Need for Speed Payback Review

The Need for Speed series is 23 years old, and in that time, it has reinvented itself more times than I can count. The most recent reboot occurred in 2015, when the spirit of the Underground games from the early 2000s returned. While that effort was commendable, it was a relatively short game with a beautiful but lifeless game world. Need for Speed Payback addresses those issues and provides players with much more to do in an activity-filled map reminiscent of Las Vegas, called Fortune Valley.

More Than Action Scenes

The first thing I must address about Need for Speed Payback is that the focus is not on the “action-driving” sequences you’ve heard about. Those driving sequences represent only a tiny fraction of the story. The bulk of the driving in the game is still racing. I was initially excited to play out these sequences as I thought they’d be new and fresh. That wasn’t exactly the case. The game takes over all the cool bits, and you’re left to race from cutscene to cutscene. They serve the story well and help cut between characters quickly, but there’s no replay value. Once you’ve seen these, playing it again is pointless.

Police Chases

Police chases take a different form in Payback and have become much more linear. Instead of trying to get away from the police as you would usually do, you’re racing through checkpoints to beat a time limit with police on your tail. There are no police cars in the free-roam. You’ll only find them in story missions or at specific map points that trigger pre-set chases.

On the one hand, these cop chases are pretty fun, and you can perform cop takedowns similarly to the takedowns in the Burnout series. That part is great, but the entire chase strategy has been removed. It’s not like you can hide out to get rid of the police or take shortcuts to get them off your back. You’re limited to racing to a pre-set spot on the map without getting stopped by the cops. These chases are straightforward, and I have never had much trouble getting to my destination. The police cars are speedy and will try to box you in, but your vehicle is powerful enough to maneuver them out of your way most of the time. I will add that Payback mixes things up by adding cops in the middle of the race later in the game, but most of these chases are time trials.

Events

The rest of the events in Payback are mostly drifting and racing. There’s your typical street racing, drag racing, drifting, and off-road events. These events are linked to different crews spread across the map. Each crew has a different boss, and they’re all introduced in a very over-the-top way. The characters aren’t memorable, and even the main characters can get quite annoying after listening to their banter for a little while. The story and the emotional connection to the characters often feel like an afterthought rather than a compelling reason to play the game.

Classes

The characters aren’t any different from each other. They’re tied to one or more of the five distinct car classes. Cars purchased for one class can’t be used for events in another. It’s restrictive, but it creates a different feel for the five different types of events, breaking up some of the monotony I sometimes feel in racing games. Sometimes, you’re thrown into a race with a drag car or a cop chase with a race vehicle instead of the “Runner” type, which is supposed to be reinforced for impact. It didn’t make a lot of sense to me why the game would throw out its own rules on a whim like that, but there were a handful of times when it did without any actual reasoning behind it.

Cars

There’s a nice mix of cars in Payback. You won’t find any Toyota or Ferrari cars in the game, but you will find a great selection of muscle, exotic, and tuner cars. There’s something for everyone. There are even “derelict” cars scattered across the map. I would compare those to Forza Horizon’s barn finds, except for the fact that you have to find multiple pieces to construct the car. Other activities around the map include billboards to smash, jumps to hit, and speed and drift zones. There’s no shortage of things to do, and taking in the scenery as you travel to your destination is just as fun. The day-night cycle also helps make this one stand out, especially when driving through the strip at night.

Upgrades

The upgrade system in Need for Speed Payback is simply awful. Visual customization options are now unlocked by completing tasks in the open world, like hitting three jumps. If you want to play through the story without completing any extra tasks, you will need to use the stock visual parts. I can’t understand why they would make it such a task to change your car’s appearance. It’s one of the first things everyone looks to do in a racing game, but now it’s much more challenging. Performance upgrades are even more detrimental, utilizing collectible cards to enhance specific aspects of the vehicle, such as the exhaust or turbo. These cards, called Speed Cards, instantly soured me on the entire Payback experience.

Speed Cards

Each car has six Speed Card slots; you can earn one from every race you complete. It’s more of an incremental upgrade than anything. You can also buy more cards for in-game cash from the auto parts stores scattered across the map, but the parts only refresh every 30 minutes and can be pretty pricey. Speed Cards can be turned into Part Tokens, with three tokens being equal to one roll at the Speed Card slot machine. You generally receive better cards doing this, but it takes a lot to get tokens.

You can also earn Part Tokens from Base Shipments, which you earn by gaining in-game reputation points. There are even “Premium Shipments” that can be purchased with real-world money. This ridiculous system should have been dialed back immensely or removed altogether. This is not the future I’m looking forward to with racing games. Oh, and don’t try to cheap out and race without going way under the recommended level because the AI will beat you every time.

Final Thoughts

Need for Speed Payback is an entertaining racing game with a substantial amount of content. It’s not the best game out there, but I did enjoy my time with it. My most significant problems are with the lackluster story and terrible upgrade systems, which hamper the game’s overall fun factor. I recommend trying this game first before making a purchase.