This game is an unpolished diamond.

[AtotheMtotheZ]

I really enjoyed the game. It doesn't catch you at first, but as you get the hang of it it gets really good.

 

Let me explain why I believe this game is good and could have been extraordinary.

 

The good:

 

- it's really fun. can't really say why, but it is. 

- you get to have different cars for different kind of events. this gets you driving a lot more cars than you did in previous games. The fact that the respective car is also characterized by certain attributes when choosing an event (the same car can be bought for drift or race and will function in 2 different way - drift or race - depending on which specialization you bought it).

- Police chases. NFS without it sucks.

- big, diverse world. really cool.

- the detail of visual customization is pretty nice.

 

The bad / the unpolished part:

 

- graphics are sooo bad. the asphalt looks horrible. You could also see in the courier missions a reflection of your mirror (and would be a real reflection). Well, that reflection is properly PIXELATED. Mario-1996-pixelated bad. It's probably a console problem, but damn it looks ugly.

- the story is pretty bad. characters may be fun at times, but the acting is just...so plain. Also, sometimes some dialogue was so out of context (especially in courier missions when you got to one of the checkpoints).

- the police chases are not so diverse or intense. It could have been so much more (something more to Hot Pursuit). 

- some collectibles don't make any sense. One of the collectibles is break all the advertising panels and I couldn't just ask...but why? There is no background to it like "break these because our enemies make money with it" or anything, even something plain. So you just break panels...why? Because F the advertisers lol.

- some great cars missing - would just point here that there are no Ferraris in the game.

- the visual customization is pretty, but would have been nice to have at least an aerodinamicity bonus (or something).

 

What do you think? Would like to hear other unpolished things that you found in the game or anything that stood out for you.

 

[Sir_Bee]

Isn't this is game that made the upgrade system just a collection of loot boxes?  Or am I thinking of a different NFS that EA ruined?

[PerryToxteth]

14 hours ago, AtotheMtotheZ said:

I really enjoyed the game. It doesn't catch you at first, but as you get the hang of it it gets really good.

 

Let me explain why I believe this game is good and could have been extraordinary.

 

The good:

 

- it's really fun. can't really say why, but it is. 

- you get to have different cars for different kind of events. this gets you driving a lot more cars than you did in previous games. The fact that the respective car is also characterized by certain attributes when choosing an event (the same car can be bought for drift or race and will function in 2 different way - drift or race - depending on which specialization you bought it).

- Police chases. NFS without it sucks.

- big, diverse world. really cool.

- the detail of visual customization is pretty nice.

 

The bad / the unpolished part:

 

- graphics are sooo bad. the asphalt looks horrible. You could also see in the courier missions a reflection of your mirror (and would be a real reflection). Well, that reflection is properly PIXELATED. Mario-1996-pixelated bad. It's probably a console problem, but damn it looks ugly.

- the story is pretty bad. characters may be fun at times, but the acting is just...so plain. Also, sometimes some dialogue was so out of context (especially in courier missions when you got to one of the checkpoints).

- the police chases are not so diverse or intense. It could have been so much more (something more to Hot Pursuit). 

- some collectibles don't make any sense. One of the collectibles is break all the advertising panels and I couldn't just ask...but why? There is no background to it like "break these because our enemies make money with it" or anything, even something plain. So you just break panels...why? Because F the advertisers lol.

- some great cars missing - would just point here that there are no Ferraris in the game.

- the visual customization is pretty, but would have been nice to have at least an aerodinamicity bonus (or something).

 

What do you think? Would like to hear other unpolished things that you found in the game or anything that stood out for you.

 

If you like this style of driving game with the various cars to upgrade, you should play “The Crew.”  Payback is pretty much a scaled-down version of The Crew, where the map is HUGE and there’s more to explore in a world filled with iconic American landmarks. The story is better, but that’s not really saying much. The Crew platinum is a LONG haul of close to 100 hours with some very difficult MP trophies. And a few notorious trophy glitches.

But if you are looking for a fun game that plays like Payback, but is better in all aspects, then try The Crew. 

13 hours ago, Sir_Bee said:

Isn't this is game that made the upgrade system just a collection of loot boxes?  Or am I thinking of a different NFS that EA ruined?

There are options to upgrade your vehicle using real money, but it’s not needed. 

[El Duderino]

15 hours ago, AtotheMtotheZ said:

What do you think?

I think that EA tried to copy Forza Horizon but failed miserably. But then again, Ghost Games never made a good game before, so I wasn't really surprised. I you want the real deal, go get an Xbox. There is nothing like it on PlayStation.

 

 

 

Edited November 28, 2020 by R4M_Jolly_Monk

[ChowderlyDude]

this game sucks because of one thing: no fast travel to events, etc. Have to go everywhere manually.

