I thought the story was absolutely awesome (except the ending, what the heck) I played it in 2 sessions, the first was 1 hour when i got back from holiday and the next was 9 hours the next day. Can't remember the last game i played for 9 hours.
I agree with most of the things you say. Although there are some things that really ****ed me off:
Most of the cutscenes are great. But sometimes they look like they were taken from a PS1 title. And one or two times throughout the game the camera panning on parts of the level felt very cheap, like i was playing Time Crisis.
They paid a huge amount of detail in some areas, but then really slacked in others. I can wonder around my house and turn on and off everything in there, but then the game doesn't let me use melee weapons. Who made that choice ? "Toggable faucets or Melee weapons guys ?, toggable faucets, of course !", oh please.
Also, where is the free ride. I want to play free ride at the end of the game. Fortunately because i am a huge fan of modding i am aware of a mod that re enables free ride. But why the heck did they remove it in the first place.
I felt like i played through the entire story mode without accomplishing anything. About 75percent through the game i get made effectively bankrupt. I was fine with that as it was a shock (in a good way) and really got me wondering how Vito was going to become rich and get all his money back, but he doesn't - so now at the very last mission I'm some poor lowlife gangster. I wanted to have a couple hundred K's in the bank and in a nice mansion.
There needs to be more variety in the cars. Quite a few of the cars look too similar, and seeing the same car so often pulls you out the game a bit. And where are the hotrods ? apart from a mission I've never seen one. Also the ability to export cars for money shouldn't dissapear when you Kill Derek imo, they basically pulled one of the few features the game had left. They needed to add more, not take some away as the game progresses !
I could rant for quite a while longer, but despite all this i really enjoyed the game and am happy playing freeride. The game has a lot of screwups for sure, but what it does well it does it does extremely well. The driving, the guns, the police (although annoying on occasion), the graphics, the physx.. they all keep me playing. I think i will replay the story as well. That is incredibley rare for me, i hardly every replay the story mode. But i feel i have to on this, there are so many characters and plot changes i am sure if i play it through again i will realize more things and learn the characters more.