NEED FOR SPEED: PAYBACK (2017)
~ Payback's a b*tch ... like this game ... :banana:
I may come off a hypocrite, having enjoyed this game a lot, yet still choose to talk sh*t about this game. But it's because I'm concerned about the direction of NFS franchise.
I never finished the 2016 game because it was so crap that i couldn't handle it. Pun is definitely intended. Bad handling cars, hard to drift, and far too challenging to play because of performance issues. And let's not forget the piece of sh*t requirement of "
always online". I have NEVER left any game mid way in my life, and have always finished what i started, except this ONE, 2015/2016 Need for Speed. And to this date, i am unable to get myself to play it again, just to finish the story at least. I just can't. It's THAT bad.
Thankfully,
Payback solves A LOT of those issues and i can't appreciate
Ghost Games enough for that. Offline, 60fps, Improved cars physics ... it was good enough to let me finish the game with a grace. So it was definitely a fun ride. However, here are my brief impressions for the game.
WHAT'S ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT:
+
Missions Variety: Speed traps, drift points, coins, billboards, jumps; totally burnout-esque. No sh*t.
+
Off Roading: I mentioned this separately because this really was the most fun of all, after
Speed Cross. Provided you get the right car to race.
+
Roaming Racers: I'm glad that it has been brought back from
NFS Most Wanted 2005. Great fun to find these suckers and beat them (Most fun i had was with
Natanova from
The Club). It gets really challenging once they reach their highest level (3 stars). Playing dirty gets the job done, lol.
PIT maneuver their asses :laugh1:
+
Derelict Cars: Nice touch. While it's really a challenge to get all those parts to finish a build, it's great fun finding them. The final builds are just too cool to have.
+
Cars Variety: Huge collection of cars. 70+ cars are a lot to handle, seriously. (more on that below).
+
Music: Groovy. I fall in love with it easily, everytime, with every single NFS game. (
Evolution,
Gravedigger,
Gamble; to name a few.)
+
Visuals: Fortune Valley is absolutely stunning, ravishing, gorgeous, sexy, and freakin' amazing.
+
Roaming Area: Gorgeous environments and tremendous area to cover. Off Roading has been extremely fun.
+
Plot: Yep, definitely a high budget movie-like. Ending really leaves you on a surprising note. I liked it, kinda. (More on that below).
+
Characters: The House, Weis, The Curator, Jess, Tyler, Mac.
WHAT'S ABSOLUTE F*CKFEST:
* Progression system. We just can't have better cars until we reach final chapter. Access to variety is so severely blocked, that it's immensely frustrating. 90% of the game was played with
Eddie's Nissan GTR R34, which i upgraded to max, later in the game. (For those who don't know Eddie is from 2015/2016 game's main character.) I couldn't get many newer cars because of shortage of funds, which were extremely hard to acquire.
Side Bets did help in getting more money, but not enough to actually earn a lot.
* Koenigsegg Regera, The lead car of the game, so beautiful and supposedly the fastest, wasn't even available until the end. The Green/Silver Mustang we saw in Trailers and used in some missions, are never provided to us anywhere during the game. Instead, a similar 'looking' car can be bought from Garages, without any performance upgrades. The cars which were granted to us after some successful event, had just the vinyls and colors applied to it, and all it's performance mods stripped off of it.
* I defeated so many racers, bosses, and couldn't get even win a single car from them for free. The final race in the series, for which we did everything, spent millions of currency, gives us what? Some 20k in Cash? Well, F*CK YOU EA. F*CKIN' PIECE OF SH*T MORONS.
WHAT'S JUST BAD:
-
Engine Sounds: Maybe it's just me, but cars sound weird. It's like they have messed with the original sounds. Games like NFS: The Run had cars with much much better sound.
-
Customizations of Cars: Maybe other people would love that 'cool looking transitions' but i have hardly used it two or three times. It's just slow, cumbersome and not at all intuitive. Looks way too cool, though.
-
Damage of Cars: Visual damage is just not visible. It's toned down by A LOT, and replaced by dirt and scuffs only. Would love to see some proper damage, like hanging bumpers or mirrors etc.
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Cars Classes: Oh i hate it with a passion. Need 'Drift' car for said event, and vice versa for other classes (Speed Cross, Drag, Race etc.) Most new cars were a hit or miss. Only a handful were actually good enough performers for a particular deal.
-
Free Roam: Came after a brief delay, in a recent update, at a time when most would have already lost interest. (I finished the game in June 2018.)
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Police: Heavily scripted. Rhino Units, Road Blocks, EMP ... that's about it. No dropping barrels out of a chopper stuff. Once again, Police is just not threatening. Plus, it's ironic to see all high tech stuff, yet we hardly have any way to fight back, except to Outrun them. Which we can't do because they always catch up even with cars not meant to go 300+kph. And is it just me, or is there no police during Free Roaming the city?
-
Ending: Hardly answered any questions, Never faced '
The Collector' himself, and Whatever the heck is
'Arkwright'.
So, here is the thing. I'm a sucker for Racing Games. I own ALL of the Need for Speed games. Played and Loved every single one of them, despite their shortcomings. And i have the time of my life playing these. So when i see sh*t like these in recent video games, it only makes me sad about the future of Racing Games.
Payback, despite it's shortcomings, was really an enjoyable experience. Lighter tone of races, fun chatter of characters, wide variety of stuff to do and just the beauty of the game in general; it's a great experience. If nothing else, this was a redemption from previous 2015/2016 game. And that's a really good thing.
7/10. I would love to rate it higher. But the annoyances are far too many look the other way.