An engaging arcade racer that tries too hard
By: Ryan Ramakrishnan
Reviewed on PlayStation 4
The entertainment provided by racing in “Need for Speed: Payback” is nothing short of a joy to partake in until you take into account an unnecessarily risky system of leveling up and a story, great on paper, that falls flat on its face.
“Need for Speed: Payback” shot for an action movie of a story and chooses to use a card system for progression. The former is great on paper but lacking in execution, while the latter is entirely uninvited, causing for some notable problems with a generally entertaining game. Forgetting the aforementioned flaws however, “Need for Speed: Payback’s” fun racing does make for an enjoyable experience.
Story
Ironically, the developer, Ghost Games, seemed to have put the most effort in their marketing and mission structure into the story yet it’s that story that makes “Need for Speed: Payback” the underwhelming tale it ultimately is.
With “Need for Speed: Payback’s” advertising and pitch of a story, and as a result mission design, similar to the likes of Universal Pictures’ “The Fast and the Furious,” it should have been a thrill to watch unfold. Sadly, “Need for Speed: Payback’s” plot goes from cool in theory to incredibly uneventful and oftentimes cheesy.
The game sees Tyler, Mac and Jess, all playable, take on a corrupt group called “The House” that runs the city of Fortune Valley. Their goal is to continuously win races, taking down each group within The House until they can hopefully beat the higher ups.
It’s simple when explained in its most basic form and frankly, that’s how “Need for Speed: Payback” ends up once the credits roll: all too simple. I found the way the story ended to be predictable, an ending to a less than exhilarating plot in a game that’s supposed to be all about action and high stakes.
Much like the rest of the plot’s execution, the character development of “Need for Speed: Payback’s” protagonists rarely leaves me engaged. The three have their moments for sure. I did find myself mildly engaged in some of their cutscenes or races. That ended quickly once they began repeating the same lines, as well as when they began to show their motives, personalities and individual stories all were static, usually resulting in the desire for them to stop speaking altogether so you can return to the fun.
Gameplay
Easily the best part of my experiences with “Need for Speed: Payback” was simply the thrill of driving. It was everything from picking up speed to levels most will only dream of in real life to watching my car push through the finish line in the most challenging of races that kept me from putting the controller down.
Gameplay
Easily the best part of my experiences with “Need for Speed: Payback” was simply the thrill of driving. It was everything from picking up speed to levels most will only dream of in real life to watching my car push through the finish line in the most challenging of races that kept me from putting the controller down.
“Need for Speed: Payback” divides its core mission structure into five different types of races, each of which comes with its own challenges and vehicles to tackle them with. These kind of missions are often divided in each chapter, making you complete a few of each to progress. “Need for Speed: Payback” includes the following types of cars, each with their own missions:
Outside of the specifically tailored events and race types, the game also comes with its own story missions that try to shake things up. They arguably sound awesome on paper and look cool in cutscenes but playing them is not much different from normal races or police chases, as they don’t do anything to challenge you in a unique manner more than the run-of-the-mill missions do.
“Need for Speed: Payback’s” customization of cars and vehicles comes with satisfying results for fans of this type of gameplay outside of the races and what not. Unfortunately, while the game does offer a beautiful array of colors, decals and various parts to tinker around with for your ideal look on the road, it isn’t all so accessible at first. “Need for Speed: Payback” frustratingly makes you find collectibles and regularly complete side objectives and challenges to gain access to some customizable parts in the garage.
Easily more frustrating than the shaky accessibility to car parts is “speed cards.” This is as toxic as the microtransactions and loot box fiascoes that flooded both publisher Electronic Arts and the gaming industry as a whole in 2017. “Need for Speed: Payback” asks that you upgrade your cars to be fit for the upcoming races, challenges and events by gambling these cards.
“Speed cards” have stat boosters to statistics of the car in questions such as the amount of nitrous, how fast it picks up speed and maintains speed or how it handles high jumps and airtime. The stats and how they increase or decrease vary on the cards. These “speed cards” are random, earned at the ending of each event completion or by buying them with in-game currency. If it sounds like an unnecessary hassle for progression, it most certainly is.
