PAYDAY 2 Review (Vivid Gamer)

Find out why Vivid Gamer's Andy Deavin considers PAYDAY 2 to be his favorite game of 2013.

[theherp80]

favorite game of 2013? insanity. looks good, but idk about 10/10

[OhMyGandhi]

Ocarina of Time...Metal Gear Solid IV...Uncharted 2...Payday 2?

[Andy_117]

It's called cult status. It's what gives Psychonauts its good standing. Everyone loves Psychonauts.

[Jamesmanguyperson]

Missed out on the first one since it wasn't out on the 360 but definitely going to check this out now.

[1nsomniac]

it's not 10/10 never has been, never will be. I know everybody has their own opinions but this is bullshit!

There are loads of features missing that were advertised to be in the game, there's lots of problems & crashes which are being worked on by the devs, you cant even use the mouse scroll for switching weapons etc. The majority of its originality & features have all gone from the original i.e completely generic levels this time around & no more clever secrets to be found.

With the amount of quick fixes being released it is becoming a good game but it is in absolutely no ones book a perfect 10/10 - all that confirms is this website\reviewer is a bullshitter!

A realistic review is about 7/10 in its current semi-working, up to date state. Although it still takes between 20 - 45 mins to join a game & games are picked for you you cant just choose what level you want to play & play it. No, that would be silly!....

..Not saying its a bad game, but its a massive step backwards from the original. It's as if they have been told that as they are releasing it on consoles they should automatically dumb it down. Stop dumbing games down because of consoles, it doesn't make you dumb if you play a console & all other gamers shouldn't have to pay for it either!!

[admiralvic]

Lets not forget that this game has AI so bad that people LITERALLY say to not buy it unless you know people. That alone should be worth 0.1, since that is a bold, but accurate claim.

[1nsomniac]

Lets be honest though, this is an online game it has always been designed & advertised as an online game. In fact the bots\single player were only added afterwards (last minute) as a request from certain fans & was added only to keep them happy.

If you plan to play it as a single player then this definitely isn't your game, your looking in the wrong place. To be honest I really hope no one actually did by this as a single player game although I'm not quite sure how?. If they did then I think the developers need make it clearer somehow. This is certainly a multiplayer only game.

[Andy_117]

I only played with either friends or single-player, only occasionally dropping into pub matches. I did pretty clearly explain about that in the review, though.

I don't know how most game sites work, I always took 10/10 to mean "perfect-ish" (not "perfect," since no game is perfect ever), and I thought this game was the pinnacle of the year so far and so here you go have the highest score I can give you. I don't much like being called a bullshitter when 'tis only my opinion I'm givin' ya, sir.

As for the problems and crashes, I kind of... I didn't experience any myself, I kind of played through the beta and through release without issue, and I kind of chalked it up to "it's a PC game" when push came to shove on that aspect. It's an online PC game, at that - is it reasonable to expect a clean launch? Has ever there been an online-focused game with a clean launch outside of the Windows 95 era?

And it never took my so long to join a game, most of it was instantaneous. Which is, like, yeah, that's subjective experience, but that's how I've been encouraged to review games. Really, it's important to note that I don't think the game is actually perfect, I just think that - from my own, personal perspective - it's as perfect as a game can be for me. To appeal to my biases and interests. I gave it a 10/10, you can give it 7/10, and we'd both be "right" - why, that's the glory of opinions!

[1nsomniac]

Bullshit. You haven't played the full retail release. What u have just said proves that. Read the official patch notes for clarification. The devs are fully aware & extremely apologetic for all of the problems relating to crashes. It has been a big issue acknowledged by them & there is absolute 0% chance that u insta joined servers. Again check the forums or at least ask someone who has played the game. It's plagued with known server issues.

[Andy_117]

Well I've changed the score and re-worked a few of the paragraphs, my EIC is changing it to a 9/10 sometime tonight. I apologize for upsetting you, I guarantee you though it was merely my opinion that the game deserved 10/10, nothing more. In hindsight it was hyperbolic beyond reason, though.

Thanks for the feedback.

I should clarify, just because I haven't experienced any problems doesn't mean I don't think other people are having problems. My very dear friend with whom I bought into this game with crashes every five or so minutes, faces constant disconnection issues, and is basically faced with an unplayable mess. The fact the devs are working on it is enough, for now, to convince me it's not worth bringing up yet - I'd chalk it up to the perils of PC gaming. I haven't heard of such performance issues on console, so presumably it's isolated to the PC build.

I have had my pulse on the forums, the online infrastructure isn't flawless, I just don't think it's an issue worth bringing up. I kind of take it as a given nowadays that an online-focused PC game will have a rocky launch once the servers start being hounded. And, I mean, it's had a smoother launch than Diablo III could've, and Blizzard is a team at least threefold the size of Overkill. Sim City, same thing.

I don't want to imply that these issues don't exist, but rather, I write reviews from my personal perspective, analyzing the experience I have had with a game. To me, I had a 10/10 time with the game. I choose not to focus on objective flaws when factoring in entertainment value because that would diminish products like... I dunno, Deadly Premonition, which are truly actually broken, and yet, provide such a good time to so many people that it has seen 10/10 review scores.

My representing my opinion to you, I hope, does not threaten yours - we can disagree that it's the "proper" way to write reviews, but that's a clash of philosophies there, and another conversation entirely. If you don't think PAYDAY 2 deserves a "perfect" score? You know what? You're as right as I am. I truly believe that.

Like I said, though. Thanks for the feedback, negative or not it really does mean a lot to me to improve as a writer, and I apologize for anything I've said that may have upset you in some way. I assure you I had no intention of doing anything but praising a game I thoroughly enjoyed - if any element of my doing so has crossed any kind of line, well, I'm gonna do my best to pull back from it.

[CaptainCamper]

"The game is flawlessly designed"
"PAYDAY 2 is mechanically polished"

An FPS game that has the hit detection of a 90s indie title. Not flawless at all. I love the game, even gave it an 8/10 myself, but I cannot help but think this reviewer played 10 minutes and left it at that :D

However, I do have to say that pun-filled final paragraph was a giggle :D

[Andy_117]

I played it for 30 hours, sir, and I have the scars to prove it, 'tis true.

[Andy_117]

Though, by flawlessly designed, I mean flawlessly DESIGNED. Mechanically polished, I mean mechanically polished - the mechanics play well against each other, there's no grind or any kind of gunk stuck between the cogs. I addressed the majority of the jank, though, I think the game certainly is at fault when it comes to expectation vs. reality - some mechanics feel more broken than they actually are, owing to the fact the game just outright refuses to tell you most things. But then, that's why I liked about it.

I didn't notice any hit detection issues, but then I sprayed and prayed almost 90% of the time, so, I'm not going to pretend I'd've noticed anyway. And I appreciate the giggles, sir!

[1nsomniac]

The design of the lobby system is flawed in every single way, to the point that the devs are actually thinking of doing a reversal & scrapping it for the more traditional method.

The hit detection is also currently all over the place as u can get shot around walls. Also, well done for explaining things without actually explaining or describing anything.