When the first screenshots came out, I know I was disappointed that it seemed like they once again neglected to give it a reasonable graphical overhaul.
But with this [
new video ] you can see that the artistic direction was intentional. It seems the environment now uses polygonal buildings/objects instead of tiled sprites. Yes, it's new and improved, but with the subtlety of the effects, they may as well not have changed anything. Just like PGR3 on the Xbox 360, at first glance you won't know this is a technologically superior sequel on a next-gen game system unless you know what to look for.