Dead As Dillinger

I think most of us of a certain age has seen the movie Heat, robbing banks man; paper chasing. Well, the video game Payday is a lot like that movie, in its players take on various heists of money, diamonds, and more dangerous things. If they prepare correctly these crimes can go off without a hitch and so much as a roach being stepped on. However, in my experience in Payday things devolve into shootouts with the cops, exchanging hostages for more time oh and like a week of not being able to play due to the servers not working.

$39.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $29.99

I wasn’t really familiar with Payday 2, I think I played like a match because it was on Game Pass a few years ago. But its hook was an interesting one, playing a crook and pulling off heists like Oceans 11 without the cool factor is pretty dope. So going into Payday 3 I knew what I was signing up for, it kind of pains me to say that the 3rd entry doesn’t seem to be too far evolved from the sequel. Graphically the game looks fine, certainly nothing to write sonnets about but it does manage to be a next gen title and run smoothly at 120 fps (when it runs).

As players complete each heist which goes from breaking into safes for a few hundred thousand to stealing some end of days type virus for Ice-T; they will obviously get a cut of the loot. These earnings are then used to purchase new weapons, outfits and masks for your criminal’s closet. Each of the weapons have a slew of upgrades to purchase and equip, much like Call of Duty nowadays. These will, just like in CoD tweak the various stats of each weapon and can make them hit harder, shoot faster and just overall kill more efficiently. Players will find armor and things to spec out their characters as well, the masks are just there for the cool factor.

Presentation is lacking in Payday 3 for some reason, for starters the game lacks music. That’s not true, music plays at certain times during the heist but it will also get quieter as things progress which is odd. It just makes things feel kind of hollow and empty during some of the heists and then the music (when it plays) just feels super repetitive in others. But this lack of presentation also extends to the UI and HUD during the game; while there is no problem with the lack of information displayed, no it just feels very basic. Again, there is nothing wrong with that but in a year when bangers are dropping left and right nothing about Payday 3 really feels like it’s a ‘must play’ unless you are a fan of the franchise.

To make matters worse the game didn’t work for like a week after its launch due to its reliance on an always online model. Server issues plagued users on all systems, some people weren’t able to redeem their items that they had paid extra for, it was just a mess. Oddly enough, I was able to play before launch which means I didn’t get to play with real people as I gave up trying to play the game after day 3 of it not working. While I never was able to compete a heist that didn’t devolve into a shootout, I am sure there will be those pros that can. As I type this the servers are still working and Starbreeze is reporting millions of players; and I wish them well but I am gonna take my cut and get off here. Hopefully next time their game is functional at launch.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.