Short summary: a more streamlined, more fun, over-the top Payday.
This title went under the radar before launch, with little to no marketing for it. It was also half price before launch so I wasn't expecting much of it.
Much to my surprise this game is a lot of fun. The main campaign has a roguelike nature, the individual missions are nice and short. It also has longer heists that take more time.
On top of that it has quick-play that can either be played solo, with bots or in co-op and it has urban legends, a set of stories split up in segments with significantly harder missions, for co-op, or solo with bots. No character building here, characters are assigned traits (pseudo-random) and you can upgrade their weapons and equipment.
Missions run from run-of-the-mill content to completely insane scenarios, much like the F&F franchise evolved over the years. You'll find typical stealth/stay under the radar type missions but some will throw your right into a heist-went-wrong and SWAT breathing down your neck right from the start.
All insanely fun, and there's always time to play a quick stint because most heists are fairly short. Due that it can get repetitive though and I hope the developers add more varied content in the future.
Contrary to some recent AAA titles this game is very stable and smooth and you don't need a massively expensive PC to run this.
The voice acting is a mixed bag, some of it is amazing (Madsen, Rooker), some of it is completely insane (Silver, Jupiter), which you will love or hate (I absolutely love it and get a good chuckle out of it) and some of it is terrible (Norris, Basinger). The rest (Nasara, Hielo, Gloves) are pretty decent. Think of it as playing a 90s B-movie. And no, that's not a bad thing.
Madsen and Rooker are absolutely amazing and completely over the top as their respective characters and I hope we get to see more of them in DLC/updates. I also hope we get audio for the other characters such as Dollar Dragon (Trejo) and a few others. Norris is bland, but it also fits the character and the game really well somehow.
Good points:
- Runs well and stable
- Cheap
- Amazing cast
- Quick and fun missions
- Random elements provide variety
- Cheesy and insane at moments
Things to improve:
- More/more varied side missions in campaign, or a new map.
- Different location layouts, e.g. Malls, banks, warehouses, but also new types.
- Add boss battles
- More voiced content
- More/better control over AI
The game could use some refinement and additional content, but other than that this is a very decent title for a very decent price.
Not sure why this is labeled 'worst game ever' by certain outlets, guess it's just a sign of the times/clickbait. These are the same outlets that give a 10/10 to games that folks can't even play on a decent machine due to all the bugs/issues. So make up your own mind.
Don't let that fool you, there's a very decent title underneath, just don't expect AAA levels of refinement (which is totally fine for this title).
We saw a similar motion with Terminator:Resistance that was loathed by the media/professional reviewers, but people that actually bought it really liked it. Again, make up your own mind.
Final words:
My son: "Oh, this is like Payday, but fun?"
Me: "Yup"
