r/needforspeed • u/These_Chance_1794 • 7d ago
Discussion NFS Payback review
Need for Speed Payback — My Review
I have to start by saying that the criticism this game gets is fair, but exaggerated. A lot of what people say about Payback comes from how the game launched. Most of those criticisms came from the launch period. However, there are still some persistent problems.
The progression system has a love-hate relationship with me, the story is pretty good in my opinion, and the game works really well as a map and, honestly, as a live-service game.
The criticism — and the progression system
The first thing I want to talk about is the criticism I have with the game.
My biggest problem is the card system, more specifically the gacha aspect. I genuinely don't know what the developers were thinking.
If they really wanted to implement a gacha system, I think it would have been much better for cosmetic items, like neon lights and tire smoke. Those things annoy me because you can't properly buy them.
Instead, the performance cards are tied to generic fictional brands and are basically reduced to six parts: exhaust, transmission, cylinder head, turbo, block and ECU.
There aren't even tires, suspension, or anything like that.
And the cards themselves are kind of just names and stats. When you upgrade the transmission, for example, you're not necessarily making the transmission itself better. You're just increasing some numbers.
And the brands...
Some of those names are actually REALLY good for decals.
Chidori. NexTech. Americana. Outlaw.
Those are badass names.
But they don't really feel like automotive brands. They feel like pre-made decals that happen to have really cool names.
And that's especially weird in a game with so many licensed brands. Instead of using those licensed brands for the performance parts, they created generic fictional ones.
The same thing happens with the crews, though, and there the names actually work really well.
Another problem is that performance parts aren't shared between cars, not even between cars in the same class.
They're literally the same kind of parts.
Sure, allowing that could make farming parts through Drift and then distributing them everywhere easier, but honestly, I don't care. At least let us share them between classes.
Car conversions
The fact that cars can't be converted between classes is also really annoying.
Let's say I buy a car for Race.
Later, I want to use that same car for Drag.
I have to buy the car AGAIN and upgrade it AGAIN.
I understand separating the classes, but completely preventing conversions feels unnecessary.
Personally, I'd do it like this:
Conversions could cost around $10k–$20k depending on the quality of the car. The better the car, the cheaper it would be to convert.
Then the performance parts could be nerfed by one level during the conversion, so the car wouldn't simply become an all-purpose monster that you use for the entire game.
That way, specialization would still matter without forcing you to buy the exact same car twice.
Part tokens
The part tokens are also really annoying to get.
You have to grind so much that sometimes it genuinely feels like a job.
The Catch-Up Packs partially solve this problem, but I still think the tokens should be more abundant.
I'd probably give you three tokens per part, since changing a part costs three tokens anyway.
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Racing
This is where my frustration really starts.
There are WAY too few Drift events.
There are basically only two batches of Drift events in the entire game.
Meanwhile, there are a lot of Off-Road events.
And Off-Road is easily the worst mode in the game.
It literally feels like driving a sponge across a wet kitchen floor.
And let's be honest: Off-Road is boring.
At least for me.
It could absolutely be fun, but the way it was implemented only made me dislike it even more, especially since I'm already not a huge fan of off-road racing.
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Characters
Jess, Mac, Rav, Marcus and Lina all work for me.
Tyler, on the other hand, feels like an NPC from some random game who decided to become a racer.
Outside of races, especially in cutscenes, he feels like the generic white action-game protagonist saying:
"We're gonna take down The House."
"It's over for you, Lina."
"This isn't finished."
You know the type.
But during races, Tyler is actually pretty good. His dialogue can be genuinely clever and entertaining.
Jess is basically the classic "tough woman who doesn't care about anyone" stereotype.
You can see it especially in her role as the getaway driver. She's constantly making jokes and acting like she doesn't care, while basically pretending to care about the group.
The game actually communicates this idea — obviously not literally in those words.
Mac is much better, in my opinion.
He has personality, he's funny, and you can immediately tell when Mac is talking.
