I have a like-dislike relationship with this. There isn't much here that strongly elates or repulses me, it maybe sums up how the lethargy the series was going through was preventing it from truly evolving.

The handling model is certainly not perfect, at times a chore to manoeuvre the cars regardless of model or how much I upgraded the control stat.
That said, driving a car through traffic at 200+ and obliterating other racers & cops at the same time on this game was actually quite fun on occasion, enough to keep going to the end (not that the game is exactly long or hard to beat in fairness). But crucially I didn't get that feeling enough on my playthrough and I got the annoying side of the handling system too often. I think deep in my heart I respect what Ghost Games were going for here, it just wasn't a great execution of that.

Also have to bring up issues with the map layout, as a whole it lacked coherence for me and driving through certain sections felt so unsatisfying to drive. the layout lacked imagination in most sections and the best I can say about it is that certain sections feel reminiscent of previous games (the forest area gave me Hot Pursuit II vibes, albeit a much less enjoyable version)

And with the core concept implemented here, that might be the peak of my like-dislike conflict. As a 8th-Gen launch title it's pretty neat that we saw Need for Speed offer an online multiplayer world that surrounds your story mode journey. In ways the implementation looks half-baked but I also think it wasn't a bad route to go. You can interact with other real people racing, including your friends, but it doesn't have too much baring on the story. Where this does become a pain though is that the story itself is for the most part one of NFS' most uninteresting yet, and if you are the doing the racer story and there are human cops that come across you in the middle of your mission, prepare to get spammed by level 4 ESF's & Shock Rams. But hey if you don't like that, you can just change it to friends only or single player. The game may feel more hollow in single player mode though.
Will say I really appreciate that the server is still available, the excruciating pains of host migration aside (which I wouldn't even hate if there wasn't points where I was mid-race and seemingly the AI were allowed to keep driving while I was stuck waiting)

Certainly not a bad game in the NFS series but certainly lacks overall depth and lacks consistently enjoyable racing

**3/4

Sure, this isn't prime NBA Jam. And sure, NFL Blitz was overshadowing Midway's basketball output by this point.
Crucially though, this is still a great arcade sports title.
Ofc this player model style is indeed more remembered on NFL Blitz, but I love how it looks here too, including at home on the Dreamcast.
While the player models on NBA Jam will always be more fondly remembered, I'm still so glad we got a NBA title from Midway that looks like this too.
A must-have for any fan of sports video games who own a Dreamcast