After having co-developed the very effective Need For Speed Rivals alongside Criterion Games (the creators of the Burnout series, editor's note), the Ghost Games studio is now evolving solo. Their first feat as a lead studio was none other than 2015's Need For Speed, a kind of reboot that wanted to resurrect the spirit of the Underground episodes, known to be very popular with fans of tuning and neon lights who are reflected on the ground. Unfortunately for the Swedes of Ghost Games, the result did not live up to our expectations, the fault of its awkward scenario (where the cutscenes had been made with real shots, including nerdy actors), a depressing open world limited to night races, and driving a little too focused on drifts. With Payback, Ghost Games had set itself the goal of reviewing their copy, starting with making the sun rise in their game, offering 3D modeled cut-scenes and finally boosting the gameplay a little more by eyeing the side of Fast & Furious for the general atmosphere. The first demos we saw at E3 2017 last June augured a better controlled game and a more spectacular approach, thanks to the integration of Takedown, this accident system inherited from the Burnout license and very appreciated by lovers of arcade racing games. Electronic Arts had found the right angle to appease us, except that today, we realize that we are far from what we were sold several months ago...
ON THE WAY TO THE RAZGIE AWARDS!
Because in Need For Speed Payback, there is nothing spectacular except the way in which the player is taken by the hand, while he nevertheless evolves in an open world, or at least in his appearance. Because if it is indeed possible to browse all of Fortune Valley (which is none other than a fairly close representation of Las Vegas), the city nevertheless remains compartmentalized in certain places. For example, you will not be able to leave the road to descend the mountain on the side of the cliff, or even hit certain vehicles or pedestrians on the side. In the first case, a fade to black will put you back on the right track, and in the second, you will be faced with an invisible wall. A total heresy for a so-called open-world game that comes out at the end of 2017! This aberration, we also find it during the races, so scripted and completely marked out, that they will send you back to the last save point if you have not respected the rules of the game, for example by leaving the path all traced. Not only do the developers reduce the racing area to death, but they also systematically force us to cross checkpoint areas that make no sense (or interest), while there is a radar that can perfectly take the role of compass. We therefore only follow the path that has been laid out for us, hoping that the AI does not do too much nag, which then leads to a feeling of total boredom... However, on paper, we were promised frantic races, punctuated in addition to chases with the police and an accident system taken from Burnout, it is not so. Either way, Payback only touches on these two aspects, so much so that they appear to be anecdotal when it comes to doing the accounts. We don't really know what happened during the brainstorming sessions when deciding on the game design, but today it is essential for Ghost Games to question itself and review the legitimacy of its decision-makers...
For example, you will not be able to leave the road to descend the mountain on the side of the cliff, or even hit certain vehicles or pedestrians on the side. In the first case, a fade to black will put you back on the right track, and in the second, you will be faced with an invisible wall. A total heresy for a so-called open-world game that comes out at the end of 2017!
If 2015's Need For Speed had shone for its empty scenario and its staging barely worthy of a B series from low-level Hollywood, the story of Payback's single-player campaign is not much better. We find ourselves in fact at the head of a group of slightly out-of-the-box car drivers who have only one desire: to bring down The Clan, a mafia gang whose supreme leader is none other than one of their former teammates, who would have crossed over to the other side of the Force. A telephone scenario, seen 1001 times and which will allow us to go through all the clichés of American cinema of the genre, Fast & Furious at the head of the gondola. Except that unlike the saga produced by Vin Diesel, the story of Need For Speed Payback takes itself very seriously. You have to see how Tyler Morgan behaves, the "babtou" hero (don't see any racist allusion eh...) of the game who is unbearable, both in his attitude and in his dress look (the guy wears when even a t-shirt that reads "Rebels, be fearless", help!). Everything is accentuated by an absolutely abominable VF (the game does not offer VOST), which proves that the dubbers worked without any visual aid.
