INTRODUCTION
After the mediocre release of the 2015 Need for Speed release, the newest release from Ghost Games tried to mend all the shortcomings of their previous release by doing a bit of everything. The game is set in the fictional, Las Vegas inspired, Fortune Valley and focuses on 3 playable characters attempting to take down a cartel which is rigging the races. Each of the characters focus on different sets of skills and can only participate in races specific to their skills. Unlike the previous release in the series, Payback features a 24-hour cycle and an offline mode, so we're off to a good start.
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| Tyler, one of the protagonists |
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay focuses on 5 race types. Race, Off-Road, Drift, Drag and Runner with car classes tailored for each of them and open world events similar to Forza Horizon 3. Among them are Jumps, drifts and speedcams. Driving is certainly improved compared to the previous release feeling more natural but still has a Burnout feeling to it. Sadly the AI is lacking and instead of just racing based on their car performance, they just adapt to your speed and race faster trying to overtake you and slow down the farther they are from you. Also there is a live tuning option to help you avoid a need to fast-travel to a garage for attributes like brake bias, stance etc.
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| A Fair lady in the desert |
CONTENT
While there aren't as many cars as there are in Forza Horizon 3 or other racing games, the 74 cars have enough customization options to keep players busy and interested in customizing them. I am a bit dissapointed a bit by the fact that the decals are still split into sections of the car rather than being universal. What really brings down the tuning and makes the game a huge grindfest is the speed cards system. replacing the good'ol buy car upgrades system, you earn speed cards every time you complete a race, cards that are usually just a level higher than the ones you currently have and only work on the current car(unless you send them to the garage instead of using them). Of course you can also buy them from stores around the game world (a card tends to cost as much as 2 won races) or trade card points(earned by trading-off old cards) on a 3:1 ratio for a chance at a good or exceptionally better card. This pretty much discourages you to buy a new car unless you are ready for some heavy grinding with it.
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| One of the canyon-like areas of the game |
AUDIO
While the cars sound quite good and the soundtrack maintains the tradition of including different genres, the voice acting keeps in line with the mediocre cliche story but it is certainly an improvement over the actors from the previous game.
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| City View |
GRAPHICS
Frostbite 3 keeps delivering beautiful graphics as always but that desert countryside and city feel lifeless even though there are challenges and things to collect. I'll let my screenshots speak for themselves.
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| Early night drift warm-up |
WRAP-UP
As a wrap up I would like to say that while the game has some welcomed improvements over the 2015 reboot it, they are clouded by the uninspiring "Fast and Furious"-like story, the grindfest towards pure stats upgrade and the lifeless world.
Should you buy it?
Only if you are able to get it under 30euros but even then you should think about buying Forza Horizon 3 if you don't already have it.
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| Flying towards the sky! |
- Graphics 9/10
- Audio 7/10
- Story 4/10
- Content 6/10
- Controls 8.5/10
- Gameplay 7/10
Game details:
Developer: Ghost Games
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platform: Windows, Xbox One, PS4
Release Date: Nov. 10, 2017
ESRB Rating: T for Teen
Launch Price: 60Eur
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