Review cover Need for Speed: Payback (PlayStation 4)
Official GBAtemp Review

Product Information:

  • Release Date (NA): November 10, 2017
  • Release Date (EU): November 10, 2017
  • Release Date (JP): November 10, 2017
  • Publisher: Electronic Arts
  • Developer: Ghost Games
  • Genres: Racing, Simulation
  • Also For: Computer, Xbox One

Game Features:

Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative
Stop granny-shifting when you should be double-clutching in the newest installment of Need for Speed!

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Just Like Real Life!

You take your brand new 2015 Subaru Impreza WRX STI down to your favorite tuner shop and get it outfitted with an aftermarket ECU (computer). Everything is amazing and you love it. In 2016, a new ECU comes out and you head back to the same shop to get the new hotness. Fast forward to 2018 and 2 new ECU iterations later, and you are so happy with your car that you buy the exact same one for your girlfriend.

"I can't put the 2018 ECU in this car" says the mechanic.

"Why not? It's the exact same car as mine, and it has the 2018 ECU!" you counter, slightly dumb-founded.

"Well, you see, this one has off-road tires on it, so I can only put the 2015 ECU on." he replies as he smears engine grease across your paperwork. "But I'll tell you what, pay me to put the 2015 ECU on and wait 10 minutes, and then I'll go ahead and install the 2016 ECU in it-- for full price, of course. Then just wait another 10 minutes and I'll throw in the next years version, and so on!"

"Ok, I still have my old 2015 ECU from my car, just put that in." you whimper, wishing you still had your Winnie the Pooh pacifier from when you were 2.

"Sorry chum, you have to buy a brand new one or it's a no-go!".

Welcome to Need for Speed: Payback

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Long-Lasting Flavor

Greetings future gamer from 2021 ! If you were looking to try out this classic game, you're probably out of luck since the EA game servers no longer support this title. Unfortunately, that means you cannot earn or purchase any loot boxes to help skip the mindless grinding of dull missions for cards to help boost the performance of your car (somehow?). Consider yourself lucky, though! Imagine how it was for us in 2017 when we had to pay FULL RETAIL TRIPLE-A PRICE just to be swindled for more money once we started the game up!

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Review imageReview imageReview image

 

Worry not, though, there are plenty of missions and things to do with a nice, big map in which to do them-- if you enjoy doing the same exact thing over and over. You may have played some of the earlier Need for Speed titles, and while those missions were also repetitive, they somehow didn't feel as forced or recycled as the ones in Payback do. One of the games only saving graces are the controls; They feel pretty dang good, and you can live-tune the handling on any vehicle so you can get the perfect sweet spot between stability and speed to fit your play-style.

Completing missions award you experience points to level up your Reputation, which as far as I can tell only serve to allow you the option of eventually being able to draw higher ranked cards. What's that? You're level 20 and 85% of the way through the game? Sorry, you'll have to either randomly win, visit a shop with a random assortment of cards with a 10-minute refresh timer, randomly gamble by turning in 3 other cards, or buy a loot box with real life money to get re-roll tokens and additional flair (randomly) just to acquire a card that is ONE level better than the one you have equipped already. And don't try to use a high-level car to buy high-level cards and send them to storage-- they ONLY work with the same "class" of car, even if it is the exact same model car. With 5 different "classes", it gets annoyingly tedious to acquire an end game set of maxed out cars. The game also forces you to use these "classes" for every mission, forgoing your car of choice for some rice burner that handles like a log wagon being led by a rabid horse because your car doesn't match the "class" type.

The main Story missions are a guilty pleasure, even if the writing and plot are cornier than a Nebraskan farm. It transitions from action scene to gameplay seamlessly, and it makes you feel like you are playing in the summer blockbuster "9 Fast 9 Furious"-- it's actually pretty dang fun. These sequences aren't very long, unfortunately, and you get dumped back into mediocrity for most of the game, which is actually pretty short. Rolling for parts takes up a bulk of the game, and sure, you can customize the look of your car, but why bother when it doesn't alter the performance of the vehicle? The card system really killed one of the best aspects of the Need for Speed series-- unlocking parts sequentually and then tricking out your favorite whip with triple-decker spoilers and all kinds of other silly bits and bobs.

