Legendary PayDay 2 Review

I would first like to start by saying that Payday 2 is what brought me back and made me fall in love with my PC all over AGAIN.

With that being said, I would also like to take this moment to let you all know how much I love this game. Its not your ordinary FPS which is awesome don’t get me wrong FPS games like Battlefield are cool and fun but this is AMAZING nothing out there like it. So lets get into it that is what your reading this for right?

Payday 2 is a Heist based game/FPS. You can have up to 3 more people on any 1 heist at a time including you which makes it 4 people against all the police, FBI, Swat and so on. What really makes this game exciting for me is not only the game play but the time and effort they put into all the damage you can cause all the hostages and the amazing surroundings. The first Heist i did was just a smash and grab Jewelry heist that called for the 4 of us to go in fill 3 bags at least and return to the get away. Well as a new player i didn’t fully grasp that you had to tell everyone to get down and that it’s probably not smart to walk around out side casing the place with a mask on. ( for some reason they called the police) After being caught casing (with my mask on) the police showed up in force and my get away driver took off saying he’d return. So after shooting my way through the jewelry store and filling bags i also didn’t realize it deducted money when you killed civilians. So after that point my first heist was a BUST. BUT a fun bust. The way swarms of cops that came at me, and just the fun of smashing glass cases to steal the jewelry. That was my FIRST heist now I’ve done MANY since then and I have learned from my inevitable mistakes.

Let me start by saying that Payday 2 is all based around Crime.net which is a network for criminals to pick heist from they appear and disappear very quick so if you see something you like you better jump on it right away!

The game not only is ever changing as in one time a safe may be in one room and in the next heist it’s replaced by a bookshelf OR your pickup may come from one side 15 meters away from where you started or it may be 60 meters in a completely different direction, you just NEVER know. That’s what makes this game so exciting to keep doing these Heists.

There are different skills you can spend your points in IE. Enforcer (ME) which is like the TANK of the team, Ghost which is the stealthy they can bag dead bodies so people aren’t alerted right off the bat, Technician which can drill into bank vaults quicker and make big BOOMS,  And finally Mastermind which is the level head of the whole operation jamming radios and such as well as being a medic of course =). Now the nice thing is you can spend points in multiple tiers and use those perks on the other ones. For example i’m an enforcer i use my shotgun and such but i carry a medical bag if no one has one. OR i leveled my assault weapon in technician i believe it was so that i could use them instead of shotguns while being an enforcer. So you aren’t limited to your role by your skill tree.

While doing a heist there are MANY things that come into play such as do you carry your heavy bag everywhere you go OR do you toss it fill another and grab all you can, and if you do toss it where is a safe place for it so no pesky officials come and steal them? Also where do i zip tie hostages? Because if a member of your teams becomes Downed and you can help them and they are arrested you then can use said hostage as a negotiation tool to get your partner back. (which in my mind is AMAZING i don’t know how many times i’ve taken hostages lost a team mate and negotiated to get him/her back and helping me) Also where are the police coming from are there more than 2 entrances? should we each take an entrance and fight or stay huddled together?  The nice thing about having only 4 man squads is that you don’t have so many people running around it’s easier to get a plan and execute it properly When you start getting 12 and 32 players like in COD or BF you may have a friend or two you know and you’ll work together but i’ve NEVER seen whole team of 12 work together and communicate in an online game.

When you do the higher level heist you start to encounter things like these SWAT guys that WON’T DIE! they are in FULL riot body armor head to toe. Along with those annoying pesky officials. Starbreeze did a great job on the flash bang. it completely blinds you and as your sight starts to regain you are disoriented for a brief second. The one thing i’ve seen in COD that i’ve liked is the last stand feature well Payday 2 as well has a last stand of sorts you have the ability to shoot your secondary ( Pistol) unless you use skill points like i did. You can Shoot but you don’t have all the aiming options like looking down the sight. BUT it is accurate enough to fight off enemies for a brief moment to help your partners in crime get over to help you. And if you’re down in the middle  if a fire fight and the PIGS shoot you a few more times you go down for good and can’t defend anymore.

Before i wrap this whole thing up i can’t forget to mention the 3 cards after some missions. This pleasant feature gives you the opportunity to select a card and under each one is a special reward for example i have seen extra masks, mask customization items, weapon modifications, Extra cash (i received an extra $80 thousand once.)  As a summary Payday 2 is an amazing game and if you’re looking for a FUN alt to COD or BF or Killzone that has fun matches packed with options, new experiences everytime, and customization this is a MUST Have.