The Need For Speed title has been around for a very long time. Rivals doesn't break out of the boundaries of traditional NFS but it does a great job of playing as cops and racers.
Gameplay:
Rivals in this sense means cop vs racers. The focus is as such because cops can bust racers and end you with nothing. In traditional need for speed or other racing games, it has always been racers vs racers but the direction on this released is changed and its quite a refreshment.
You play between 2 storylines, cops or racers and are free to switch as you wish anytime to any side. The storyline for both differs slightly but its about the same. Difference between if you want to chase players around or get chased by. The cops' AI intelligence is quite high and most of the time, not easy to shake off and looks as if the whole playable map is full of cops. Luckily EA recognize that and allows you to shop at your hideout to end the chase immediately and bank in the money you gathered by racing and through multipliers.
The racer storyline is pretty standard, similar to cops, you pick between 3 types of race for each chapter of the story, it goes something like whether you're playing to race racers, smash cops or for driving with each having different objectives for completion.
The one thing I like very much is the open world racing with other players, it adds uncertainty in the case someone or yourself decides to chase other players around.
Graphics & Audio:
Frostbite engine, also used in BF4 is very pretty. You can see a lot of particles in the game, from leaves in a windy day to thunderstorms flashing lightning... the graphics is awesome on the next-gen console, the PS4 which I am playing on.
Regarding customizations, it's pretty basic and you don't get the traditional customization down to the little details. You get decals and paint jobs and some basic license plate customization, which is sufficient for me as im more concerned about the racing itself.
NFS Rivals is a pretty fresh release to me because I was absent from the series for a while, there were other good titles on the PS3 such as Grid, Gran Turismo etc etc. But if you want some serious fun on the next-gen consoles, only NFS Rivals at the moment suffice.