Need for Speed Payback Reviews
2017 is a cracking year for racing fans but unfortunately for Need for Speed, Payback doesn't stand tall amongst the likes of Forza Motosport 7, Gran Turismo Sport, Project CARS 2, DiRT 4 and F1 2017.
The worst NFS since a long, long time. And all of this because of microtransactions which cast a shadow over variety of activities and diversified gameplay.
Review in Polish | Read full review
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 is several bad ideas on four wheels, a drab racer whose potential is rear-ended by an underhanded upgrade system and a story that belongs in a direct-to-DVD bargain bin.
There's a good game buried within the shiny shell of Need for Speed: Payback. But between its frustrating upgrade system and self-serious storyline, it's hard to get invested in the title.
Considering how enjoyable getting behind the wheel is in Need for Speed Payback, it is frustrating that so many elements don't work in the overall experience. You may spend most of your time having fun racing but the b-movie story that stars unlikable characters, the presentation inconsistencies, and the poorly integrated upgrade system are frequent frustrations.
There's a perfectly fine racing game somewhere in this mess of half-baked ideas. A fun arcade racer has been drowned in enough ‘one more thing' additions to fill the entire run of Columbo, and the result is a rather unpleasant muddle of bland story, stop-start driving, and player control being ripped away just as things get juicy.
Need for Speed Payback is another miss for the franchise. The racing feels good, the presentation is great, but everything surrounding it is absolutely abhorrent.
Dull and uninspired, with a relentless emphasis on grinding, Need for Speed Payback is neither fast nor furious.
Enjoyable arcade handling packaged within a game that gets monotonous long before it rewards your time investment.
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 continues the road NFS 2015 took. It tries to be varied but none are deep enough and rarely shine throughout. On the other hand focusing on a loot box system breaks both balance and rhythm of progressing and you put all of these alongside problems in narrative and boring mission design, it's a frustrating experience that shows how much Payback is not worthy of the NFS name
Review in Persian | Read full review
The driving and actual gameplay is still fun and well done. There's actually a very good open world racing game in here, it's just bogged down by level progression and needless grinding that is only there to extend the gameplay time and to get people to spend real money to potentially get upgrades for the cars.
Need for Speed Payback squanders its open world on races against rubberbanding AI, linear escapes from a timer instead of the cops, and a broken economy that will leave you grinding for far too long. Throw in a bland story and unlikable characters, and you've got a franchise on a serious downward trend.
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.
Need for Speed Payback is a game with some good ideas and more than a few bad ways of executing them. The story gives you a good basis for a non-traditional racing game, and aping Forza Horizon isn't a bad way to go about it. The handling is purely arcade in style and fun to play, and the environments can give you some pretty good racing areas. However, even if you discount how bad the story plays out, you'll hate the fact that you'll never get to play the more exciting segments. Worse, the promotion of grinding makes the game drag on far longer than it should, making you want to put it away without even finishing the campaign, let alone try the multiplayer. It isn't the worst racer on the platform by any means, but it's certainly not worthy of the full asking price.
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.
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.
Ghost games took one step forward and two steps back with Payback. The game doesn't require an internet connection anymore and its gameplay is more diverse and fun. But rally races are quite rather exhausting than exciting. Physics are poor, textures take time to load and the high importance of Microtransactions is another mistake made by EA this year.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Need for Speed Payback is at its best when you're completing story missions, speeding through thrilling set-pieces and battling against cops and criminals.