Good game. underrated, but not by much.
Graphics: Great, this game is made to show off the PS3 at some points. The explosions and power plays (will explain those later) are top notch when it comes to graphics.
Story: The idea of the game is your on a reality tv show in a town rigged to blow at the touch of a button. the story isn't well played out however. The only way you can tell it's a tv show is the announcer at the beginning of an "Episode" the game is split up into 12 episodes, quickly getting harder after episode 5. After there it takes lots of practice to continue.
Aesthetics: The idea is to race triggering "Power Plays" to wreck other players. the power plays range from dropping a block of c4 from a helicopter to wrecking trains and blowing up cooling towers. you earn the ability to trigger power plays by drifting, drafting, and nearly avoiding others power plays. There are three sections in the power play meter two level 1 which range from the c4 to sweeping stuff across the track to opening shortcuts that close after you go through. Level one power plays rarely wreck more than 2 cars. Level 2 power plays however can take out the whole field sometimes. Level 2 power plays range from blowing up air traffic control towers to cooling towers to blowing the road out from under your opponents. The level 2 powerplays really have to be earned though. The cars don't take damage other than scratches unless hit by a powerplay which is needed in the game because sometimes the only way to get around a turn fast is to ride the wall. The hud is neat because it's all behind the bumper of the car to avoid hindering your vision. It's definitely one of the bonuses that the game brings to the racing game industry. I recommend the time savers DLC to avoid having to completely beat the game to get all the cars and tracks. I think the game is worth a buy if you want a fun, explosive time even if it gets repetitive after a while.