The FlatOut series might not be one you're familiar with - but that's more a reflection of the power of EA's marketing for the likes of Need for Speed and Burnout than it is of FlatOut's quality. Plucky London-based publisher Empire may not be able to match EA's spend, but anyone who's played either of the last two FlatOut games can attest to the talents of the development boys at Bugbear Interactive.

People who have played FlatOut are FlatOut fans - and that includes Eurogamer, I might add. Pat called the first instalment of the series "a hair's breadth from being legendary", while Dan Whitehead granted the sequel a damn respectable eight points out of a possible ten. That's our scoring scale at Eurogamer - you're probably familiar with it. So, while the series isn't exactly standing shoulder to shoulder on the podium with Burnout or Need for Speed, we're still pretty hot on the idea of a next-gen implementation of Bugbear's metal-twisting, rubber-burning, gearbox-grinding smash-'em-up.

Which, perhaps, makes our first glimpse at the game all the more disappointing - because much as FlatOut 2 was largely speaking a tweaked and updated version of the original game, this is, at heart, a tweaked and updated version of FlatOut 2. Whereas titles like Need for Speed tend to evolve and change significantly between versions, FlatOut seems to have followed Ridge Racer's model instead; the graphics, handling and gameplay have received updates, but many of the core elements of the game - including some tracks - remain broadly the same.