Payday 2: Crimewave Edition Xbox One Review
Payday 2: Crimewave Edition Xbox One
Publisher: 505 Games
Developer: Overkill Software
Genre:
PEGI: M
Comments:
Over the last two weeks my experiences with Payday 2: Crimewave Edition has been loaded with wait times, frustration and a little bit of fun. There were about twenty heists, maybe more that I was never able to connect to due to server issues on Crime Net. I was still able to complete heists but not as many as I would have liked. This version of Payday 2 comes complete with the original version and all the available DLC which was great to have all in one package. There is also confirmation on the official Twitter account of Payday 2 that there will be a patch released for the connectivity issues, but no known date as of yet. If we set aside the connectivity issues which are set to be fixed, Payday 2: Crimewave Edition is a good shooter game for a reasonable price.
Four players, all with numerous criminal tasks and expertise with one goal in mind: to get paid. This is the mantra of Payday 2: Crimewave Edition for those that have never played the series. Each heist is set with many weapons in hand to take down as many of the enforcements in your way whether it is the public or law enforcers. Most of the missions played start with your character masked up and being as stealthy as possible. If you are caught, the heist hits the fan and things get intense. Gun fights will ensue and you must complete the heist with more action coming your way now. Through several of the heists you will be delivering drugs, cooking drugs, stealing cash, and gathering intelligence of other drug operations. Each heist comes with its fair set of importance. By completing your mission you upgrade your character which will help you progress. Some of the heists do get a little repetitive but if you bring along a different team every time the mission does feel a little different and that way strategies won’t repeat.
Before Payday 2: Crimewave Edition I wasn’t too familiar with the previous Payday 2 core game. I have done some investigating and realized that the AI in Payday 2 was also just as bad as it is in Payday 2: Crimewave Edition. In the Xbox One version of the game there have been a multitude of times that the AI doesn’t have your back, for a lack of a better term. It can be very frustrating to see that even with an AI team for the heists, most of the tasks you are competing solo in. They do help from time to time but for the majority of time it can feel like they are getting in the way. The best way to play the Overkill and 505 Games title is with your Xbox Live Friends as they would always have your back.
As mentioned before, the current state of Payday 2: Crimewave Edition’s online server is failing for most users out there. The game freezes up in the Crime.net server, online and sometimes offline. When you finally do connect the odds of getting disconnected are quite high. This is expected to be fixed as the team is working hard on a patch. Hopefully the patch is released soon as many users are probably steering clear of this game until the issues are resolved.
Payday 2: Crimewave Edition only displays at 30 FPS and as we know a first person shooter runs a lot better at the 60 frames per second mark. Playing a game at half the FPS can create uneasy transitions with your weapons, aiming, running around and anything else that revolves around quick movements.
Besides the frame rate, visually this title won’t completely astound you but there has been enough work done to present us with a good current generation game. It does look like a title that would pop more on Xbox 360 or any last generation console but nevertheless, the Xbox One version of Payday 2: Crimewave Edition does give us great textures and colors in the 140 plus masks and details of our characters. The details in the heist locations aren’t the best as some of the locations do look flat but overall Overkill Software gave us a good “bonus edition” of the game.
Sound always plays an important role in a game but doesn’t always bring us the right sound or right ambient noise for the right scenes. In Payday 2, we get a good soundtrack and decent audio track when performing in a heist. My favorite part is when you are no longer in stealth mode and the music goes from calm and at a good pace to a panic which really sets the tone for the remainder of that mission.
Payday 2: Crimewave Edition does have a bit to work on, especially the online component but if you look ahead of that you can appreciate the gameplay, visuals and audio that 505 Games has presented to us. Payday 2: Crimewave Edition is out now on Xbox One and you can add it to your download queue here.