Need for speed hot pursuit 2010 was the first need for speed game made by criterion (the people that made the burnout games), and while it was plenty of fun, it was rushed to release before Christmas. Thus the game was not an open world racing game, even though it was clearly designed from the ground up to be. All the races take place in gated off sections of the open world, you can explore the full open world map seperate from the race events, though there's nothing to do in it except explore. So it was all there, just not put together due to a rushed release. So much wasted potential.
Need for speed rivals was a similar game with the open world being functional, but it was no where near as good a game.
Need for speed hot pursuit 2010 was the first need for speed game made by criterion (the people that made the burnout games), and while it was plenty of fun, it was rushed to release before Christmas. Thus the game was not an open world racing game, even though it was clearly designed from the ground up to be. All the races take place in gated off sections of the open world, you can explore the full open world map seperate from the race events, though there's nothing to do in it except explore. So it was all there, just not put together due to a rushed release. So much wasted potential.
Need for speed rivals was a similar game with the open world being functional, but it was no where near as good a game.
Nothing has recaptured the magic of Underground 2. It's like they have know idea what made it so great.