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| Need for Speed Payback | |
|---|---|
Cover art featuring a Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R V·Spec, BMW M5 and Chevrolet Bel Air Sport Coupe 265 V8 escaping from the police. | |
| Developer(s) | Ghost Games |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Director(s) | William Ho |
| Producer(s) |
|
| Designer(s) | Riley Cooper |
| Artist(s) | Abdul Khaliq |
| Writer(s) | |
| Composer(s) | Joseph Trapanese |
| Series | Need for Speed |
| Engine | Frostbite 3 |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4 Xbox One |
| Release | November 10, 2017 |
| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Need for Speed Payback is a racing video game developed by Ghost Games and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It is the twenty-third installment in the Need for Speed series. The game was revealed with a trailer released on June 2, 2017 and released worldwide on November 10, 2017.[1]
- 3Development
Gameplay[edit]
Need for Speed Payback is a racing game set in an open world environment of Fortune Valley; a fictional version of Las Vegas, Nevada. It is focused on 'action driving' and has three playable characters (each with different sets of skills) working together to pull off action movie like sequences. In contrast with the previous game, it also features a 24-hour day-night cycle.[2] Unlike the 2015 Need for Speed reboot, Payback includes an offline single-player mode.[3]
Need for Speed: Payback features a total of 74 vehicles, with downloadable contents. Toyota, Scion and Ferrari do not feature in the game due to licensing issues. However, the Subaru BRZ appears in the game.[4]Aston Martin, Audi, Buick, Jaguar, Koenigsegg, Land Rover, Mercury, Mini, Pagani, and Plymouth make their return after their absence from the 2015 installment, while Alfa Romeo, Infiniti, Mini and Pontiac were added via downloadable content.
Plot[edit]
Tyler 'Ty' Morgan (Jack Derges), Sean 'Mac' McAlister (David Ajala), and Jessica 'Jess' Miller (Jessica Madsen) are part of a crew in Silver Rock, Fortune Valley along with their friend and mechanic Ravindra 'Rav' Chaudhry (Ramon Tikaram). After a friendly race between them, Tyler's childhood acquaintance and fixer Lina Navarro (Dominique Tipper) arrives, with a job for them: steal a precious Koenigsegg Regera belonging to Marcus 'The Gambler' Weir with some high level tech inside. Tyler, posing as a test driver, successfully steals the car and evades the police. However, as he arrives at the drop point, he finds Rav knocked out. Lina appears, revealing that she set up Tyler and his crew to take the fall for the stolen car and she drives away, leaving them at the mercy of the oncoming police force. Tyler leads the cops away from his crew and runs into The Gambler, who demands his car back. On learning that Lina betrayed both of them, Weir is angry and decides to leave Tyler to be arrested, but changes his mind and asks him to come with him so that he can be protected from being arrested.
Six months later, Tyler is working as a valet for Weir. As he delivers his car to his casino, Tyler spots Lina threatening Weir to hand over the casino to The House, a cartel who controls Fortune Valley's underworld. Tyler considers going after her, but Weir advises him to bide his time. Frustrated at the lack of progress, he decides to take matters into his own hands. Contacting The House as a racer, he enters a race and wins it, despite Lina having rigged the race for profit. Lina tries to have him taken out, but fails.
Weir proposes Tyler a way to take down The House and Lina along with it. Tyler is to enter and win 'The Outlaw's Rush', a massive street racing event that has the nation's top racers participating, which The House plans to rig for their own ends. Tyler refuses at first, but when his house is blown up by Lina as a warning, he decides to accept Weir's offer and get his crew back together.
Since the failed mission, Mac has hit rock bottom, and has agreed to teach Internet celebrity 'HashTiger' how to drift. Rav has decided to go legitimate as a mechanic, and Jess, on her own since the job, now operates as a getaway driver for the Silver Rock criminal underground. However, they agree to meet and hear out Tyler's plan for taking down The House.