As for our hero, he is accompanied by Mac and Jess, and each has his own crate with distinct properties. A subtle way to force us to change cars according to the races offered, and therefore to make them evolve in parallel according to the money collected and the speedcards that we draw at random. A haphazard compensation for luck which has this particularity that it doesn't care about your needs to allow access to this or that type of race. We can certainly resell them if they do not suit us, but farming like a pig to fall on the wrong pickaxe, there is enough to bang your head against the wall. If money remains the engine of the game, allowing us to buy all kinds of technical or cosmetic improvements, speedcards allow us to recover new performances for free. Cylinder head, turbo, exhaust, transmission, ECU and engine, each part of your car must evolve if you want to continue advancing in the game. the adventure. A lifetime that is certainly comfortable, but oh so sluggish and painful…
A haphazard compensation for luck which has this particularity that it doesn't care about your needs to allow access to this or that type of race. We can certainly resell them if they do not suit us, but farming like a pig to fall on the wrong pickaxe, there is enough to bang your head against the wall.
The entire structure of Need For Speed Payback has been built around the farm, otherwise you will be left on the starting line if your motorized machine is no match for the competition. Because in addition to benefiting from overpowered engines, the opponents never miss a turn in the middle of the race. A slightly too artificial AI, which lacks failures and above all humanity in its patterns, so much so that it makes racing as boring as possible. It's all the more infuriating that it is mandatory to finish first for each of the missions offered, marking a little more this side of success by failure which absolutely does not suit the genre and even less the Need For Speed spirit. . Because believe me, hearing the same – moldy – punchlines from our drivers 8 or 9 times in a row can quickly create fits of hysteria if you're not prepared... Anyway, Need For Speed was designed to pushing players to give in to micro-transactions. The game being devoid of post-release DLC (like Star Wars Battlefront 2), the game relies on these small compulsive purchases to try to grab a few euros here and there, by playing on the player's patience. Because if the grind is done in a smooth way at the start, very quickly, you will have to gain several dozen levels to hope to continue the main quests. As a result, we go hunting for secondary missions, as anecdotal as they are repetitive. Carry out vertiginous jumps, burst advertising billboards, be flashed by radars at an imposed speed, skid over several hundred meters, here are the kind of tests that Payback asks us to take revenge. Sadistic.
NEITHER SPEED, NOR DRUNK
Not everything is to be thrown away in Need For Speed Payback, starting with its very attractive graphics, made possible thanks to the Frostbite Engine which displays beautiful panoramas. Fortune Valley being modeled on the geography of Las Vegas, we find more or less the same environments, with narrow urban layouts and ultra-wide roads in the middle of the desert where you can drive at top speed with your eyes almost closed. You can also enjoy more mountainous scenery where beautiful coniferous forests stretch out. If the plasticity of the game has its little effect, we quickly realize a certain repetitiveness in the environments, as if the developers had only carried out random copy-pasted so as not to overdo it. . There is also a lack of personality in the game which makes it a banal title, without obvious charm, which would have allowed it to shine in society. Pity. Despite the power of the DICE engine, the game still struggles to be flawless with clipping and popping quite present, especially in the mountainous regions and in the desert where bushes and sometimes textures appear at the last minute. Technical deficiencies that we also found on standard PS4 like PS4 Pro, which nevertheless diminishes the wow effect of the visual rendering, but which do not completely ruin the immersion, let's not exaggerate anything.
What's left of the positive in this Need For Speed Payback then? The driving ? Without a doubt. Necessarily arcade to please anyone, the piloting still has the annoying tendency to stick to these pesky drifts, as was the case two years ago. Why not, but the concern is that the tracks of the game do not lend themselves very much to controlled skids over the length, with often tight tracks which multiply the hairpins, when it is not indestructible poles which come to stop net our momentum. So yes, Need For Speed Payback opens up a bit to off-road racing, thanks to its more desert settings and we can have fun changing the body or increasing the size of the tires and suspensions for driving. adequate, but once on the ground, we realize that the cars do not really behave differently than on conventional asphalt. Disappointment. Again. A bitterness accentuated when you switch views and realize the duplicates offered by the developers. Of the 5 positions offered, three are almost identical. Let's end this test with the multiplayer mode, completely separate from the single-player experience, whereas the previous ones had us almost drunk with its autolog system. Don't expect to race against other players if you haven't grinded enough, as each race is ranked according to your level. You can of course launch private games with friends, but you still have to find an acquaintance who would have made the same mistake as you: that of having trusted EA and Ghost Games by buying the game. strongly advise against it.