[OpenScars]

13 hours ago, Sir_Bee said:

Isn't this is game that made the upgrade system just a collection of loot boxes?  Or am I thinking of a different NFS that EA ruined?

It is that one that you're on about. But EA also ruined the one before and the one after.

 

 

32 minutes ago, R4M_Jolly_Monk said:

I think that EA tried to copy Forza Horizon but failed miserably. But then again, Ghost Games never made a good game before, so I wasn't really surprised. I you want the real deal, go get an Xbox. There is nothing like it on PlayStation.

The one and only game that I wish PS had. I bought an XBone purely for Forza, but it never gets used due to when I feel like playing it, there's 100s hours of system updates and Forza updates to get through (plus, no trophies).

[BrandedBerserk]

More like an unpolished disappointment and im not even the cynical type. This is easily my least favorite nfs game, thankfully they redeemed themselves with heat which was way better. 

[Sir_Bee]

On 11/27/2020 at 10:18 PM, PerryToxteth said:

There are options to upgrade your vehicle using real money, but it’s not needed. 

It isn't about real money vs in game money.  The upgrade system required you use currency (real or not) to buy a random upgrade that may or may not be better than what you have, or even what you wanted.  It was a stupid and pointless system that honestly, ruined the whole experience for me.

[BSKkayfabe]

On 11/27/2020 at 10:05 PM, ChowderlyDude said:

this game sucks because of one thing: no fast travel to events, etc. Have to go everywhere manually.

So......you gotta drive in a game SPECIFICALLY made for driving that's your one hang up?, THE HORROR.... Lol

[noland208]

On 11/27/2020 at 11:05 PM, ChowderlyDude said:

this game sucks because of one thing: no fast travel to events, etc. Have to go everywhere manually.

Oh noooooo you have to drive in a driving game

[PerryToxteth]

1 hour ago, Sir_Bee said:

It isn't about real money vs in game money.  The upgrade system required you use currency (real or not) to buy a random upgrade that may or may not be better than what you have, or even what you wanted.  It was a stupid and pointless system that honestly, ruined the whole experience for me.

The leveling up with parts is pretty much on par with your Rep level.  When you go to the tune-up store, the parts gets better each time you level up. There is the random slot machine for getting better parts, but in no way does it determine whether you are going to beat the game. It seems like countless other games where you acquire better stuff as you progress through the game. I understand the complaints about loot boxes, but this game doesn’t seem to fit the criteria. 

[Sir_Bee]

Just now, PerryToxteth said:

The leveling up with parts is pretty much on par with your Rep level.  When you go to the tune-up store, the parts gets better each time you level up. There is the random slot machine for getting better parts, but in no way does it determine whether you are going to beat the game. It seems like countless other games where you acquire better stuff as you progress through the game. I understand the complaints about loot boxes, but this game doesn’t seem to fit the criteria. 

 

Then this may not be the game I am thinking of.  Is this not the game where you cannot just go to the store and buy a part, you buy a card that has a random set of perks (brand, slot etc)?  It isn't about whether or not it restricts your ability to finish the game, it is about the experience.  And that is a choice that adds literally nothing while only making things worse for the player.  Those types of choices are the ones that ruin games.

 

Now I know that there were updates where the loot box system was changed, but I stopped playing long before that happened.  It may be better now, but it is far too late for me.

[P_Pigly_Hogswine]

NFS Payback is ... not great.

 

It has enjoyable moments for sure: the races can be good, I quite like the environment, as an arcade racer it's a great wind down game when you just wanna switch your brain off.

 

Buuuuuut ... there's a lot to not like.

 

The story is unnecessary, the acting is beyond awful, all the characters minus the main bad guy and the girl are just the worst, the offroad races are really plonky. But it's the upgrade system that is hands down the worst part of this game.

 

The fact that this game still uses rubber banding AI means you need to over level your cars even on easy, and the random "pick a card" upgrade system means you just waste time hanging around waiting for the tune up shop to restock and hope it maybe has the parts you need (though it's likely it won't). For the most part you can fumble your way through, but a handful of story races spike the difficulty and you spend a heap of time attempting to find random loot cards. It's awful.

 

Jury's out on the music and it's a personal preference thing, but coupled with the "ultra cool guy" characters and everyone being so cool all the time can't stop being so 1337 I feel like it's either what a 50 year old EA exec thinks kids want these days, or if it was written by an AI that only learned human behaviour from Pepsi Max commercials.

