First of all, why are we now driving through open city even during the races, like this was Midnight Club or something. In fact, this game has so little to do with Need for Speed that, if it was indeed called Midnight Club, that wouldn't change shit.

Why can't you change controls? Why can't you select which songs you want to play (I know this isn't a feature in all NFS games, but it was in the original MW, and it's a good feature, why remove it)? Why do you unlock cars by just finding them? There's no sense of reward to it, who thought this was a good idea? Why can't you fast travel? Again, I get that not every NFS game had this feature, but come on, this is a good feature. Why can you only change your car's color randomly by driving through gas stations? Why are there only two camera modes? Why are cutscenes unskippable?

Like legit there are so many outright confusing creative decisions, it baffles me that a huge corporation could let this pass. I thought they tend to play it safe, so what's up?

The graphics are good, although completely lack a sense of style. This is one of the most generic-looking AAA racing games ever. The cars handle decently, and the sense of speed is well-conveyed. This alone makes it a playable game, but you can do so much better. I really see no point in this game's existence in 2012, let alone today.