Payday 2 was one of those games I played a lot during my PS3 days. It was a simple game with a simple premise and an even simpler overarching plot. As you know, I was mostly a gameplay person when first entering the more advanced side of gaming, so something like it fit squarely in that slot. Sure, a story exists, but I can tune that out and go on a heist. Payday 3, on the other hand, leaves a lot to be desired.<\/span><\/p>\n Payday 3 sees the OG crew back together to continue their life of crime after a brief bout of retirement. Rekindling your old contacts and forming new ones during this time as you move operations.<\/span><\/p>\n While its precursor used Washington DC as its backdrop, we move onto a new city to call home \u2014 New York. With these new contacts, including two new playable characters \u2014 Joy and Pearl \u2014 we\u2019re greeted to something of a nostalgia hit. Except we\u2019re not, there\u2019s no Safehouse to act as a tutorial, instead, we\u2019re thrown into a warehouse to relearn everything. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I was going into it with tapered expectations as I\u2019m not a huge multiplayer guy. One of the biggest drawbacks is the lack of an offline mode, something that 2 had. That\u2019s right, this game\u2019s an always online multiplayer-skewed experience. Now, I prefer single-player adventures that can be enhanced by multiplayer but are not required to play them. And sure, you don\u2019t have<\/em> to play in public lobbies, you can go with invite-only or private lobbies, but still, playing online has its drawbacks.<\/span><\/p>\n I played it around launch and while I faced no issues, it did have a lot of server downtime, perhaps they didn\u2019t expect as many people to hop on, but with an online-only game, you should expect a lot<\/em> of people are going to be on 24\/7, especially since this is the latest entry in a rather beloved \u2014 albeit niche \u2014 series.<\/p>\n It does face the live-service issue of releasing a handful of heists with the promise of more to come.<\/p>\n Police Assault<\/strong><\/p>\n There\u2019s a reason I was always a go-in-guns-blazing kind of person when playing its precursor \u2014 I was horrible at stealth then, and I still am. I\u2019m too cautious and almost always overestimate how good the AI actually is at detecting my movement or illicit activities, leading to getting caught quite a bit.<\/span><\/p>\n Overall, Payday 3 plays exactly like the others, scoping the area, stealthfully planning out your attack, and mask up when you\u2019re ready. Unlike 2, though, stealth seems more viable as different areas of the map affect how people interact.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Public areas are for the public, so as long as you aren\u2019t doing anything illicit, then cops and security won\u2019t bother you. Private areas will have security escort you out and warn you not to enter the area again. Meanwhile restricted areas may lead to a more aggressive altercation.<\/span><\/p>\n I almost always went in almost immediately and started blasting security guards, tying up hostages, and heading to the goal as fast as I can, letting the AIs do the shooting.<\/p>\n Payday 3 is a noticeable improvement in a fair few areas outside of stealth \u2014 the shooting feels less janky, and the additions of some modern movements like sprint sliding are a welcome feature. It\u2019s also great to see the game move on from the internal game engine to be powered by Unreal Engine 4.<\/span><\/p>\n One of my biggest gripes with Payday 3 is, overall, the game lacks enough innovation to strip the offline play. Perhaps it\u2019ll be a future update, but we doubt that. It\u2019s always seemed to want to be a multiplayer-focused game and with this wave of live-service dribble, this is Starbreeze\u2019s chance. The game itself feels like it discourages you from using the one workaround to soloing a heist.\u00a0<\/p>\n When entering an invite-only lobby and letting it run its course, you\u201d be able to play the game with AIs. The problem is, it feels rather unfair when you rely on the AIs as opposed to your Friends list or randoms looking to play that same heist. You are everything, you\u2019re the one who stuffs the bag, you\u2019re the one who sets the traps, you\u2019re the one who sends hostages out to bide time before the police go in, guns out. I know this was the same thing in previous entries, but I wish Starbreeze allowed the player to mark and order an item to be picked up.<\/p>\n Considering all the improvements made, including making the gameplay loop more rewarding because of the skill tree and all that, it doesn\u2019t seem like an overly complicated request. Besides, it can\u2019t just be new heists to keep people engaged, sometimes you wanna hop into a heist and play it alone to see what it\u2019s like.<\/p>\n Payday 3 is an improvement to a triad and true formula Payday 2 instilled \u2014 a formula that keeps you coming back for more. It plays both sides \u2014 wanting people to keep stealthy while giving players the option to make it more difficult by going in guns blazing.<\/span><\/p>\n While I had fun rekindling my love for Wolf, Hoxton, and the gang, it\u2019s just a modernized rehash of the same heist simulator we knew from a decade ago. As good it may be, it suffers from the live-service issue of a lack of content and an uncertain roadmap.<\/p>\n You can buy Payday 3 on PSN here.<\/p>\n![\"Payday](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/psxextreme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/payday-3-money.jpg?resize=843%2C474&ssl=1\")
Straight Outta Washington DC<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Optimization NOT At The Ready<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Smells Like Bacon<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Final Charge<\/strong><\/h2>\n