"Time to get paid"
Developed by Overkill Studios(Con-currently a subsidiary of Starbreeze Studios), Payday 2 is the sequel to Overkill's Payday:The Heist. It is a first-person co-op shooter. The game revolves around players planning and executing an array of heist and robberies, all carried out with the combination of teamwork, stealth and firearms.
Set in the modern day, the player would take control of one of the 4 robbers in the team(Hoxton, Chains, Dallas and Wolf). The team gets assistance from Bain, who either arranges a heist or assists the team when their on one for those who contact their services via CRIME.NET, their most frequent clients being a ruthless drug dealer, a corrupt politician and a criminal who is described as being 'Crazy and/or deranged'.
The things they ask you to do are rather colorful, such as political sabotage, property damaging and transporting dubious goods. Oh, and cooking meth.
Gameplay revolves around executing the objective of the moment. The objective could be overridden if a condition is failed (I.E Mission requires stealth but one or more players are discovered while trying to complete the objective). Heists can take from one day to five days depending on the difficulty, with the final section being referred to as the 'Payday'
As players complete heists, they naturally earn money off each run, which they can use to buy new weapons ,modify existing ones with mods obtained from the end of the heists or masks(The latter two having need to be unlocked. Elaborated later). Besides the money, they earn Experience points and Level up. Each Level up grants skill points that players can pool into four skill trees which grant performance bonuses. Using skill trees also spends money, which means a player would need to think wisely on what they'll be spending their money on.
The amount of money and experience earned for each mission is stated explicitly when the heist is selected. The game also employs a random rewards system, where by every player would pick one of of three cards after successfully finishing. Possible rewards include extra Reputation points, money, masks and weapon mods.If one has the funds, however, they could specify what reward they would want via the 'Gamble' option on CRIME.NET, though the option needs a LOT of money in a player's Offshore account.
Design wise, Payday 2 is made very well. On the terms of gameplay, a heist can be executed or completed in different manners, since some options aren't available unless they have an item or skill for it, meaning that the same heist has replay value, if only to see whether or not it can be pulled off in another way.Some heists with multiple segments can also end up playing out differently depending on how the previous one is completed, which again, adds to a replay value. In game, there are four special units that appear and provide the challenge to the game, with the way they're designed to almost always require two or more players sticking together to overcome them. They are the Taser, the Cloaker and most terrifying of all, the Bulldozer.
Character growth(I.E The new items and skills one purchases) makes a player invested in their character. The skill trees has no restriction between them, meaning that players can add and grow accordingly without being limited to focus on one skill tree. Masks that are purchased for the characters add a sense of individuality and personal uniqueness.
The random rewards system of the game also adds on to replayability, as well as giving players a /false/ sense of choice. This is point is a good AND bad thing, however.
In terms of feedback, the game has no crosshairs on its in game UI. Red 'Crosshairs' only appear as an indication that the player has successfully landed a shot. Though this may seem hard to get used to at first, it doesn't take long for one to get used to it and makes every hit feel like a small accomplishment, since the aiming is almost entirely dependent on the player now without the crosshairs to fully assist. As for health and the general UI, it comprises of simple shapes, icons and fonts that doesn't distract a player from what is occurring around them.
Normally, first-person shooter games have the sides of the screen turn red as a player's health is low, which can be a visual obstruction. But here, the screen only turns red when a player's armour is depleted and getting hurt. It returns to normal when the player manages to find cover(Or is incapacitated). The red screen is enough of a prompt for a player to check their health. Various audio feedbacks help in quick notification, some examples being a cry for health packs, the sound of an approaching special unit(Applied to Taser and Cloaker only) and ammo deployment.
BUT
Weapon mods SHOULDN'T be a random reward. At least, the kind of mods that affect the kind of situation a weapon is used in(I.E Silencers). The card picking is rather pointless, considering that the reward is still random in the end with the player having no idea what to they would get. In fact, it could possibly be FRUSTRATING because the cards that are not picked tend to show the possible rewards one could get if they had been the one selected. The cards themselves randomize between 6 possible rewards. This means that if a player wants a certain mod or some sort, they need to pray hard to Random Number Generator (RNG) gods. Although one can choose to specify the rewards via the gambling feature, the amount required makes it only accessible to veterans . Would have been wiser to have the heist rewards have 3 fixed types so players can at least know they would obtain what they might need/want sooner or later with less uncertainty.
Also, weapon mods should be a purchasable instead of having to unlock AND THEN being able to purchase it.
The lack of audio feedback for the most major threat in game(Bulldozer) feels like it could cheat players of victory just because he happens to spawn out of nowhere.