“Need for Speed: Payback” will let you take on missions with higher level suggestions than yours but you’ll often find there’s a reason why that is the suggested level after all. This is when you head to shops to mess around with your “speed cards,” either selling them and buying new ones, simply to push your car’s level up or to gamble by rolling part tokens in hopes of getting the stat boosts you would like or may very well need. The entire system comes off as complicated and annoying. “Need for Speed: Payback” would have benefited greatly from a more feasible and fun progression system, relying more on skill, determination and completion rather than luck and obnoxious resource management.
Graphics
Visually, while not as spectacular as some of the other racing games as of recent, “Need for Speed: Payback” nevertheless has a relatively fine polish to its vehicles and casino town of Fortune Valley. The lighting and day and night cycle aren’t always perfect, nor are the textures of every environment; however, I found the cars and their vast customization options to offer some generally solid visuals overall.
Sound
The soundtrack of licensed tracks to drive to in “Need for Speed: Payback” left me singing songs all day, ones I never knew of prior but now wanted to drive to myself in real life. I found the track choices to be fitting for the tone of every race, whether it was the thrill of escaping the police or the intensity of beating the clock.
“Need for Speed: Payback’s” voice acting is equal parts good and bad. On one end, the delivery sounds good and adds to the personalities of the characters. The dialogue itself isn’t so great thanks to the somewhat cheesy writing.
Cars sounds quite good though, making me get all the more excited when stepping on it in my shiny new purchases. Every rev of the engine, crash of a police car and sign of victory heard made the driving sound as awesome as it felt.
Content
Fans of open world racers will be happy but not entirely satisfied to know of the other activities to tackle in the latest iteration of “Need for Speed” besides the main campaign missions. Generally speaking, “Need for Speed: Payback’s” open world offers a large incentive to improve your scores more than anything. With the ability to replay every type of race or event with other cars you may come to purchase with progression, you’ll find, if you are competitive, the world offers a lot of fun to be had attempting to best your friends, online players and yourself.
Otherwise, the game comes with side objectives like breaking down every billboard with specifically located stunt jumps or collecting car parts, or derelicts, to put together both old school and super cars. These can be quite fun to tackle in between or post-missions but aren’t for everyone should striving for 100% not be of interest. The same can be said for the plentiful speed or drifting challenges around the decently large map.
Conclusion
Ultimately, racing fans will get enough pleasure out of the fun variety of events and races to challenge and conquer. The satisfaction of winning an especially difficult race, the catchy music to drive to and the joy of picking up speed in seconds and pulling off an epic drift on the mountains all play into what is oftentimes an exciting driving game. Sadly many of these moments are pushed aside by some frustrating systems of loot and luck, making many of the potentially thrilling milestones of your time with “Need for Speed: Payback” lackluster and meaningless. Cringe-inducing writing and a story that tries a little too hard don’t help either. Take the bad away from “Need for Speed: Payback” (and yes, there is a lot of it) and you are however left with a joyous game to drive fancy cars in and compete against your friends and yourself.
- Race events are just that: races, ones that see a full set of challengers racing to the finish line
- Drag races ask you to time button presses perfectly to pick up nitrous, generally focusing on consistency in events setup through rounds
- Drift events typically test your skills at drifting around corners, some tight and small, others open and extended
- Offroad races are as the name suggest, races that throw you on rough, bumpy and difficult-to-maneuver terrains
- Runner missions call for driving from point to point in a given amount of time and, more often than not, escaping police pursuits
Outside of the specifically tailored events and race types, the game also comes with its own story missions that try to shake things up. They arguably sound awesome on paper and look cool in cutscenes but playing them is not much different from normal races or police chases, as they don’t do anything to challenge you in a unique manner more than the run-of-the-mill missions do.
“Need for Speed: Payback’s” customization of cars and vehicles comes with satisfying results for fans of this type of gameplay outside of the races and what not. Unfortunately, while the game does offer a beautiful array of colors, decals and various parts to tinker around with for your ideal look on the road, it isn’t all so accessible at first. “Need for Speed: Payback” frustratingly makes you find collectibles and regularly complete side objectives and challenges to gain access to some customizable parts in the garage.
