I remember playing it and liking it. I don't know if one person can be a cop though - and not sure if it'll still feel okay nowadays. Most racing games from that era should be 2 player off-line as it's before online on consoles really took off.
It seems Underground and Most Wanted are as well - regularly considered the best NFS games there has been (at least for me, MW then Underground):
For me the best ever NFS is Most Wanted (the older one, not the remake) so would choose that. With Underground in a very close second.
It's a shame racing games rarely come with off-line split screen nowadays.