Overall, the game was well worth its hype, with a great amount of replay value and a design that feels rather efficient, though the RNG rewards system does feel like it needs tweaking. No, I'm not bitter about the RNG treating me terribly.
Not at all.
The things they ask you to do are rather colorful, such as political sabotage, property damaging and transporting dubious goods. Oh, and cooking meth.
Oops.
Gameplay revolves around executing the objective of the moment. The objective could be overridden if a condition is failed (I.E Mission requires stealth but one or more players are discovered while trying to complete the objective). Heists can take from one day to five days depending on the difficulty, with the final section being referred to as the 'Payday'
Example of a one-day heist
As players complete heists, they naturally earn money off each run, which they can use to buy new weapons ,modify existing ones with mods obtained from the end of the heists or masks(The latter two having need to be unlocked. Elaborated later). Besides the money, they earn Experience points and Level up. Each Level up grants skill points that players can pool into four skill trees which grant performance bonuses. Using skill trees also spends money, which means a player would need to think wisely on what they'll be spending their money on.
The amount of money and experience earned for each mission is stated explicitly when the heist is selected. The game also employs a random rewards system, where by every player would pick one of of three cards after successfully finishing. Possible rewards include extra Reputation points, money, masks and weapon mods.If one has the funds, however, they could specify what reward they would want via the 'Gamble' option on CRIME.NET, though the option needs a LOT of money in a player's Offshore account.
Design wise, Payday 2 is made very well. On the terms of gameplay, a heist can be executed or completed in different manners, since some options aren't available unless they have an item or skill for it, meaning that the same heist has replay value, if only to see whether or not it can be pulled off in another way.Some heists with multiple segments can also end up playing out differently depending on how the previous one is completed, which again, adds to a replay value. In game, there are four special units that appear and provide the challenge to the game, with the way they're designed to almost always require two or more players sticking together to overcome them. They are the Taser, the Cloaker and most terrifying of all, the Bulldozer.
His appearance strikes fear upon-
Oh wait
Wrong picture.
His appearance strikes fear upon sight
Character growth(I.E The new items and skills one purchases) makes a player invested in their character. The skill trees has no restriction between them, meaning that players can add and grow accordingly without being limited to focus on one skill tree. Masks that are purchased for the characters add a sense of individuality and personal uniqueness.
The random rewards system of the game also adds on to replayability, as well as giving players a /false/ sense of choice. This is point is a good AND bad thing, however.
In terms of feedback, the game has no crosshairs on its in game UI. Red 'Crosshairs' only appear as an indication that the player has successfully landed a shot. Though this may seem hard to get used to at first, it doesn't take long for one to get used to it and makes every hit feel like a small accomplishment, since the aiming is almost entirely dependent on the player now without the crosshairs to fully assist. As for health and the general UI, it comprises of simple shapes, icons and fonts that doesn't distract a player from what is occurring around them.
Normally, first-person shooter games have the sides of the screen turn red as a player's health is low, which can be a visual obstruction. But here, the screen only turns red when a player's armour is depleted and getting hurt. It returns to normal when the player manages to find cover(Or is incapacitated). The red screen is enough of a prompt for a player to check their health. Various audio feedbacks help in quick notification, some examples being a cry for health packs, the sound of an approaching special unit(Applied to Taser and Cloaker only) and ammo deployment.
BUT
Weapon mods SHOULDN'T be a random reward. At least, the kind of mods that affect the kind of situation a weapon is used in(I.E Silencers). The card picking is rather pointless, considering that the reward is still random in the end with the player having no idea what to they would get. In fact, it could possibly be FRUSTRATING because the cards that are not picked tend to show the possible rewards one could get if they had been the one selected. The cards themselves randomize between 6 possible rewards. This means that if a player wants a certain mod or some sort, they need to pray hard to Random Number Generator (RNG) gods. Although one can choose to specify the rewards via the gambling feature, the amount required makes it only accessible to veterans . Would have been wiser to have the heist rewards have 3 fixed types so players can at least know they would obtain what they might need/want sooner or later with less uncertainty.
Also, weapon mods should be a purchasable instead of having to unlock AND THEN being able to purchase it.
The lack of audio feedback for the most major threat in game(Bulldozer) feels like it could cheat players of victory just because he happens to spawn out of nowhere.
Overall, the game was well worth its hype, with a great amount of replay value and a design that feels rather efficient, though the RNG rewards system does feel like it needs tweaking. No, I'm not bitter about the RNG treating me terribly.
Not at all.