In order to get into The Outlaw's Rush, Tyler and Mac must take on the street leagues in Fortune Valley to be accepted into the race. Meanwhile, Jess does several escorts and courier deliveries inside The House for a woman only known as The Broker. Tyler takes on and wins against La Catrina and her league, Graveyard Shift, while Mac challenges and wins against Udo Roth and his League 73. Afterwards, they get a chance to perform a heist, reclaiming Weir's Koenigsegg and delivering it back to him.
Tyler and Mac then challenge two leagues, Big Sister and her league, Riot Club, and the Underground Soldier and his league, Shift Lock. Jess finds out that Lina is paying off cops and racers alike to do her bidding whenever required, and learns that she and the crew are on the police and The House's watchlist. She also finds out that they are planning to bring something into the city called Skyhammer, and it would be operational soon.
Later, Tyler is contacted by La Catrina for a rematch, but on reaching there, he finds Mac and Jess there too, who have been called there on different pretexts. Realizing they have been set up by Navarro, the three are pursued by the police. During the chase, Skyhammer is revealed to be an EMP killswitch placed on the pursuit helicopter which, when activated, is capable of slowing down a car or immobilizing it if focused on for long periods. The three manage to take down the helicopter and escape the cops.
Exiled once again by The House, Tyler and Mac continue their quest to gain allies against The House by taking on three more leagues: The Silver Six, led by Tyler's childhood friend 'Gallo' Rivera, Noise Bomb, led by Aki Kimura (originally from Need for Speed: ProStreet), and Free Ember Militia, led by Faith Jones.
Jess, now inside The House, continues her intel gathering on The House's operations for The Broker. She learns of two gold plated cars, a Mercedes-Benz G-Class and a Lamborghini Aventador, fitted with illegal tech that The Collector, the head of The House, is putting on display, and plans to steal them with Tyler and Mac. However, Navarro and The Collector have anticipated this and plant bombs on the cars. With the police in hot pursuit, Mac, Tyler and Rav transport the cars out of town using a semi truck. After smashing through several roadblocks, Tyler and Rav manage to detach the bombs and throw them at the pursuing police cars, ensuring their escape.
Jess, going back undercover, learns more about the House's activities with the help of the Underground Soldier, who goes under when his cover is blown. Nevertheless, Jess manages to get the data to The Broker, where she learns The Collector is just a pawn and of something called Arkwright. Meanwhile, Tyler and Mac race against the final three leagues: Mitko Vasilev's Diamond Block, Holtzman's Hazard Company and Natalia 'SuperNova' Nova's One Percent Club, all of whom are on The House's payroll. After winning, Tyler and his crew learn they have successfully made it into The Outlaw's Rush.
Knowing that Navarro would do anything to ensure that they don't win, Rav outfits the cars with countermeasures that prevent them from being hit by the killswitches, which have been set up on several police cars as well. Tyler decides to run both the street and the off-road races. During the street leg, Navarro sends the league bosses under her payroll to stop him, but they all fail. During the off-road leg, Navarro resorts to sending the cops after Tyler, but all the crews he and Mac have gained as allies intervene by creating multiple distractions across Fortune Valley, to draw away the cops, as well as take down the units chasing Tyler.
Left with no option, Navarro decides to race against Tyler herself. During the race, The Collector calls and offers Tyler to replace Navarro as his lieutenant by convincing him to lose the race, but he refuses. Tyler eventually wins The Outlaw's Rush for Silver Rock. Then Navarro drives away and The Collector calls her to tell her she’s finished working for him and ends up getting surrounded by The Collectors thugs while The Collector drives away. The game ends with the crew deciding to race each other home.
In a post-credits scene, Mr. Kobashi, a customer whom Jess had driven, calls Weir and tells him his gamble worked, and that The Collector is finished. He welcomes Weir to the aforementioned Arkwright and Weir hangs up, satisfied.
Development[edit]
In January 2016, Ghost Games began development on the next Need for Speed game to be released in 2017.[5][better source needed]Electronic Arts later confirmed in their January 2017 earnings call that the next game in the franchise was in development and set to be launched during EA's fiscal year 2018 (Comprising from April 2017 to March 2018).[6]
Soundtrack[edit]
The soundtrack features songs by A$AP Ferg, Action Bronson, Barns Courtney, Gorillaz, Jacob Banks, Jaden Smith, Nothing but Thieves, Queens of the Stone Age, Rae Sremmurd, Royal Blood, Run the Jewels, Skepta, Spoon, Post Malone and X Ambassadors. Payback also features DJ Shadow and Nas song 'Systematic', which was created for the Mike Judge television series Silicon Valley.
