[Review] Payday: The Heist (PS3)

Okay, let's be real: given the opportunity and a lack of consequence, we would all want to rob a bank. Hollywood has given us all this guilty pleasure of having us scope out a bank and coordinate this feat to the last detail. Hopefully though, none of us will ever actually try to this because, let's be real once again, you'll die or go to jail. But to give us a better taste and some control in this action, Payday: The Heist is the perfect place to go, with ridiculous clown masks and everything.


The premise of Payday is simple. You and three other friends grab the closest creepy clown masks, some Uzi submachine guns and head to your nearest bank and tear that place up. There is no real tutorial provided; you just walk right up to the bank, listen to instructions, and at that point it becomes almost instinctual. You start yelling at the civilians, tying them up, shooting the security cameras, and looking for the bank manager who has the key to the vault. Though we all know it's never this simple; before long, the cops show up and it becomes a shoot out. It really is a lot of fun, and easy to pick up and play. Throughout the game, you may have an outside man who will give you instructions and updates on when and where police attacks are coming from. Though you might worry that robbing banks might get old one day, that's not the only thing that you do. The game comes with six different maps that will let you commit bank robbery, steal from drug dealers, diamond heists, and more. Developer Overkill Software has announced that there will be DLC to expand gameplay even more.

The gameplay parallels that of any typical first person shooter, though it can be choppy and in general less smooth than other titles. My biggest issue would be that the aiming can lack fluidity and make it difficult to shoot moving cops, though adjusting the sensitivity does help and is recommended. While both the single player and multiplayer have identical gameplay, the best part of the game is playing online and organizing your team, shouting commands to each other and sweating profusely under the pressure. With three pretty much useless AI teammates, you really need that human factor of conflict and arguing to make the game that much more authentic.

After completing a heist, you are awarded money that measures what level you are and can allow certain upgrades such as extra armor, guns, health packs and others. However, one big oversight of the game is that the upgrade system is hidden deep in the settings; players will have to spend some time searching to figure it out that there is an upgrade tree that allows you to choose a path to upgrade your character.  But once you do, it really enhances the gameplay. This is especially true while playing online because upgrades allow you to use different strategies and possibly equip certain players with extra ammo or extra health. These also allow for a larger variety of guns, so you can have a look out sniping, a power guy with heavy firepower, and a more subtle stealthy player amongst other possibilities.

Payday: The Heist might not be the best first person shooter out there but it offers more than enough to keep your criminal urges under control. With the variety in the gameplay combined with the (hopefully) upcoming DLC, this game offers a lot at the $20 price point, making for great replay value. So get your team together and start building your money and reputation as you try to become the most successful criminal in the world, or the virtual world at least.

Available on: PC, PS3; Publisher: Sony Online Entertainment; Developer: Overkill Software; Players: 1 - 4; Released: October 18, 2011; ESRB: Mature; Official Site

Note: A promotional code was provided to Denkiphile for review purposes by the publisher.