Need for Speed Rivals

Need for Speed: Rivals is a game that I honestly really would like to enjoy. It has fantastic driving mechanics, a large open world, and stunning visuals. But at the end of the day I simply don't want to play it. I'm tired of racing games being handicapped by having to fight with cops constantly. This is the third game in four years from the franchise that involves escaping from the police. I just want a racing game, with good mechanics. Is that too much to ask? Burnout Paradise, and Burnout 3: Takedown were two of the greatest racing games of their respective generations, and neither involved escaping from the cops. When I buy a racing game I want to focus on the actual driving, with engaging race mechanics and various types of events. Rivals has three types of events: Races, Interceptor (Escape from cops), and Time Trials. There is literally no variety! The worst part is that the cops can come in during the middle of a race or time trial making it a process of escaping from the cops once again. It's a system that is incredibly tedious and full of moments that will simply make you want to put down the controller. It can become downright infuriating at times. Racing games are fun when you're going at breakneck speed, edging out an opponent for a first place victory. All that cops do is make the race into a mess of steel and chaos. Literally every single race ends with you having to escape from the cops, it's not fun. It's a shame that there is a great game buried somewhere beneath the broken online system, overly aggressive AI and long loading screens. The mechanics are sound, it's just a bummer that the game on top of it is no fun to play.