Not the worst game but a colossal disappointment
This is none of those things. Visually it is fine, and it is by far not a terrible game, but considering what I was expecting it is a massive let down.
The game just consists of endlessly driving from point to point, either as the cop or as the racer, and while there is SOME variation in the play (cops have the bust levels, racers have actual racers) even when in those levels the feeling of "point to point doesn't seem to wane.
Where the game seems to have things backwards is that it is giving away the exotic cars too early, but keeping the "weapons" and tricks that would actually make the game a bit more interesting back, so you lose interest. Also, with the cars I did access before I got bored and switched off there seemed to be very little difference between the cars. They all seemed to handle more or less the same and the only difference was acceleration and top speed. I realise NFS is an arcade racer, but with that in mind then the car selection should be vastly shrunk down and markedly different in an arcade way, not just having a bloated collection of exotics just to say they are in the game. If I'm going to go car collecting I would rather play something like Gran Turismo or Forza.
My advice would be to give this a miss. Even as a rent I feel like I just wasted a rent. I haven't scored it too low because TECHNICALLY it isn't bad but for me, it just doesn't push my buttons. Avoid and go for Split Second.