I thought it was pretty good although I have to agree with the others about the story-line being too short and also I thought the ending was pretty dire. It didn't really seem to end anything.
As for free-ride, just use the time between driving to missions as free-ride. A proper free-ride mode would've been the same minus the map drawing a line telling you where to go in essence. Or, if it bothers you that much, download one of the mods which adds free-ride.