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Music Producer Simulator 2017

Have you ever wanted to feel like a big-time music producer? Well, look no further! Enjoy the beautiful sunset and high-speed cornering around hairpin turns while listening to a veritable cornucopia of shitty demo tapes from young "artists" who insist they can make it in the big leagues! Make sure to tell your secretary to never take a call from these budding talents, sending them all straight to voicemail, with personal bias to songs such as:

  • Lethal Bizzle - I Win (Feat. Nas)
  • Ho99o9 - City Rejects

and

  • Haikaiss - Raplord (Feat. Jonas Bento)

Thanks to divine providence, your vehicles have zero sound-proofing for the interior cabin, even on the $1m vehicles, which means your engine, turbo, and nitrous injection system will drown out the wailing screeches coming out of your budget stereo speakers that somehow short out when you come to a complete stop, leaving you in awkward silence.

Also, I hope you're ready for a bunch of ancient, dead memes every 5 minutes via phone calls from your annoying teammates and rivals! Get ready for dank classics such as "American muscle cars vs. imports", "ignorant rich kid who can't actually drive", "mods that somehow make a car 'jump' higher", and the always popular "where's the drift button?".

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Game Trailer

Verdict

What We Liked ...
  • AAA Graphics
  • Fun Arcade Style Controls
  • Cheesy Cinematic Sections
What We Didn't Like ...
  • Horrible Music
  • LOOT BOXES
  • Cheesy Cinematic Sections
4.5
out of 10

Overall

Pay-to-Win and Wait-to-Play do not a Triple-A title make. Final rating: $$$ out of 10
:rofl2:

Okay, it's one hilarious review. And not having played need for speed since...erm...the wii version (I think? Accidentally? :unsure: ), I guess I got off somewhere before the series jumped two sharks and a burning T-rex. :P

But in all honesty: does it really warrant a 4.5 out of 10, or is this using the reviewer scale where 4 is actually the lowest achievable*? :unsure:




*save for that time that software erased everything else, blew up the computer, raped your girlfriend and transferred all your savings to terrorists and/or Donald Trump.



EDIT: and while on a punning spree, how about this conversation in game stores that might make it out of the hypothetical area:

Doorbell: dring!!!!
Employee: oh, hi! Aren't you the one who got that new need for speed game? What was it called? :D
Customer: payback! :angry:
Employee: yeah, that was the one. Erm...How is it? :)
Customer: no, you don't understand. I meant...<*grabs in backpack, slams game on counter*>...I want payback for this game.
Employee: ah...erm...okay. <*checks recipe*> Okay...Do you want your money back in cash, store credit or a loot box?
Customer: ooh...a lootbox seems...no, NO, NOOOOO!!! :wacko: CASH!!!!!
Employee: Relax: I was just kidding. Nobody ever chooses lootboxes. :P
 
I thought we was waiting for Ridge Racer game or Grand turismo, or even burnout, or how bout Midnight club, or even LA rush before playing another need for speed game. :ninja:
 
Its Really That Bad FFS !!!! they need to make need for speed underground 2 HD ...... oh how i'd like to see a New version of Midnight Club ~ & ~ Burnout ..... Mehh
 
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Sorry for the stupid question but in the 3rd large pic... those are Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards in the game?...
 
Thank you SonyUSA for taking the hit on this one. Sounds like I would struggle to even make my own fun here.

I have never been amazingly enthused by the modern Need for Speeds (the DOS era ones were serviceable enough). I think it is that I deal with too many want to be street racing types and find an overwhelming amount of them to be morons -- if you have seen some of the odd hacking theories posed on the forums over the years then that but for cars. As these games kind of crystallised that it must be like being a builder watching grand designs and knowing you are going to get some people wanting to be property investors doing this for you. The games themselves (played to death by my younger family members) were serviceable enough though, and may indeed have been the equivalent of my beloved N64 era rally games (games you played when Mario Kart/Diddy Kong were being worn a bit thin) for the gamecube/PS2 era.

That said I have long seen odd upgrades. I remember on one of them I read the flavour text for a restricted weight reducing upgrade -- remove spare tyre, passenger seat and something equally banal. I can understand ECU upgrades taking whatever but that required a socket set, or possibly just functioning hands.

