Recent reviews by Tens

For my friends who pay attention to what I do (why): You'll notice that this is my second review. This is because my previous review of the game was made during the rampant server/matchmaking errors that plagued the first week or so of the game. These have, as far as I've experienced, been addressed and mitigated, and I've been able to experience the game properly. Thus, a more accurate review is necessary.

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+ PAYDAY 3 overhauled its stealth mechanics by implementing 'Private' zones on maps and giving players a lot more to do while unmasked. Getting caught in private areas cause guards to simply escort players into public zones, instead of resorting to hostile behaviors. This gives crews a lot more power and flexibility in how they run heists.

+ Assault waves are gauged by overall heist progression instead of the amount of time passed since going loud. This means that no matter how long it takes, the pressure you feel only increases when you hit certain milestones in a heist. It all culminates into a 'Final Charge' towards the end, which is an unending assault wave where the game throws everything at you, ready or not.

~ No more 'Offshore' that most of your money funnels away to. Everything you collect in a heist, you keep to use as you see fit, from using $$$ to purchase favors, equipment, and cosmetics, or investing in 'C-Stacks', a fictional in-universe cryptocurrency that lets you purchase unique and 'custom' gear.

~ Heists are 'fixed' when loaded. What you see is what you get; restarting a heist gives you the same guards, camera locations, and AI quirks. I feel like I learn from my mistakes when I restart, instead of feeling like I've been bumbling about or getting lucky.

- There are only eight heists to play through, and this game does not subscribe to 'Quality over Quantity'. Each heist is rather shallow, with one even being a recreation of PAYDAY 2's 'Bank Heist'. Some heists play slightly differently if you collect optional key-items or use alternative paths, but once you successfully complete a heist, you've more or less finished everything. They're that railroaded.

- The combat is no different than what PAYDAY 2 offers. For all of Starbreeze claiming they want diversity in builds and weapons, combat is still the same: One-shot is king, with a select few weapons rising above everything else. And because weapon balance is poorly thought out, many weapons fall out of favor because their TTK and ammo economy can't keep up in higher difficulties like Overkill.

- Many potentially useful weapon modifications are locked behind a substantial number of C-Stacks, which the game withholds from you through a limited number of C-Stacks per week that exponentially increase in cost as you buy more. C-Stacks also make their way into storage slots for cosmetics and weapons; collecting everything will cost an exorbitant amount of money if that's your sort of thing.

- Voice acting feels wooden and called in. Uninspired lines that feel forced and don't flow at all with the rest of the game. Characters don't interact with each other in any capacity. Storybeats and heist introductions feel like they're drafts of a final product.

-- Bag transport was not improved upon whatsoever. You'll still be spending half the heist daisy-chaining bags across the map by yourself or with friends. But that's okay: You can throw bags on the backs of AI now! Truly revolutionary gameplay design.

-- Career progression is dependent on challenge completion. And I do not mean dynamic challenges that adapt to your playstyle and encourage simply playing the game. I mean challenges that can only be completed once, increase exponentially in requirement and time to complete, offer limited amounts of Infamy Points, and are lopsided in such a way that you may feel forced to play the game in ways you're not comfortable with, because the challenges expect players to hit certain numbers with heists and weapons, rather than encouraging efficient or skilled gameplay through timed challenges or unique completion parameters. Given that you need more and more IP to level up as you get more levels, you'll find that you plateau earlier than later, and getting the IP you need to get to the next unlock milestone becomes more a lesson in tedium and patience than it is game progression.

-- The game has been out for less than a month, and there are already plans to monetize the game further with a 'Premium' currency attained through microtransactions. The fact that Starbreeze insists on MTX for a game that's pay-to-play, with major DLC content on the roadmap is deeply concerning, no matter how Starbreeze claims to implement it.

-- The UI and team play is genuine dogwater: Navigating challenges is impossible; weapon statistics are vague at best, outright wrong at worst; navigating your inventories is atrocious; you can not manually reorganize your inventory like you can in PAYDAY 2; you can not rename loadouts; you can not 'unready' in pre-heist lobbies; you can not communicate in pre-heist lobbies; VOIP is nonexistent; toggling the chat window is clunky; the list really just goes on. A five year old can make a better UI than what Starbreeze has given us. So, what the actual ♥♥♥♥?

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It's clear that PAYDAY 3 in its current state is a half-baked development project that management decided to push onto us due to outside pressures and concerns (I'm willing to bet that they were financial in nature). This game desperately needs a good few months of extra development, stress testing, and polish by its developers before it can be considered a true successor to the PAYDAY franchise. Because while mechanically it plays like a PAYDAY game, it's clear that there's no soul or passion put into it.

This game isn't worth the price, even if it rolls up with a Steam Sale discount.

Need For Speed: Heat is what you get when you allow fans with a passion for the game create a love letter to the franchise without having to bend the knee to meddling developers trying to push a financial agenda on the title (Whether it be milking the NFS name or implementing pointless RNG systems). So it comes as no surprise that Electronic Arts dismantled Ghost Games and reassigned its mainline staff to Criterion Games while having the rest of them serve as engineering support for other studios underneath the EA branding, all in just three months of the release of NFS:Heat.

Graphics: 7/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Customization: 10/10
Story: 2/10
Soundtrack: 0/10 - Why.[pbs.twimg.com]

Good:
> CROSSPLAY. PC players can connect seamlessly to their console compatriots.
> Primarily a multiplayer game, but Solo players are not punished.