Reception[edit]
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Need for Speed Payback received 'mixed or average' reviews from critics, according to review aggregatorMetacritic.[8][9][7]
Luke Reilly of IGN praised Electronic Arts for repairing the problems of the game's predecessor, Need for Speed, but criticized its 'scripted' story, lack of police chases during free roam, scripted police chases, loot box-like mechanisms during customization, poor car handling, unrealistic car damage and several other issues.[13]PC World criticized the game for being full of microtransactions, the severely limited customizability of cars, gameplay mechanics, a lack of cockpit view and several more issues, and compared it harshly to the Forza Horizon series.[15]
According to The NPD Group, Payback was the eighth best-selling title in the United States in November 2017.[16]
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Game Critics Awards | Best Racing Game | Nominated | [17] |
| Gamescom 2017 | Best Racing Game | Nominated | [18] | |
| 2018 | National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards | Song Collection | Nominated | [19] |
References[edit]
- ^McCormick, Rich (June 2, 2017). 'EA's new Need for Speed: Payback looks very fast and fairly furious'. The Verge. Retrieved June 2, 2017.
- ^Reilly, Luke (June 2, 2017). 'Need For Speed Payback Looks Faster, More Furious'. IGN. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
- ^Yin-Poole, Wesley (May 10, 2017). 'The New Need for Speed Lets You Play Single-Player Offline'. Eurogamer. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
- ^'Toyota's absence from the game was confirmed on Reddit'.
- ^'Under the Hood #7'. Ghost Games. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
- ^Dornbush, Jonathon (31 January 2017). 'EA CONFIRMS NEW NEED FOR SPEED WILL BE OUT IN NEXT FISCAL YEAR'. IGN.com. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
- ^ ab'Need for Speed Payback for PC Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
- ^ ab'Need for Speed Payback for PlayStation 4 Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
- ^ ab'Need for Speed Payback for Xbox One Reviews'. Metacritic. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
- ^Carsillo, Ray (November 7, 2017). 'Need for Speed Payback review'. Electronic Gaming Monthly. EGM Media, LLC. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
- ^Wakeling, Richard (November 6, 2017). 'Need for Speed Payback Review'. GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
- ^Loveridge, Sam (November 7, 2017). 'Need for Speed Payback review: 'Silly, over the top and a little bit self-indulgent, but in a fantastic action movie way.''. GamesRadar. Future plc. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
- ^ abReilly, Luke (November 6, 2017). 'Need for Speed Payback Review'. IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
- ^Good, Owen S. (November 11, 2017). 'Need for Speed Payback review'. Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved November 11, 2017.
- ^Dingman, Hayden (November 10, 2017). 'Need for Speed: Payback review: Pouring loot boxes on a tire fire'. PC World. International Data Group. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
- ^Makuch, Eddie (December 14, 2017). 'Top 20 Best-Selling Games In The US For November 2017'. GameSpot. CBS Interactive.
- ^'Game Critics Awards: Best of E3 2017 (2017 Nominees)'. Game Critics Awards. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
- ^Khan, Zubi (August 21, 2017). 'Gamescom 2017 Award Nominees'. CGM. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
- ^'Nominee List for 2017'.
External links[edit]
- Need for Speed Payback at MobyGames
This all feels rather familiar.
For its twenty-third instalment, Need for Speed owes a lot to its entertainment industry peers. From its mishmashed ‘crew’ of vigilantes to the comic book greed and corruption of its super villains its narrative is every bit The Fast and the Furious, whilst its gameplay features the vehicular violence across an open-world that was a benchmark of Burnout in its later years. It’s a post-modern construction befitting our multimedia-driven world.
Having played Need for Speed Payback for a few hours at this point, I am consumed by the feeling that it is indeed a work of collage rather than genuine individuality. Its spectacular set-pieces, obsession with collectibles and a wholly unrealistic handling model designed to promote impossible driving techniques are things that we’ve seen before.
