Oddly enough, one sub-genre that hasn't been explored much in the first-person shooter realm is heisting, be it bank heisting or any other kind of robbery. Given its nature, a game revolving around heists could make for a perfect co-operative shooter--if done correctly, that is.
Overkill Software, comprised of members from the late developer Grin, are attempting to fill the void with their downloadable co-operative first-person shooter, PAYDAY: The Heist. Packing in six levels, four-player co-op, and a crazy amount of unlocks for only $19.99, PAYDAY seems like it should be the ideal purchase in which it sounds, but a few things go awry in this quest for riches.
As noted, there are six heists to perform in PAYDAY, each taking around 20-30 minutes to complete. All of them are meant to be replayed multiple times ala Left 4 Dead, and all are rewarding, white-knuckle experiences. The heists have varied themes--a bank heist, crack house, freeing a prisoner, and a diamond heist to name a few--though unfortunately they mostly have you performing the same rituals to complete them. It's a surefire thing that you'll have to defend a certain area for a set amount of time, and make sure that whatever it is you're either hacking or breaking into goes uninterrupted.
From there, you go into the second leg of the heist which is scoring the loot, and then, bringing the goods from one point to another for your extraction--if you aren't performing another defensive scenario, that is.
And that's about the long and short of what each mission requires, plus or minus the few mission-specific gameplay elements that may be thrown at you, such as one mission where you need to be a bit stealthy--which, even then is hard to pull off. Repetition doesn't necessarily make a game bad, mind you, it's just a bit disheartening that each heist plays out in roughly the same manner.
There's virtually no story to speak of in PAYDAY, except for each mission's mini-plot, and you will not be attached to either one of the four main characters--Dallas, Hoxton, Wolf and Chains. The game is purely about the co-op aspect, which actually works in its favor. PAYDAY is a great example that a strong narrative isn't always needed in a game.
There's virtually no story to speak of in PAYDAY, except for each mission's mini-plot, and you will not be attached to either one of the four main characters--Dallas, Hoxton, Wolf and Chains. The game is purely about the co-op aspect, which actually works in its favor. PAYDAY is a great example that a strong narrative isn't always needed in a game.
When performing a heist, you're going to need equipment, and PAYDAY: The Heist definitely doesn't stiff you here. You start off with a silenced pistol, a basic assault rifle, and hand-ties for those pesky hostages. You then progress through the game, ranking up--where cash is the new XP--and unlocking more advanced versions of them, as well as a shotgun, submachine gun, light machine gun, and new equipment like trip mines. There is an impressive amount of unlocks in PAYDAY: The Heist, all spanning three different categories, that will not only keep you busy for a while, but also change the game up in various ways making each play-through fresh. They all cater to a different play style as well, and keeping a balanced team is vital to winning.
Team enhancements are also available to unlock, providing bonuses like cash and damage multipliers.
Everything mentioned above will be used to take out the police that stand in your way of scoring the big one. They come at you in waves during each mission, and these brothers in blue aren't pushovers, even with your fancy gadgetry. In fact, the enemy A.I. gets a bit infuriating, and a lot of times seems downright unfair. Granted, you're performing a robbery, so resistance is to be expected, but in some instances it seems that cops just spawn out of nowhere, and no matter how many you have taken down, you may still find yourself surrounded, where as other instances are fair and a bit more controllable. Cops just spawn in an endless cycle at times, providing a sense of randomness where skill has very little to do with progressing in a mission. The cops have impecable aiming abilities too, even when you're on the other end of a city block.
Your teammates provide some support, but not enough to the point where the fight seems fair in the slightest. Even in co-op, the game can be relentless. If there's one thing that PAYDAY can really benefit from, it's balancing, and that's perhaps the biggest flaw holding it back from absolute greatness.
Aside from your standard coppers, there are a handful of mini-boss enemies that will require a few of your teammates to gang up on. The Bulldozer, pictured above, sports an incredibly heavy set of armor, and takes quite a bit of damage, similar to the Tank in the Left 4 Dead series. Then you have the Taser, who of course, sports a taser. You need to keep your distance from this guy, and if you find either yourself or your teammates caught in his grasp, you have 15 seconds to get free. The Shield comes into the scene with a riot shield, where players need to flank around him to take him down. Lastly, you have the Cloaker, a Sam Fisher lookalike who takes alternate routes to hit you and your team where you least expect it, and can be very, very deadly.
Each mini-boss is executed very well, and keeps the pacing of each heist from going stale.
The controls in PAYDAY: The Heist are a bit of a miss, in that on the PlayStation 3 they tend to feel really stiff. Aiming in particular is tough to pull off accurately at times, especially since the enemies move constantly. There's also a slight heaviness attached, and with a game based on precise timing, the heaviness feels out of place. The fluidity in aiming and controls found in most other shooters is absent here, and seeing as how PAYDAY is a first-person shooter at its core, its wonky controls can damper the experience. This is said to be rectified on the PC version, though I was not able to compare the two.
One feature that seems like a no-brainer for a co-operative title of this calibur is split-screen, which, unfortunately is not in PAYDAY: The Heist. Quite odd, too, since there's not much information displayed on the screen where having it split would be an issue.
PAYDAY: The Heist takes an interesting road down a crowded genre, and for the most part succeeds. Partnering up with friends to score a nice payday is an exciting, thrilling experience. Making it to an extraction point after twenty minutes of hell has you breath a satisfying sigh of relief. There are some noticeable flaws in its overall balancing and gameplay mechanics, but given how fresh of an experience PAYDAY offers, you may find yourself being a bit more forgiving.
While there are a ton of other games coming out this holiday season, you would be doing a disservice to yourself and to Overkill Software by not shelling out the $20 to play PAYDAY. It's different. It's fresh. And it's a good time.
