyable, as it's a fast, furious and frivolous experience from start to finish. As usual, progression through the single-player career events unlock new cars and upgrades.

However, the game really comes into its own when racing against other players either online or on the same PC in four-way split-screen mode. This obviously works best with a large screen, with two players using joypads, while the other two use the keyboard.

You’ll also need a fairly powerful computer; the manufacturer recommends at least a Pentium D Dual Core 3.4GHz processor and 256MB Nvidia Geforce 6600GT or better graphics card.