Need for Speed Payback Reviews
Need for Speed: Payback features the same fun arcadey racing from 2015's entry, minus all of the heart and soul that game had. With a by-the-books story, and a downright frustrating system to upgrade your car, it's hard to recommend Need for Speed: Payback.
Need for Speed Payback feels like the natural evolution of the series, and that’s a good thing considering the game ends with a great tease for a potential sequel. While I finished the story in around 15 hours, it’s worth noting that there are a ton of side events and collectibles that I failed to collect in that time. I could see myself easily doubling my time within Payback, and do so with a smile on my face the entire time.
A overall good game can still be brought down by bad business decisions.
Dull and uninspired, with a relentless emphasis on grinding, Need for Speed Payback is neither fast nor furious.
EA and Ghost Games set out to make the quintessential Need for Speed by bringing in aspects that worked in the past and has mostly succeeded.
With some excellent improvements to car control, customization, and cinematic moments, Need for Speed Payback delivers on the promise of a better racing game. That said, it occasionally has a few engine knocks with chunky dialogue and invisible walls barring your path in the vast open world they've created. It's a good step for the series, and it should provide a good foundation for Ghost's next time behind the wheel.
Need for Speed Payback successfully returns to its Fast and Furious roots with aplomb, but a focus on the grind and a beautiful but empty world means it ultimately falls short of greatness.
Need for Speed Payback is a big, competent, and confident arcade racer but it's really let down by its linear cop chases, its overwrought and insidious upgrade system, its dreadful dialogue, and its superficial action sequences. It feels fine and it looks flashy, but Payback really went all-in on its direct-to-DVD revenge tale and it was a bust for me.
Need For Speed: Payback may not do anything new, but it brings together elements of Forza Horizon and Burnout Paradise to create a fun and explosive racer.
Need for Speed Payback is an epic racing game thanks to his cinematographic style. Fans of the franchise will be very satisfied with all the content that awaits in the game.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Need for Speed comes back stronger than ever with an open-world game that has a great story mode and gameplay mechanics adapted to every player.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
A step back that betrays the good gameplay of the series and the excellent achievements of the 2015 reboot.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Need for Speed does not take advantage of the two-year break to present a game that involves a clear step forward in the series, staying as a simple driving arcade that does more things wrong than good.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Need for Speed returns with another flawed entry. There's the core of a great racing game here and when you're just driving around the open world, it's wonderful. The progression system encourages grinding and the basic story is delivered with B-movie seriousness, taking away from the racing pleasure. There's a better game inside of Payback, but you have to go through everything else to get to it.
Like the so-called reboot from 2015, Need for Speed Payback is better and more fun than it really should be. In fact, Ghost Games latest creation is the most entertaining Need for Speed game for many years, making it an extra pity that the final polish is missing.
Review in Swedish | Read full review
Need for Speed: Payback is a fun, great open world with a story campaign that works well. Racing is exciting and all of the car modifications are interesting, besides lacking from its technical side.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Need for Speed Payback is a well-designed sandbox that's at its most entertaining when you ignore what's supposed to be the core of the game. The story is dud, and the game's Ultimate Team-inspired upgrade system is an attempt to force a square peg into a round hole, but there's no denying tearing down desert roads at 180 mph in a souped-up 1965 Mustang is a blast. Need for Speed Payback is a fun joyride, but it doesn't quite hold up over the long haul.
Need for Speed: Payback has a lot of competitions to complete and has everything you can expect by a game of the series. It is also heavily focused on grinding, because is the only way to avoid the infamous microtransactions.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Need For Speed: Payback is a solid, lengthy and entertaining racing game, but it's unable to reinvent its genre. The work by Ghost Games is weighted down by its stiff singleplayer structure, which clashes with a progression system that, whilst clever in theory, fails to be as balanced as it should be in practice.
Review in Italian | Read full review
When you're racing, drifting, off-roading or being chased, Payback feels like a fine arcade racer in the classic Need for Speed mould. It doesn't have the glamour or the handling of Forza: Horizon, but it's scores big on variety, speed and thrills.