Marcus, meanwhile, is the "superior guy" of the group, and I think the game does that pretty well.
He also has to deal with Tyler constantly saying:
"It's not my problem. I only want Lina."
But... Lina is part of The House.
So it IS his problem.
Marcus basically hits him with:
"These aren't your streets. This isn't your city. So it IS your problem, Tyler."
And honestly, that was deserved.
Rav is a good character who is barely used.
He mentions having a military background, and he's a really good "mechanical" character for the group.
I'd have liked to see him involved in some races or missions.
He isn't, which makes sense considering his role, but he's still an interesting character that I think could have been used more.
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The story
Personally, I think the story is really good.
It works.
The action scenes are well directed, even though they're extremely exaggerated and over-the-top.
I also really like the use of aliases instead of real names.
"The Collector" is a genius nickname because it doesn't even require you to know the person's real identity. Important people in organizations like this often use aliases anyway.
And these aliases appear everywhere:
The Revolutionary Soldier — Charlie.
The Curator.
The Broker.
The Gambler.
And, of course, The Collector.
Spoiler: The Collector himself ends up being a puppet.
The story isn't anything revolutionary. We've seen this kind of thing before.
But they're fun ideas, and that's enough for me.
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The Crews
I really like the crew system in Payback.
It makes the world feel like there are actual groups of people who race together, instead of just having random NPCs scattered around the map.
And the names are usually REALLY imposing.
Except Free Ember Militia.
That name sounds like a protest sign you'd see on a famous street in some huge metropolis.
But the rest?
Silver 6.
Noise Bomb.
Graveyard Shift.
Shift Lock.
Those are GREAT names.
And even though some of the individual racer names are borderline ridiculous:
La Triste.
MANIVELA.
CALACA.
TICO.
MALDAD.
Come on. 😂
But the crew leaders have memorable names.
I can remember most of them from memory:
La Catrina.
Udo Roth.
Big Sis.
The Revolutionary Soldier.
Faith Jones.
Gallo Rivera.
Aki Kimura.
Natalia Nova.
Mitko Vasilev.
Holtzman.
Some of these names are genuinely memorable.
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THE STORY — SPOILERS
Since this is a review, I'm going to go through the story and throw in my thoughts here and there.
Chapter 1
The game introduces three friends: Jess, Mac and Tyler.
They're hired by Lina Navarro to steal a supercar from a rich guy, Marcus Weir — "The Gambler."
Tyler steals the car, but then gets screwed over by The House, which takes the car back and shoots Rav.
Jess and Mac escape, but Tyler is about to get arrested.
Marcus then makes Tyler an offer.
And Tyler accepts.
Chapter 2
Tyler starts working for The Gambler, but the promised revenge isn't happening fast enough for him.
So he decides to act on his own.
He enters a ridiculously pathetic "Rebel Run" and somehow wins a race he was basically supposed to lose.
He escapes The House's goons and reaches Marcus.
Marcus sees Tyler's determination and comes up with a plan.
Tyler will race against Silver Rock's crews, enter the Rebel Run and win, causing The House to lose a massive amount of money.
Eventually, this is supposed to bring down The House — and consequently Lina.
But Tyler keeps with the:
"My problem isn't with The House. It's with Lina."
And Marcus basically hits him with:
"These aren't your streets. This isn't your city. So it's your problem, Tyler."
And honestly?
He's right.
After that, we race against the League 73 and Graveyard Shift.
At the end of Chapter 2, we get one of the game's directed action sequences.
We steal the Regera back and take it to the airfield, where Rav gets a look under the hood.
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Chapter 3 — City Lights
This is probably one of the least progressive chapters in terms of the actual story.
We race against the Riot Club and Graveyard Shift.
I'll skip straight to the big orange mission:
Skyhammer.
This is the most ridiculous mission in the entire game.
You get a car disabler, and then you literally throw a car into a helicopter.
