Need for Casino: Payback
What the ♥♥♥♥ is this game?
I played Need for Speed Payback as a kid, and I didn't like it back then. Years later, I saw it on sale and decided to give it another chance.
I regret having functional memory.
First of all, the handling is kind of ass. The drifting sucks, driving on sand feels like you're driving on ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ice, and the cars constantly feel like they're floating and sliding around.
And no, I'm not saying this because I'm bad at the game.
I've played plenty of racing games. I've played other Need for Speed games. I know how to drive and drift in these games. Payback just feels ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ terrible.
The off-road handling is especially bad. You hit the sand and suddenly your car has the stability of a shopping cart with one broken wheel.
Then there is the upgrade system.
Or should I say...
Need for Casino. Rain bet sim
Why the ♥♥♥♥ am I gambling for car upgrades?
Instead of simply earning money, buying parts, and upgrading my car like a normal human being, Payback gives you randomized performance cards and packs.
I race.
I earn money.
I want an upgrade.
The game says:
“Would you like to gamble?”
NO. I WANT TO UPGRADE MY ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ CAR.
Need for Speed Heat had a much better system. You earn REP at night, money during the day, and you use that money to actually build your cars. Simple. Understandable. Fun.
Payback decided that apparently what the racing genre was missing was a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ casino.
And the car system is just as ridiculous.
Why are there so many separate categories and dealerships?
One dealership sells cars for street racing. Another sells off-road cars. Another handles drifting. Another handles drag racing.
WHY?
Just give me one dealership and let me buy a car and tune it for whatever the hell I want.
If I want to turn my car into a street racer, let me do it.
If I want to build it for off-road, let me do it.
If I want to make it a drift car, let me do it.
Instead, Payback basically says:
"Sorry, this car isn't for that. Please purchase another car."
Who at EA came up with this?
And who else sat in that meeting and thought:
"You know what? That's actually a great idea."
What the ♥♥♥♥ were you people doing?
Then we have the prologue.
Why is the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ prologue around 40 minutes long if you're rushing through it?
I don't want to spend nearly an hour replaying the same damn introduction before I can properly roam around and get my first car.
And unfortunately, I had to do it three ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ times.
Because of mods, my save got erased twice.
So I had to start from zero for a third time.
Forty minutes.
Three times.
About two hours of my life. Gone.
120 minutes of watching the same ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ prologue just so I could finally get to the point where the actual game lets me play.
And yes, I installed quality-of-life mods because I wanted to skip some of the ridiculous grind.
The game apparently took that personally.
Even with mods, this thing is still ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up.
The graphics are probably the biggest compliment I can give it. The game still looks pretty good. The cars look great, the environments hold up, and visually it has aged better than I expected.
But everything surrounding the actual driving feels unnecessarily complicated, restrictive, or just plain annoying.
Bad drifting.
♥♥♥♥♥♥ off-road handling.
Randomized performance cards.
Gambling disguised as progression.
Separate dealerships for every ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ discipline.
A ridiculously long prologue.
And a save system that apparently enjoys watching me suffer.
I genuinely don't understand why they made a racing game this complicated.
Just let me race.
Let me earn cash.
Let me buy parts.
Let me upgrade my car.
Let me tune it however I want.
Then let me drive the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ thing.
That's it.
Need for Speed Payback isn't the worst-looking racing game I've played, but as a Need for Speed game, it is one of the most frustrating experiences I've had.
I played it as a kid.
I didn't like it.
I came back years later.
I still don't like it.
At this point, EA, please stop making Need for Casino Simulator and make a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ good Need for Speed game.
Idk Remake the Nfs 2005 mw or make another good one not unbound, not Casino sim
