PayDay The Heist
I've talked before about bias and I feel like I have to clarify that despite my interview last week, I feel like a good game developer should listen to fans who speak clearly and with clarity. I hope they read the review in hope that their next game, hopefully another PayDay, will be better and that Overkill will be pleased with this honest review.
The game of PayDay The Heist, is not a simple game, 'tis a complex head blend of working together and patience. Seeing a fallen team mate will make your heart pound more, especially when playing with friends, but the second you see that cash, it may be too late for your friend and even later for those around you. Okay, PayDay is a simple game of four guys who steal money and that is all I can say about the plot. To be honest, there is no plot, but who cares, let's steal some money.
The game's mix of Left 4 Dead's comradery and Kane and Lynch's love of heists, brings Overkill Software's PayDay The Heist to a place I'd hoped a co-op game would come to eventually - a game of fun and eventually, betrayal. The game is set between a series of distinct, but fairly similar, scenarios in which you have to run and gun as you make your way to a fairly large sum of money.
This sum is arbirtrary int the world of the game, but does provide a good upgrade system as you earn "reputation", to go along with it, you better enjoy the game or at least the premise. Whilst there was some speculation from the game's "every game is different" I'm somewhat happy to report that this is more or less true. It's true in that no game I've played, even on the same level, has had the same scenario, except for a few instances of SWAT teams invading at particular times and the amount of time it may take you to drill through a gate or burn through to a vault.
The less, is the amount of fun you will get from the game, you will have levels you won't like, players you won't like and scenarios which will be frustrating. The game does not have a sophisticated AI Director, a lá L4D, but it does have a good sense of direction when it comes to helping you play through a scenario. There is often an even amount of ammo on the ground or good place to take cover, but more or less if your buddies aren't around the director will screw you over and you may have to let go a hostage just so you can play, some time later.
There are a few arbitrary or minor issues, mainly graphical and audio ones, first and foremost the fact that when I look outside on some of the maps, the SWAT and police members will become glitchy ghosts that are just waiting to enter the nether worlds of the heist, a bit ironic considering what me and my heist-mates are about to do. There are a lot of glitches that could be easily fixed, such as Team AI, such as in Heat Street or Panic Room.
They will sometimes go through the props in the level and it really throws you out of the experience, as does the fact that the buzz saws on the Panic Room level doesn't really cut and the drill in the other levels don't drill. It'd be a simple animation, unlike the running. I wasn't sure if it was my internet cocking up or the game just had a weird animation. Turned out to be the later. It's a bit weird, especially when characters are crouching.
I do have to say the game is quite gory, especially when you shoot up close or get a good headshot (which is rewarded, in-game) Other than that, the game looks pretty good, Overkill, not stunning, but enough to make you enjoy it more than Kane and Lynch 2 but less than Portal 2. The game looks good on the modded Diesel engine, let's just leave it at that.
How it sounds is amazing. I do have one gripe that the fact the Heisters don't have more than a few catchphrases, even when you're telling the hostages to "get down" "get down" "get down", you think they were about to start a DJ set, not a heist. It's a small problem but it's always something that's really gotten me down, especially after other games such as Uncharted, The Simpsons Game and SWAT 4, have all had good simple voice acting gigs and rarely have a repeated line, hell, hire me for $10 an hour and I'll record whatever the heck you want. That being said, some of their dialogue is amusing, not on the level of the castmates of L4D or their sequel, but still a wry smile forms between getting shot at and restarting saws/drills.
Sound effects, which is quite different from the voices, are absolutely fantastic. In my interview last week with Simon Viklund he stated his favourite sound effect was the shotgun and I could not agree more. Having it unlocked as you go into the game is a sight for sore eyes as the world seems to go a lot better (depending on your level and experience, of course) but having that fire into a bulldozer is more than satisfying as you continue through your heist. The music is always rarring for me to get into the game. The perfect music starts off the game, it reminds me of the opening of The Dark Knight and as it flashes up the face masks of our heistmates, you are ready, you just are.
Wolf's frightening bloodied mask, Dallas' patriotic smile, Hoxton's red eyebrows and Chains cross eyes are fairly distinct as well and all provide a great opening to the game, but the menus and a few visual cues leave a lot to be desired. A lot could have made the game look really flashy and interesting but a simple pallette of black, yellow and grey makes it look as if the game is ready to be taped up behind Police Lines
Finally, the gameplay. The game is broken up into six different levels. First World Bank, a traditional bank heist, Heat Street, a plan gone wrong, chase'em down, Panic Room, a break in, break it out mission, Green Bridge, shooting in the rain...I'm just shooting in the rain, Diamond Heist, a sneak in smash and grab and finaally, Slaughterhouse...is exactly what it sounds like.
To focus on the more difficult and interesting levels, Green Bridge is the most exciting, being in the rain, breaking over prison convoys, donned in yellow raincoats and escorting a chinese prisoner. Things just escalate, even when you start on a half-exploded bridge. The level is fun and exciting and atmospheric at it's core. The most fun is probably Panic Room, simply due to how cool you can act before the heist starts and
Diamond Heist is quite difficult and starts off sneaking, but if someone's being an asshat, this plan can and will go awry in a matter of minutes. This one is best to be kept in the shadows. Sure, cops will be alerted eventually, but planning and timing your moves to silently take out the security guards is a wonderful sense of fun and comradery I wouldn't change for the world.
Slaughterhouse is just chaos. Starts off with a "The Usual Suspects" scenario as a bunch of trucks pull up outside a warehouse and you have to take them out and kill a lot of people while you take some money out of Secure Van. Gold everywhere and bulldozers stormed during the last few minutes after the Gold came out and it was insane.
The Single Player mode is fairly useless as are the AI from time to time and when you can turn the AI on for not having enough players in the online mode, what difference would it make? Why wouldn't you play online? This game could've done better with co-op and a better matchmaking system as well. The difficult system alone is quite confusing, not that they're confusing in general, but it's enough to question a thing or two.
For example, the last two modes (Slaughter and Diamond) are available on the hardest setting, and I do have to question why. The levels themselves are as complex as Panic Room and require less in-game set pieces. It boggles the mind on why they're specifically hard, possibly a question I should put to Simon, next time I talk to him.
PayDay The Heist is a great game, it has great play but could have been better. There is so much here that could have been even a great storyline, but Overkill has made a decision to make it for hard and fast gamers. Varying difficulty levels, great upgrade system and some fairly intriguing level design, makes this a must-have PSN title.
Harrison HAS E. is in jail from pulling an EB Games heist. He's serving hard time for Grand Theft GTA.
PayDay The Heist has made it's way to Europe on Steam and PSN and Harrison E. has decided to steal some words and give the heist-sim a whirl.