There is a lot to dislike about this game.
The silly characters trying to be cool and tough is poor.
luckly, you don't have to put up with this much, and for me what I really, really liked about this game was the lengthy exiting police chases.
As it get mores difficult you'll have a helicopter following you, police putting stingers out on the road and driving more aggreslvely. and this is what I really really loved, smashing through police roadblocks, writing off hundreds of police vehicles, hitting the nitrous to jump, the speed breaker to have a matrix esq slow mo to help you avoid speed traps.
The upgradability of your car and personlisation is staggering. The colour and style of your tuned motor is completly what you want it to be.
On-line is not that great, racing other racers is not that great, as for me it is all about the police chasing you.
This game is also an easy 1000 Gamer points for your Gamer card. Well worth a look.
Plus the HD aspect, customisable sound track that's ownly do able on Xbox is excellent - Rip your own music to the harddrive and listen to that in game.