Need for Speed Payback Reviews
Need for Speed Payback tried to do a lot of new things without succeeding in any of them as needed. I have no problem with games get some ideas from each other, which is what the game has done here, which quoted many things from Forza Horizon 3. On the other hand it removed some of the essentials in the franchise, such as the famous cops chases, it is now more like passing through certain checkpoints to escape cops cars. The game also features great cars customization options but offers the worst car upgrade method available in any racing game.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Downfall of the Need for Speed franchise continues. Payback isn't a long awaited return to form and although developers fixed some of the predecessor's issues, the overall impression is even worse. They added microtransactions, loot boxes, card upgrades, and the story is also quite silly. The resulting game has some qualities, but they are buried under a pile of rubbish.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
If you’re a big enough fan to still excuse what I’ve encountered and play what’s fun in the game, go right ahead. But for those new or not too crazy for the Need For Speed franchise, it’s worth holding off until the mess is cleaned up.
Need for Speed Payback wants to be the Racer for everyone but does nothing really well. The core elements of the series are broken down to pieces with microtransactions and grinding-systems and besides a decent soundtrack nothing stands out in Payback.
Review in German | Read full review
Overall, I can truly say that this game has breathed new life into the series. This is a true comeback for the series and Ghost Games has done such a good job providing lots of entertainment and fun with this game. Despite the shortcomings of the game, I have enjoyed my time while playing it and I hope that the series can continue on with the same kind of feel. It was such a rush in a good kind of way and I can’t wait to get the same kind of feeling in the next installment.
Electronic Arts and developer Ghost Games took a break from the Need for Speed series last year because of various negative feedback and the Need for Speed team decided to go back to the drawing board. Payback features the largest open world than any of the previous Need for Speeds has seen and includes different varieties of racing. The most noticeable change to the 2017 version is the revenge-driven story, which almost mimics car racing movies like Gone in 60 seconds and Fast and the Furious.
Need for Speed: Payback is fast, exciting and beautiful, with breathtaking landscapes and great looking cars. Unfortunately, the final experience is watered down by a hard to digest progression system that feels like a whole lot of grind, loot boxes and multiple currencies.
Need For Speed Payback is a game lost trying to do everything at once, ultimately giving you an uninspired arcade racing title. It's almost as the franchise forgot the simplest beauty of what it was: a racing game full of speed and its thrills.
If arcade racing is what you're after Need for Speed Payback will deliver in loads, but don't expect to fall in love with each and every discipline in the game that's obscured by a frustrating upgrading system.
Need for Speed Payback with its gambling system based on speed cards instead of real car parts is pure Pay2Win. In addition the open world is empty and lifeless though there is a lot to discover in terms of racing events. The rubber band effect is really bad in this game and cops are as unrealistic as ever in the Need for Speed franchise. Last but not least is the grind which you will have to do if you want to proceed in the game. Don't touch this game – ever!
Review in German | Read full review
Need for Speed Payback is a travesty of a game. Between 9 minute cycles of waiting at a vendor refreshing so I could buy better parts for my car, flying about a map populated with enough meaningless activities acting as filler, and the atrocious ending, it’s hard to pick out a point where I could say genuinely say the experience was fun.
The whole time I was playing Payback, I was thinking “I’d be much better off just replaying Burnout Paradise or one of the Forza Horizons”, which is sad but true.
Need For Speed Payback is a step in the right direction in some departments, but a few poor choices where it counts sets the game back overall. If you are looking for an adequate solo affair and don't mind grinding for speed cards to upgrade all the vehicles in your stable, than it is possible to find something worthwhile hidden behind Payback's misguided structure. If thrilling online races and roaming with friends in endlessly customizable cars is more your style, you are better off looking elsewhere.
Ultimately we can say that, although NF Payback is not yet the perfect title, it actually manages to provide us with several interesting features that make it at times better than the previous one. We find a nice story and not too demanding, suitable for the type of game. Even the driving system is not bad and definitely improves, perhaps also because accompanied by a technical sector that, at least in the single player, proves decidedly superior. We do not have all those annoying frame drop that we found instead in NFS 2015 and we manage to play in a calm and fluid way, without any kind of problem. Too bad only for some details that, in our opinion, have a little 'spoiled the title, like the Speed Cards, which we find too random and unidentifiable. All in all, however, a chapter that is able to make us hope for the future, while still waiting for the real Underground 3!
Review in Italian | Read full review
The villains of NfS: Payback are a faceless gang of crooks becoming wealthy through dodgy gambling practices. I am not sure if this level of Kafkaesque irony is sustainable in the gaming industry nowadays.
Despite the cringey dialogue and general over arcing storyline, Need for Speed Payback is a pretty enthralling 4 wheeled crusade. It may contradict itself by featuring linear, checkpoint ridden roads on a wide open, treacherous continent, but the races themselves are slick, chaotic and heart pounding for the most part, and with numerous secondary objectives and challenges to complete, there’s certainly a lot to keep you and your car occupied.
Need for Speed Payback is a fun but ultimately flawed and frustrating game. I was optimistic going in based on what had been shown prior to release, and while the racing action is indeed as tight as ever (albeit lacking in set pieces which were so prominently advertised), there are just too many issues which add up to drag the experience down. It’s another classic case of quantity over quality, and while it isn’t an inherently bad game, it’s seriously let down by its linear structure, tedious progression and upgrade system, and terrible dialogue.
Despite high hopes, Need for Speed Payback comes up short. It might be at home in a 1980s arcade, but we expect more from racing games these days and unfortunately, an extra year in deployment wasn’t enough to save this interaction from franchise fatigued.
What a grind! NFS Payback has its moments of joy but it’s being held back by a luck-based progression system built around microtransactions.
Despite the microtransactions, the game is still a lot of fun, the driving is nice and easy to lose yourself in, especially with the varying environments and the open world challenges. Pushing yourself to get those 3 star ratings can be extremely fun, and the story is engaging and looks amazing all the while. I would love to be able to shout at you, screaming, “GO GET THIS GAME”! But it’s just not good enough for that; while I do recommend the game. I can’t say that its worth £50.