Easily more frustrating than the shaky accessibility to car parts is “speed cards.” This is as toxic as the microtransactions and loot box fiascoes that flooded both publisher Electronic Arts and the gaming industry as a whole in 2017. “Need for Speed: Payback” asks that you upgrade your cars to be fit for the upcoming races, challenges and events by gambling these cards.
“Speed cards” have stat boosters to statistics of the car in questions such as the amount of nitrous, how fast it picks up speed and maintains speed or how it handles high jumps and airtime. The stats and how they increase or decrease vary on the cards. These “speed cards” are random, earned at the ending of each event completion or by buying them with in-game currency. If it sounds like an unnecessary hassle for progression, it most certainly is.
“Need for Speed: Payback” will let you take on missions with higher level suggestions than yours but you’ll often find there’s a reason why that is the suggested level after all. This is when you head to shops to mess around with your “speed cards,” either selling them and buying new ones, simply to push your car’s level up or to gamble by rolling part tokens in hopes of getting the stat boosts you would like or may very well need. The entire system comes off as complicated and annoying. “Need for Speed: Payback” would have benefited greatly from a more feasible and fun progression system, relying more on skill, determination and completion rather than luck and obnoxious resource management.
Graphics
Visually, while not as spectacular as some of the other racing games as of recent, “Need for Speed: Payback” nevertheless has a relatively fine polish to its vehicles and casino town of Fortune Valley. The lighting and day and night cycle aren’t always perfect, nor are the textures of every environment; however, I found the cars and their vast customization options to offer some generally solid visuals overall.
Sound
The soundtrack of licensed tracks to drive to in “Need for Speed: Payback” left me singing songs all day, ones I never knew of prior but now wanted to drive to myself in real life. I found the track choices to be fitting for the tone of every race, whether it was the thrill of escaping the police or the intensity of beating the clock.
“Need for Speed: Payback’s” voice acting is equal parts good and bad. On one end, the delivery sounds good and adds to the personalities of the characters. The dialogue itself isn’t so great thanks to the somewhat cheesy writing. Cars sounds quite good though, making me get all the more excited when stepping on it in my shiny new purchases. Every rev of the engine, crash of a police car and sign of victory heard made the driving sound as awesome as it felt.
Content
Fans of open world racers will be happy but not entirely satisfied to know of the other activities to tackle in the latest iteration of “Need for Speed” besides the main campaign missions. Generally speaking, “Need for Speed: Payback’s” open world offers a large incentive to improve your scores more than anything. With the ability to replay every type of race or event with other cars you may come to purchase with progression, you’ll find, if you are competitive, the world offers a lot of fun to be had attempting to best your friends, online players and yourself.
Otherwise, the game comes with side objectives like breaking down every billboard with specifically located stunt jumps or collecting car parts, or derelicts, to put together both old school and super cars. These can be quite fun to tackle in between or post-missions but aren’t for everyone should striving for 100% not be of interest. The same can be said for the plentiful speed or drifting challenges around the decently large map.
Conclusion
Ultimately, racing fans will get enough pleasure out of the fun variety of events and races to challenge and conquer. The satisfaction of winning an especially difficult race, the catchy music to drive to and the joy of picking up speed in seconds and pulling off an epic drift on the mountains all play into what is oftentimes an exciting driving game. Sadly many of these moments are pushed aside by some frustrating systems of loot and luck, making many of the potentially thrilling milestones of your time with “Need for Speed: Payback” lackluster and meaningless. Cringe-inducing writing and a story that tries a little too hard don’t help either. Take the bad away from “Need for Speed: Payback” (and yes, there is a lot of it) and you are however left with a joyous game to drive fancy cars in and compete against your friends and yourself.
Did you find the story to be as much of a wasted potential as I did? What was your best car in "Need for Speed: Payback?" Let me know all your thoughts in the comment below.
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