Looks like July-August is a time for most gamers to catch up on their backlog before the big games hit from September onwards..
With GTA V in September, AC IV at the end of October and Watch Dogs in November, I'm going to be busy at the end of the year. So now is a good time to catch up on some backlog too.
But... instead of starting on one of the many retail discs, I decided to get PayDay: The Heist on PSN. I have always wanted to get this but it seemed more like a game best enjoyed in co-op. Lucky for me, a few other guys on the SGamers forum decided to start on this too. (Could be due to the whole bank heist theme coming in September with GTA V.)
The game's pretty good. A true co-op shooter.
The game focuses on masked-men performing heists for their next big PayDay. There are 6 maps with each having varying objectives. Sure, it's all about collecting the money but it's not all about Bank Heists.
The first map is a typical bank heist. Walk into a bank, put on your masks and locate the bank manager. Get the equipment which has been previously stored inside the bank itself to drill and burn your way into the vault. All these while the Law Enforcers try to stop you. They come in fast and with plenty of reinforcements, so it's no means a hush-hush job. Once you get into the vault, you have to fight your way out to a getaway car in the basement.
Next up is a escort mission. Some dude tricks the heisters and tries to get away in a car with some valuable stuff. Your team chases after him, up the streets filled with cops in a mission aptly named Heat Street. You find his crashed car a few blocks down. Of course, the fella doesn't want to come out of the car so you literally have to smoke him out.
While waiting for him to give up, you got to defend yourselves against dozens of cops coming at you from all directions. Once he's finally out, you have to escort the limping traitor to a landing zone where you have to fight off cops while waiting for the chopper to come pick you guys up.
There are 4 other missions and even on Normal Difficulty, it's not an easy task. There are 2 higher difficulty levels as well. Lucky of us, there are upgrades you earn as your reputation level goes up. However, the upgrade system is a little weird. While most upgrade systems give you points to add to different skill trees in the menu, this game automatically upgrades you on a particular skill tree based on your pre-chosen choice.
If you forget to change this option before you rank up, it will be too late. I haven't seen any option to re-spec either. However, I have read that if you do in fact reach the maximum rank, you would have fully upgraded all 3 skill trees.
Other than this minor flaw, it's pretty good. While there are only 6 maps, the difficulty is rather unforgiving. Trophy Hunters will have to spend many hours replaying the maps to be able to get all the good upgrades. With many of the trophies requiring you to beat a map on the highest difficulty level, you will definitely be needing the upgrades.
Try to get a group of 4 for this game. Game's pretty tough even with 3 players and one AI.
I'm enjoying this game, so much so, that I have pre-ordered the Collector's Edition of PayDay 2 and bought some promo items for the game.
So, what are you guys playing? What's next on your to-buy list?
