90s arcade with better graphics and power ups...
The career is very rudimentary with a city map showing you all the races available as a racer or as a cop. There is a straight forward ranking system for both career paths and you move up the ranks by accumulating points. Points can be gained by driving skillfully, winning races, beating your previous records, use of force (cop), etc. The ranks give you access to better power ups and cars.
Although the whole concept sounds incredible in theory, the whole system seems poorly implemented. There is no story to begin with and the entire cops and racers ordeal gets old quite quickly (especially if you've played NFS Most Wanted, Carbon or the likes). The power ups are an interesting addition to the series and helps you tackle other vehicles with style. But that's the only mechanic in this game that actually adds some value to the otherwise bare-bones gameplay. Overall, the whole experience is quite repetitive with not much variation. Even the cars cannot be upgraded; the only thing one can actually change is the colour. So it goes back to the old, "select track - select car - select colour - RACE!" formula which simply doesn't cut it nowadays.
The graphics are quite ordinary by today's standards and the environment textures don't really look very good. The car models, streets and dirt are well rendered though. The lack of an anti-aliasing setting in the game is quite prominent as aliasing is very noticeable. This is a minor gripe as it can be easily taken care of by the graphics card driver settings. In spite of it's ordinary graphics, the game doesn't quite keep up a good framerate and tends to be very inconsistent. The console counterparts don't seem to have this problem.
This game seems like a complete overhaul of the Need for Speed franchise and takes a total U-turn from the otherwise engaging, cool and stylish gameplay that the series was known for with their Underground series and Most Wanted. The car mods, urban setting, metal soundtracks and the stylish representation which made the earlier games famous are all gone which makes the game feel like a stripped down racer with just one trick up it's sleeve which still doesn't do justice to the arcade value of the game. If you're a fan of the past few Need for Speed games then this will come as a major disappointment. Simply put, it takes the original Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit formula, throws in some new textures and a power ups system and presents it to you in a new package. Unfortunately, I couldn't really test the multi-player since the servers in my area seemed to be down. If the career mode is what you want this game for then there are better games out there which would give you a better deal for your money. Take a look at Burnout Paradise, GRID, Dirt 2, or even Need for Speed: Shift if you are looking for a arcade-cum-simulation approach.