> Wide variety of vehicles across many iconic manufacturers.
> Deep customization of vehicles allow players to build, tune, wrap, and tweak their vehicles to their fancy.
> Large variety of events and courses to play on, both Day and Night, as well as different themes: Circuit, Sprint, Drift, and Offroad.
> Adjustable difficulty for solo events.
> Challenging 5-0 during the Night sections that is hellbent on taking you out.

Bad:
> Third Party launcher required to play the game (Origin).

> Laughably short story. It's an arcade racer, but still...
> Races are hyper-focused on asphalt circuits or sprints. There are drift and offroad events and activities, but it's clear they were tacked on as an afterthought.
> Controls are far too stiff for some vehicles, even for an arcade racer. There are options and mechanics that can be used to set and tune a car's performance, but they're sometimes not enough.
> Challenging 5-0 can be too challenging.
> Damage mechanics. The concept is great, but sometimes its right garbage and you'll find yourself swearing at the inconsistencies.

Ugly:
> The music. Just... Why? This is the only game I've played where I've when out of my way to disable the soundtrack on less than an hour after I booted it up for the first time.
> Challenging 5-0 is really just stupid when it comes to damage. Lovetaps from the cops deal extreme damage to you, even with mitigation components. The same can't be said if you decide to fight back.

NFS:Heat is an arcade racer that takes place in the borders of and around Palm City: A Miami-esque city with sweeping coastlines and dense city design, to hilly and swampy marshes, to hilly and twisting hillsides and mountains; all free to explore and tear apart at your leisure in the car of your choosing. The game is split into two modes:

Day is where you earn money for cars, upgrades, and customization through sponsored events known as Showdown Races. In these events, you rip through courses that are cordoned and demarcated with bright barriers highlighting bends and turns. You'll spend the majority of your time in this segment farming money for the well over a hundred cars that you can choose from, as well as their cosmetic and performance options.

Night is where the underground crops up. Say goodbye to the glitzy city, and say hello to the bright neon of Palm City as you rip through curves, narrowly avoiding civilians and outrunning every cop that furiously attempts to wipe you out. Dealers are particular about who they serve to, and will laugh off every nobody that comes by. To get their respect, and by extension, the crucial components you need to get an edge over your competition, you need to develop your Reputation, which is the reward for your hard efforts under the neon lights. Each race you win gains reputation, which unlocks various components for your ride.

The 5-0

Ghost Games did cops very well in their implementation. When you're just starting to cause trouble during the night, the cops are quite lazy. They're quick to end a pursuit, don't try very hard in searching for you, and, provided you haven't built up too much heat, you can outright bribe them to get them off your tail (Only for so long)! But cause enough chaos, and you'll find yourself getting chased by the fastest and toughest the PD has to offer, who are absolutely hellbent on making sure you crash and burn. Raw speed won't help you at this point: It'll take quick and agile movements, as well as knowledge of the environment, to get these guys off your tail.

There are auxillary components that can be equipped to help you handle the heat and stand a fighting in the chase. Damage reduction (To you), Damage amplification (To them), kill switch protection, emergency repair kits/nitrous refills, and much more. Just be aware that only two aux mods can be equipped: A passive and active.

There's a large world to explore, with a variety of terrain, turns, slopes, and other such things to tackle and learn at your own pace. And considering how nasty the police can become during the Night phase, it would be in your best interest to learn the layouts! Knowing the roads, where they lead, and what's on them will save you when the time comes. Ghost Games has a host of activities independent of races to encourage exploration. Flamingos to break, street art to discover, jumps to launch off, speed traps to break, and drift courses to slide in. Completing these grant cash, rep, and upon completing everything in a section of the map, new cosmetic parts for your car.

It's quite deep. Complete and total control of decals means you can design whatever vinyl(s) that suit your fancy. You're an artist, and your car is your canvas, my friend. Paint options can be quick and dirty from a palette of select colors and finishes, to a full RGB range, down to material, finish, and various pearls. On top of components, you can swap the engine within your vehicle to a brand new one, with its own quirks and functions. And this is on top of the potentially huge range of body and frame modifications to your vehicle.

NFS:Heat is an arcade racer. You're expected to drive fast and tear through corners, and the game's designed to let you do that. That said, there's something you can do to tune handling further: Drivetrain components. This is where you toy with brakes, tires, suspension, and other parts to radically change how your car behaves on the road. Through this, you can tune any vehicle to any spec on the fly. It's pretty intuitive, though I would recommend reading the descriptions of some the parts here: Some parts behave in ways that aren't immediately noticeable.

That said: Despite what Ghost Games claims, cars do not handle the same. Some are naturally lighter or heavier than others. Some grip more. Some tend to slide easy. The Drivetrain components are a huge step into tuning the overall response and behavior of your vehicle when it's moving... But if you find yourself swearing because a car because it doesn't perform in the way you're used to, it might not hurt to go to the dealership to test run another car. The innate handling on it might be more to your taste!

NFS:Heat is a breath of fresh air that deserves a fair shake. There's probably a lot I'm missing here, especially on the technical aspects: Optimization and stability and other such things. But it's incredibly hard for me to be unbiased about those things when I haven't had problems. I want to write what I've experienced, after all.

I certainly hope I've given you a better idea of what to expect before purchasing this game. If there's smaller things that you want my take on, feel free to leave a comment and I'll try my best to answer! If you do purchase this game, I hope you get as much a kick out of it as I did. And maybe we'll end up doing some races together! ♪