Need for Speed has been on a rough patch lately and the latest in the series continues the slump. Even though it has the right bones, its potential is hidden by poor choices
A racing game is all about living the dream of driving around in fancy fast cars, tricking them out and taking on street racers. It sounds simple, but EA has got the Fast and Furious concept so wrong so many times it is laughable. After Most Wanted, though this is the closest they have gotten to getting it right. Payback has all the makings of a good NFS title, loads of cars, great tracks and decent music.
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We know NFS is not a simulator, hence the handling is not as realistic as, say a Gran Turismo, but that has never been the problem for any fan of the game. The game has a very GTA V feel to it, unfortunately you can’t just steal the car you want when it passes you by. Let alone just get out of the car to stretch your legs.
The problems begin with the story, it is the standard generic cr** you expect from a Need for Speed game, but the dialogues seem to have been written by a child. You play Tyler, Mac and Jess. While Ty is the street racer, Mac is an off-roader and Jess is a getaway driver.
Through the various missions you will get to experience all the driving styles whether you want to or not. You have three other characters in the story, Rav who is a mechanic, your friend Marcus and the villain Lina Navarro.
Lina double crosses you in the beginning of the game and then joins a corrupt organisation called the House, so now to take her out you have to bring down the house.
You would think a racing game will just shower you with the latest cars, but no, getting a new car in Payback is a b***h. You have to grind till you can get a new car and you can’t apply upgrades that you purchased for another car on your new one. This means that to get the new car to an acceptable level you have to replay older races and upgrade your ride.
If you want to use the same car for all three racing styles, you are out of luck. The game expects you to buy the same car and then retrofit it and upgrade it separately for racing.
The level of difficulty is also unacceptable, on the lowest setting we ended up playing the very first real race nearly six times because we couldn’t get first place.
The open road is a joy to drive on, there are lots of Speed Traps, Speed Runs and Jumps to keep you busy. Unfortunately, the game is held back by a bunch of poor choices made by the developers, favouring RPG style grinding over just pure racing. The developers have claimed they are fixing things, but it will be a while before the game reaches its full potential. We would recommend waiting for this to reach the bargain basement.
Need For Speed Payback
Rating: 2.5/5
Developer: Ghost
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platform: PC, PS4, XBO
Price: PC: Rs.3,499; PS4/XBOX: Rs.3,999
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