I have been playing Payday 2 for a good two weeks now, as what I’ve wanted to do is give a full unbiased opinion on how this game performs. So here it is – I hate it. And I hate so much about it to. I hate the stupid AI that either just stand in the middle of the street watching you rob a bank on your own, or rushes in at the last moment and ruins the whole stealth operation. I hate the way that online play is filled with people who are completely averse to working as a team, seemingly unable to gather that you need to work together to complete the level, not just run off in four different directions and shoot the place up. I hate the way that, despite the fact that I’m earning hundreds of thousands of dollars for every heist I pull off I only ever seem to use Old Rusty, the world’s most useless and unreliable drill that breaks down every thirty seconds. Oh and I REALLY hate the enemy AI. They turn up in dribs and drabs, apparently have bullet proof faces that you can unload a clip into and they still roll away, then all of sudden the room is filled with about four hundred of them like the after show party at the Secret Policeman’s Ball. Never in my whole life have I played a game so thoroughly infuriating and rage inducing. As you may have gathered from my opening paragraph, right now Payday 2 is without a doubt the best game that money can buy. If you can find a copy. Which you can’t. Because I’m not the only one who thinks it.

Overkill and 505 Games have worked together on one of the most hotly anticipated titles of the year and inevitably, there are huge expectations sitting on the shoulders of this game. Expectations need to be managed so here are the caveats that come with Payday 2; it is not a big budget title. There’s no single player campaign to speak of, only an offline version with frankly ridiculous AI team members replacing the common sense of human colleagues. Graphically you would describe it as competent, it ticks all the boxes that it needs to without ever really giving you the wow factor. But you knew that already. The skill trees and upgrade options are clever and functional with a wide variety of useful upgrades, each giving you the opportunity to develop in the class of your choice. Some skills you’ll find particularly useful, such as being able to throw the bags of money further, others are more of a means to an end. The weapons selection again ticks all the boxes that it needs to, with a selection of assault rifles, shotguns and side arms to choose from and customise that does what it needs to without ever blowing your socks off. On paper, this game should have been filed under average, a good first effort and a good grounding for the next one. So why is it that I can’t put it down? Why is it that people are queuing round the block to get a game? Why is it that I’m playing long into the night and then spend the whole of the next day talking about it with my mates?

The reason this game is so addictive is the online set up. You first walk in to CrimeNet; your online cityscape showing all the various heists that you can jump into at any point. They have various difficulty levels, most involving handicaps, extra completion criteria and supersized payouts. The games vary in length; some heists stretch over a couple of days, some are a one off run in and run out job. This variation keeps the fairly familiar premise of breaking into safes with a drill relatively fresh and interesting.

Whilst four player matches may on the face of it pale into insignificance compared to the long 64 player sized shadow cast by Battlefield 4 on the horizon, that’s actually part of its charm. There’s no simple overwhelming of the target with pure numbers here; you’ve got to think to get it right. And think you do. Let me give you an example. The other night I was playing with three friends, and we were doing a level where you break into a nightclub, steal the money from the office and then carry it out in bags to the getaway car. Simple enough. We all walked in, but being the little rubbish that I am I got lost almost straight away and couldn’t find them again. We were going for the stealth option; no masks here, just sneaking our way through without getting spotted. So anyway, they’ve managed to sneak round and break in to the back stairwell, and I’m stuck on the dance floor. “Just stay where you are Drew” I get told, so I stay on the dance floor. Then I get spotted. “Why are you standing there?!” three people scream at me. There’s much shouting and swearing, and once it was recognised that everyone else was wrong except me, I decided that I’d had enough and I was going to join them. I ask how I get where they are. “We can see you, look to your right”. I look Right. “Now go through that door in front of you.” I go through the door. “Not that door, turn right” I turn right. “Keep turning right, that’s it go that that way”. To confirm then, the word he was actually looking for was LEFT. Cue more shouting and swearing, eventually resulting in me getting bundled over two dozen police officers that had snuck in whilst we weren’t looking. This is typical of Payday 2 and is its greatest strength; there are moments of panic and stress in every level that give you your very own Dog Day Afternoon, and it gives you an adrenalin rush which it’s very difficult to get away from.

If you choose sensibly, the skillset you develop as you play through will compliment both your own and your team’s style of play. If you choose to act the hardcore enforcer, then you get stronger, more aggressive with your orders (so that the hostages you take are easier to manage), and you get various weapon upgrades. If however you choose the more cerebral option, you’ll find yourself having considerably more stealth success and even converting security to turn a blind eye to robbing the odd safe here and there. I quite like the option to drop mines in doorways, and every now and then its a pleasant surprise to find someone on your team has unlocked C4, and you’re in for a very quick level. You could be dropping health or dropping ammo; you each bring something to the team and you work and succeed together.

So how do I summarise this game? Well let’s look at it this way – Splinter Cell and Hitman do stealthy games better. Left4Dead2 does intelligent offline team AI better. Battlefield does graphical realism better. There are times where you actually want to scream at how frustrating the AI can be. On paper, Payday 2 should have failed miserably. Instead however, it is a masterpiece. It feels like four guys have got together and designed the game that they want to play. It contains everything that you could possibly want from an online multiplayer experience, and each time leaves you wanting more. There’s a fine line between love and hate, and Payday 2 treads that line in perfect balance. In all seriousness, you and your friends need to play this game.

 

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