[wolvieware]

Yes I have to agree with this. It’s not great but I’m enjoying it anyway. I feel like NFS gets a bad rep so I have stayed away from it this gen but then I got this game and picked up NFS (2015) for just a few quid and have been really enjoying them. Nothing special but just fun enough to keep you playing and explore the world. I also agree that I like the variety of cars. 

[XSweightlol]

'Police chases. NFS without it sucks.'
-There isnt any cops outside of story missions

Also Need For Speed is not about supercars/hypercars, its about illegal street racing in tuner JDM cars 

[cometowner]

this game is one of the best I have played in the series. don't let people say the other way around.

[Infidel7676]

On 1/25/2021 at 5:21 AM, XSweightlol said:

'Police chases. NFS without it sucks.'
-There isnt any cops outside of story missions

Also Need For Speed is not about supercars/hypercars, its about illegal street racing in tuner JDM cars 

Well technically the older NFS games WERE all about the supercars and hypercars. The whole JDM thing didn't come in until Underground. And even then there were still super/hyper cars.

[mega-tallica]

Racing games are all the same, what separates the good from the bad ultimately are the handling controls and Payback has atrocious controls. Your input is just so delayed, it makes everything in this game unnecessarily more difficult like navigating around the insane amounts of traffic that get in your way constantly. There's no way to do last minute avoidance, you have to make your move way in advance to avoid that one car that's in your way because your car reacts so slowly to your inputs. A game like this requires really tight handling controls and it just doesn't have it, it's the complete opposite, and it's very frustrating even for a veteran racing game player. It's just a bad racing game even for NFS's already subpar standards. 

[Rejim]

Unpolished gem might be too much to be honest. It could have been a good game yes, but they failed on many levels personally.

 

It really surprised me at first and really got into it. Story started with an interesting approach (typical yeah but still), gameplay felt solid, still get to customise the car (not too much, but better than none). I do love they brought back drag races, even for a few events. They did well in having a good variety of events and types, that was a good point in favour.

 

But story rapidly got boring and repetitive. Every boss league reacts the same, you even have exact same cutscene of their car approaching yours (15 times...) and asks you to beat their crew etc. I do get there's no much flexibility but still, the copypasta is over the top (the runner part was a bit more original at least).

 

But...then come the collectibles (in those I'm also putting activities)...it's an open world, I get the appeal, it's something all games want to do, etc etc. But if the time wasted in collectibles is more than the career itself, something is not right. Don't get me wrong, I liked the activities, but too much is just saturating the game, and makes it tedious and unenjoyable. Also, read somewhere billboards made no sense, they actually go way back and often put them as collectibles, think is always a nice touch. Coins on the other hand were the one thing too many for me, no correlation (even though I'm guessing for the casino), much of wasted time for nothing in concrete...

 

Racing roamers was a good addition (dunno if it was a thing in any of the previous in that format) and added at least something to the racing experience, but got annoyed it was the same guys I had already raced. Would have preferred and would be more interesting if those were separate gangs, and were introduced as part of the career (as a way to switch between doing events and free-roaming).

 

tldr: I enjoyed the first couple of days with it but then just went downhill. Fix the story, get rid of coins, less activities and you're gold in my book!

[Eraezr]

On 28/11/2020 at 3:05 PM, ChowderlyDude said:

this game sucks because of one thing: no fast travel to events, etc. Have to go everywhere manually.

...that's it? I thought there are bigger issues.

[CrazyAce842]

Let’s be honest here. This is basically need for speed the run with open world and lootbox upgrades. Lootbox upgrades just flat out fucking horrendous, say you want to upgrade a brand new car to your level, the store WONT give you a random part at your level but instead give you one that’s 1-3 levels higher then your current part unless you buy the massively expensive tier parts. Which leads to a massive grind in not only part cards but currency as well. The handling has gotten progressively worse with each need for speed after most wanted remake. This is not an unpolished gem, it’s dirty glass at best.

Edited January 27, 2022 by CrazyAce842

[barra333]

On 27/11/2020 at 11:05 PM, ChowderlyDude said:

this game sucks because of one thing: no fast travel to events, etc. Have to go everywhere manually.

I know this is an old quote, but hasn't really been addressed by anyone...

 

There might not be fast travel to specific events, but you CAN fast travel to gas stations (19), garages (4), tune up shops (4) and dealerships (5). Fast travelling to the nearest one of these will get you to within about 30sec drive of pretty much every event/location you need in the game. I don't see that as an issue. The car upgrade system and rubberband AI are far bigger problems.

Edited March 24, 2023 by barra333

[bdias10]

This is one of the worst racing games i ever played or at least one of the ones i most hated, dont know what it is, but it just feels ridiculous boring, the map, the events, the collectibles, a big wasteland of a map , what a disgrace EA did with the franchise putting hot garbage like this game out