I have to say, next-gen power caught me a little off guard. Since the first leaked screenshots of the first announced/rumored game for a next-gen console (PS3 or Xbox 360) I haven't seen such beauty. As a racing fan also, I see a lot of stuff to be appreciated in this upcoming Criterion Games racing title, which is said by Criterion's Alex Ward himself to be a "complete reinvention of the series." Burnout 5 is also supposed to have a Records option implemented, kept on players' drivers licenses.

The game takes place in this fictional Paradise City, which is suspected to have an Open World much like Test Drive Unlimited. Ward commented on the game upon its announcement saying: "To create truly next-generation gameplay, we needed to create a truly next-generation game, from top to bottom." And so they did apparently. (Still keeping fingers crossed for when the game launches on August 29, 2006 for the Xbox 360 and PS3).

Looking at the newly revealed screenshots, which by the way you can see at the bottom of the article, kind of reminded me of when I saw Gran Turismo HD Concept and thought: well, if that's next-gen right there, then people are crazy to pay so much for PS3. Although I'm a dedicated Gran Turismo fan also (racing perfectionist, no arcade, no drift, no nothing) I have to say that the game didn't look that different from the PS2 installments. Yeah sure, it looked great but not that much better. Burnout on the other hand, is truly racing fans' Paradise, literally, from what I could see from these screenshots. Of course the two games are totally different. Take your time checking them all out, it's worth it.