SG854 said:
So I looked up the music. WTF is this.
"all we want is justice, anarchy and peace"
I think I can see what they liked and wanted to be, however it sounds like whenever you get a detached music exec trying to capture the spirit of the moment and failing, however they managed that all by themselves.

https://www.ea.com/games/need-for-speed/need-for-speed-payback/news/nfs-payback-music-soundtrack
Full Track List
A$AP Ferg: Trap and a Dream feat. Meek Mill
Action Bronson: The Choreographer
Barns Courtney: Kicks
Bite the Buffalo: Enemies
Bonobo: Kerala
Chase & Status and Blossoms: This Moment
DJ Shadow & Nas: Systematic
Duckwrth: MICHUUL.
Flowdan: Original Ragamuffin feat. Wiley
Formation: Buy and Sell
Goodbye June: Liberty Mother
Gorillaz: Ascension feat. Vince Staples
Haikaiss: Raplord feat. Jonas Bento
Ho99o9: City Rejects
Jacob Banks: Unholy War
Jaden Smith: Watch Me
K.Flay: Black Wave
Kano: 3 Wheel-Ups feat. Wiley and Giggs
Kontra K: Power
Lethal Bizzle: I Win feat. Skepta
Lil’ Kleine: Kleine Jongen
Local Natives: Dark Days (Sofi Tukker Remix)
Mondo Cozmo: 11 Acre
Nothing but Thieves: I Was Just A Kid
Ohana Bam: Rebels
Otherkin: Bad Advice
P.O.S: Gravedigger
Queens of the Stone Age: The Way You Used To Do
Rae Sremmurd: Perplexing Pegasus
RAT BOY: BOILING POINT
Royal Blood: Lights Out
Run the Jewels: Panther like a Panther (Miracle Mix) feat. Trina
Salmo: Daytona
SHREDDERS: Flipping Cars
Skepta x Goldie: Road Trip
SOHN: Hard Liquor
Spoon: Pink Up
Stormzy: Return of the Rucksack
SUR: Lean Back
Syd Arthur: Evolution
Ten Tonnes: Silver Heat
The Amazons: In My Mind
Tom Morello feat. Leikeli47: Roadrunner
Tom Walker: Play Dead (Avelino x Raf Riley Remix)
Warbly Jets: Fast Change
Watt: Burning Man feat. Post Malone
X Ambassadors: The Devil You Know

Mix of songs from it

Guess they took some popular "urban" songs from the UK and various parts of the US (I am not so familiar with current Spanish language rap but sounded more US than Mexico and beyond) + some token appeasements for those that might have played earlier games or not cared for that. If someone said focus group tested for their normal demographics but missed the point entirely I could believe it.

Compare it to something like The Run
http://nfssoundtrack.com/tr/
It hit some really high notes in that, not all were but that mainly served to make the good parts better still -- things like the desert sequence with canned heat... I liked that.

Or the series "high mark" of underground 2
http://nfssoundtrack.com/ug2/

EA used to have a music system called "EA trax" in their games. It never did amazingly for me but I did use it as a shorthand... I am going to have to revise that sort of statement if we are going to be seeing things like this.

Anyway apparently they tweaked this game too like they did for star wars. Probably not in any way that matters though.
 
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soooo.... did you get the payback for buying an EA games game?
(EA GAMES; it's not in the game anymore)
 
Oh well.

Forza Horizon series destroyed every other arcade racer not long ago, the same way as Forza Motorsport have been destroying every other simcade that dares to stand against it, but nice effort from EA for a soon to be EA Access/Origin Access game.

I played the early access demo and it was fun for a bit.
 
R
how can cheesy cinematic be a pro and also a con?

you either like it for its cheesy cinematic or you dont?

which one?
 
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Err it is a common enough style of joke/humorous device

You know what I like about beach holidays?

All the people.

You know what I dislike about beach holidays?

All the people.

To break it down further it tends to showcase something like, in this case

The cutscenes provide some small amusement at first but ultimately they wear thin and drag the whole show down.
 
Review cover
Product Information:
  • Release Date (NA): November 10, 2017
  • Release Date (EU): November 10, 2017
  • Release Date (JP): November 10, 2017
  • Publisher: Electronic Arts
  • Developer: Ghost Games
  • Genres: Racing, Simulation
  • Also For: Computer, Xbox One
Game Features:
Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative

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