As with Star Wars Battlefront 2, Payback’s EA stable-mate, the goal here is to seemingly provide something harbouring an accessible, recognisable quality as opposed to something altogether original. EA Ghost, Payback’s creator, seems to be on the right track in this regard.
You play as Tyler Morgan, a Paul Walker lookalike desperate to earn big bucks and avoid the rat race of a regular life. He’s out to take down The House, a criminal syndicate running Fortune Valley – the Las Vegas-inspired gambling mecca located somewhere in the American desert. Morgan is a hotshot racer and his way to the heart of The House is through the rigged street races the group operates. Queue hip-hop, burning rubber and people calling each other “bro”.
The narrative foundations are shallow and harbour a strong potential to feel overly-familiar once more hours have been spent behind the wheel, but that’s to be expected in a game trying to achieve so much diversity through its gameplay. Too complex a narrative and it becomes impossible for EA Ghost to tie all of its interactive elements together.
Story missions are undertaken at a pace of your own choosing, allowing you to indulge at will in Payback’s smorgasbord of activities. Street and off-road races, destroying difficult to reach billboards, finding and rejuvenating old wrecks, tuning and customising your cars, average and top speed challenges and more are here to claim victory over. My time so far has seen a ratio somewhere in the region of 3:1 in favour of completing these types of objectives over engaging in the main story.
Whilst we’ve seen these ideas before, not least in EA’s own Burnout Paradise, the quality of the environment means that they feel like an aspiration to achieve rather than a chore to tick off. Fortune Valley itself largely adheres to an American grid system of interlocking roads and right-angled corners, with the flashy casino district flanked by residential areas both affluent and poor as well as more traditional commercial centres featuring shopping districts so grand they’re surely offerings to the consumerist gods. Overhead raised highways allow you to make good use of the in-built NOS boost that all cars seem to be pre-packaged with, whilst open desert meets you at the city boundaries.
The desert is made up of country lanes and longer, straight roads, with gas stations (drive through them to repair your car, a la Burnout), dilapidated barns and even an airfield dotted across the vista. It’s the kind of place that you want to explore in a car, the environment harbouring every dream associated with the western section of Route 66.
Of course, Payback’s world is an exaggeration of the real thing. Like its gameplay elements, there’s little new about what’s presented here but the larger than life way it’s condensed and thrown at you gives it something of a dream-like vibe.
Visual impact is helped by the fact that the whole thing is built upon the Frostbite engine, the framework that EA DICE created for Battlefield but has since been rolled out for FIFA, Madden, Battlefront and Mass Effect. This not only provides a constantly smooth frame rate, it also gives greater detail to everything from tracks left on the dirt to the wrinkles in each character’s face. Certainly, from a technical perspective, no EA racer has ever looked this good.
Need For Speed Payback Rating
Whether it feels as good, is a more subjective question. Handling here is very much arcade in nature, with the laws of physics replaced by a desire to provide an instantly gratifying sense of spectacle and control over your wheels. In the right type of car you can drift by simply locking the steering wheel in the relevant direction, whilst braking, acceleration and launching yourself of jumps is more in line with Starsky and Hutch than Einstein or Newton.
Cop cars buzz about you like wasps should they pick up on the scent of illegal activity. They come with a bar that hovers above their roofs that must be depleted by smashing into them, at which point slow-mo kicks in and the camera pans to give you a front row seat as they spin and pivot in the air.
It’s simplistic and easy to drive and dispatch cops, but it is undoubtedly fun to be able to rid yourself of the responsibilities associated with real physics and concentrate instead on achieving whatever crazy idea pops into your head.
The slice of Payback I’ve handled is a very a good old fashioned piece of indulgence and, certainly, it is a different kind of indulgence than Need for Speed has typically focused on. Indulgence can be great in the short term, but in the long term it can feel like a mistake.
Casino Row Need For Speed Payback Download
Its car are fast and its stunts spectacular, but pacing is about more than speed and excitement. Here’s hoping Payback understands that.