PAYDAY 2: CRIMEWAVE EDITION brings back the sequel to the original cop-massacring, bank robbing, vault-breaking shooter for a pretty price of 50$ which includes all the DLC, post-launch updates, improved textures and enhanced framerate. However, with the variety of cons that come to this promising game, some might shy away from dipping into their pocket. Put on your masks and hang onto your seat cuz’ this one mixed review.
If you aren’t familiar with any of the Payday games – it’s basically a first-person co-op heist simulator. You and a 3 others (or less) have to work together using specialised perks, skill sets, customisable weapons, equipment and armour to make your way around a variety of really brilliantly designed levels with the final goal of banking cash to your offshore account. You select your missions based on a program called “crimenet” which showcases the different lobbies highlighting difficulties, lengths of heists and payouts.
Sounds fun, right? And to a certain degree, I would say yes. In principal it’s fun trying out your customized weapon, figuring out a strategy to break into a cash convoy, trainyard, bank, casino ect. But when you actually get down to the gameplay, the basics mechanics make the game feel cheap and clunky.
I played the original payday and I can say the same problems are still there: The sticky aiming made me dread – no – refuse- to even try out the option of a sniper rifle – it’s something that a consistent Battlefield or Call of Duty player will find frustrating – and will likely never get over. Headshots are close to impossible to land first time, you have to sort of try get the sights which takes about three chances because a joystick move will make the camera either zip just past the target or right next to it. This is a pretty serious issue for a console game as a shooter, because the player can’t really be an accurate shooter and will most likely opt for automatic weapons or shotguns, to hit targets easier.
The AI, oh god I have nightmares of AI teammates glitching in corners, cops running straight past me or singling out me while AI teammates run haphazardly around, which, I mean you can get over the AI problem if you play online, but some people don’t always have the luxury of PSN. Which is why I recommend this game is only played online, it’s impossible to try stash like 8 bags of money yourself against an endless onslaught of cops while your AI teammates are standing around. – Which I should mention, the AI teammates function only as place-holders for real people and literally serve two functions to you as a player: extra firepower, and a portable medic kit to revive you.
Which is why I recommend that this game is played online and only offline if you aim at doing a stealth mission yourself.
However, Even with all those problems constantly barking at my feet I still found myself heading back for more – meaning that they must have done something right with this version of payday. And yes they did, with the sheer amount of unlocks, attachments, weapons, skills and perks you can literally make your character unique to you with the amount of options akin to an RPG title.
Cosmetically you always look like a freaking badass, I mean you can play as John Wick wearing a freaking panda mask and full suit for God sake! This kinda of made me feel fine with dealing with the problems because at the end of the day I was only 20,000$ away from purchasing another sight for my mp7
The level design was actually really great, I remember playing a stage whereby a cash in transit truck crash landed into a butchery and my teammate and I began shoveling gold into bags and throwing them on conveyor belts while a sort of hardstyle jingle bells soundtrack began blasting on repeat, it was equally hilarious (which I am not sure if that was what the devs were going for?) and pretty epic.
Some missions can go over multiple days which making the heist feel more calculated and realistic – Another specific mission I enjoyed was robbing an art gallery, I had a fairly efficient team who took down most of the guards and slowly began throwing paintings my way to store in the bag of a HIGHLEY INCONSPICUAS red van. All was well until one guard too many was picked off and a full on freaking onslaught was called in to take the four of us out. The next day unfolded the story, more stating that the cops had chased us down and the getaway car was busted, forcing us to move our prized goods into another van. Finally, on the third day the transaction took place and us, the infamous the band of robbers, shuffled duffle bags of exchanged cash from the paintings into another van ending the 3-day mission.
I found that short sequence of events even movie worthy it was so rad.
Pros
- Slipknot simulator
- Tons of levels
- Engaging level design
- Perk and Skill system
- Sheer amount of content (weapons, masks, attachments)
- Fun when you find a lobby of decent players
Cons
- A persistent joining glitch (forcing the player to exit and re-enter a lobby)
- Occasional crashes
- Sticky aiming
- Muddy controls
- Unrealistic health to enemy health ratio.
- Terrible AI
- Glitches
- Somewhat ridiculous voice acting (which I am not sure is put on purposefully, or just really shitty)
Payday CRIMEWAVE: EDITION – big score bundle down the teeth, is a fun customisable experience especially if you are a sucker for content and have friends who down to go stealing with you – however if you are expecting the quality of triple-A shooter, I suggest you save your cash for the up and coming end of year games.
Disclosure: Review code for the game was provided by the publisher.
