So this is like Hot Pursuit 2 + Burnout 3: Takedown. No lie. 
 
I could probably just end it there, but I'll go on a bit more. I've played it for about an hour and a half now. A handful of racer events, and a handful of cop events. It's been so very long since I played HP2 but the Racer races seem like they're out of HP2, but with the new stuff in there (not a bad thing). The rest of the game seems to have the standard array of Burnout type events. 
 
Racer events also include a "duel", or just you racing against one other car, and you get that car if you win. There's a Burning Route type one where you must get from point A to B in a set amount of time in a faster car you have yet to unlock (straight out of B3, all Burnout games have had them since then, but B3 had more point to point stuff (yes Paradise was all point to point, but the roads were open as well)). 
 
The Cops have a similar type event, where you must get to a racer bust in a set amount of time. There's a catch here though. Any time you so much as lightly tap a wall (or another car, duh) you get docked 2 seconds from your final time. Thaaaat's a big pain in the ass. And of course you bust Racers as a Cop (like Road Rage events from Burnout if you've never played Hot Pursuit). 
 
The game is also nice about slowly introducing the special items to you as you play. It would be pretty messed up to have them all right away with the slower cars. So far I've only gotten far enough to use the spike strip with both the Racers and Cops. 
 
I'm still trying to get used to the different handling cars (you REALLY can't play this like a Burnout game), but it certainly plays well. As expected from Criterion, this is a top notch game.