Codemasters describe it as an ‘epic-scale open-terrain multi-vehicle racer,’ but because we don’t go moist at the overuse of hyphens and under use of commas (and the fact that our eyes are properly wired to our brains), we’re dubbing it ‘Multiformat MotorStorm.’ And this is no bad thing. We genuinely cannot recall the last time we heard of anyone openly boasting about enjoying playing a PS3-exclusive game (though this may be because our circle of friends is minute and we don’t get out much), but we very clearly remember people actively gleaning some form of fun and enjoyment from the original MotorStorm. And we’d quite like a bit of that.

Of course, when a game so openly follows on the coattails of another its best form of defence is that it is bigger, better and quirkily different than the game that inspired it. Naturally, this being Codemasters, we’re inclined to believe that it will certainly be better (though claims that it’ll have realistic handling are always going to be wasted on us because we have absolutely no frame of reference, and we’re willing to bet that entirely none of you lot out there have ever off-roaded in truck) and we know that it’s going to be bigger. Much bigger, in fact. FUEL boasts some 5,000 square miles of open-world play area and in that, or rather on that are 100,000 miles of tarmac, tracks and trails. How this works and how much repetition or duplication between the tracks and courses remains unclear, but however you look at it that’s a heck of a lot of terrain to try to negotiate.

A side-order of quirkiness is delivered in the form of its ‘alternate present’ setting, where the world has become slave to the elements thanks to global warming, which has rendered much of America uninhabitable (handy really, given the range of differing topography the country affords). What this means in gameplay terms is that the game engine can chuck all manner of ridiculous weather effects at you on a whim. So expect snowstorms, sandstorms, tornadoes and thunderstorms at a moment’s notice, meaning that players will have to adapt their play to counter the atrocious conditions.

Also mooted is a full day and night cycle, which we’re sincerely hoping isn’t played out in real-time because that’s just potty beyond belief. Of course, this being 360 Gamer, we have our concerns. Chief amongst them is the fact that we’ve yet to see FUEL in action – and that’s despite its ‘spring’ release date. Our guess is that it’ll hit the shelves in the not-too-distant future, so there are but a few months for us to pass our critical eye over any preview build and warn you off if it’s likely to disappoint. Is Codemasters hiding something? We simple don’t know at this stage, and that’s a worry. Also worrying is the company’s habit of releasing what it terms ‘Development Target Renders’ instead of actual in-game screenshots. Admittedly, none of this fresh batch of screens are marked as such, but we remain sceptical until we actually see it running.

But let’s end on a positive note. Though we have seen nothing of the actual game itself (and there are precious few firm details about it), its pedigree should at least ensure that FUEL will be a better-than-average racing game, and we’re intrigued to see such how the developer incorporate random adverse weather effects in a way that creates a serious but fun challenge rather than proving to be incredibly frustrating and deeply unfair. If anyone can do it it’s Codemasters, so we remain cautiously optimistic that it’s going to deliver the MotorStorm beater that we all want.