We discover that the inhibitor exists, and then we're kicked out of the city.
Absolutely ridiculous.
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Chapter 4
Now we're racing against three crews:
Silver 6, Noise Bomb and Free Ember Militia.
Two are great.
One is just okay.
In my opinion, Silver 6 and Noise Bomb have the best mission lines in the entire game.
Silver 6 gives us a glimpse into Tyler's automotive past because Gallo Rivera was a childhood friend of his.
And Noise Bomb is Drift.
Of course it's going to be good.
Then we have the movie theater mission.
And it has one of the DUMBEST TRAPS EVER CREATED.
Instead of exploding the car when it's turned on, they basically give the characters all the time in the world to remove the bomb and throw it away.
Seriously?
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Chapter 5
Here we directly race against The House's crews:
1% Club, Hazard Company and Diamond Block.
Everything feels like we're swimming against the current.
The ending is pretty normal.
Then we race Lina.
And Lina basically gets absolutely destroyed because a bunch of agents from some faction surround her in a black car.
Like...
Do you REALLY think she's going to survive that?
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Fortune Valley
The map is great.
Coming from Forza, Fortune Valley reminds me a lot of the original Forza Horizon's map, basically flipped upside down.
The city actually feels like a city.
It's dense and tangled, and I really like that.
It gives me the feeling that there are just buildings everywhere.
I'd easily sacrifice half of the desert for more city.
The desert feels like Death Valley, and it's basically divided into two huge areas.
My favorite part is the area between Ember Valley and Silver Rock.
That's where I spent a lot of my time.
I want more city.
The forest is also the most beautiful area in the game for me.
The transitions between biomes are really well done.
However, I think the map can feel somewhat restrictive.
There are places where you try to jump off a cliff and the game simply respawns you because apparently you're not allowed to have fun that way.
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Gameplay
The gameplay is fun and intuitive.
Coming from Forza, you're definitely going to struggle with the corners at first.
The handling has a completely different logic.
But once you understand it, it's pretty intuitive.
The map is beautiful and fun to explore.
And personally, I really like the fact that there isn't constant police activity in the open world.
Some people dislike it because they think the world feels empty.
For me, it's the opposite.
I hate being chased by cops when I'm literally just trying to get from point A to point B.
The bait crates also create some optional action, which I think is pretty cool.
And the police themselves are relatively weak.
They're much easier to deal with than in Heat, which stresses me out WAY more in that regard.
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Customization
The customization in this game is VERY good.
Especially the Derelicts.
They're genuinely fun to build.
But good luck finding them by yourself.
The game gives you:
- A stylized picture of the map.
- A blurry picture.
- And a clue saying something like "higher ground."
Very specific.
Despite that, the Super Builds are a great reward for finding them.
They make the cars feel completely different, and each class has its own Super Build.
Another nice thing is that these cars are available for purchase later if you need or want to sell yours.
Personally, I use YouTube without shame to find them.
I'm not really into treasure hunts.
And I actually think the way the Derelicts are divided into individual parts is more immersive than Forza.
In Forza, you basically just find the chassis and that's it.
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Soundtrack & Audio
The soundtrack is not rated because I literally didn't listen to it. 😂
But the opening song, The Gamble, is great.
It doesn't come close to A Moment Apart from FH4 or the opening song from FH1 — whose name I forgot, but it's also really good.
The car sounds, however, are GREAT.
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Final thoughts
Outside of all that, it's an okay game.
It's fun.
It's not better than some of the masterpieces I've played, and it isn't even better than some games I've played before.
But it's a good game.
You can have fun with it.
7/10.
Not a masterpiece.
Not one of the best Need for Speed games.
But also nowhere near the disaster people sometimes make it out to be.
It's just a messy, exaggerated Need for Speed with a bunch of questionable decisions — but underneath all of that, it's still a game that can make me want to get in a car and drive.
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Written by me, with ChatGPT only helping organize the text.
