Need for Speed: Payback (2017)

Further to my previous update, it appears you cannot drive off cliffs that aren't barricaded for shortcuts. As soon as you start to drive off, your car is reset on the road.

To an extent I understand why it isn't possible. Most likely to be responsible etc.

But that's one of the things I love about open worlds. Travelling off the beaten track, off cliffs etc and carrying on as normal once landed.

I've always found open world racers odd. I don't want to spend more time travelling from event to event than the actual races. I could use fast travel, but I personally don't use those features in 'realistic' worlds.

I've only put three hours in so far, so hardly scratched the surface before I completely make up my mind on the title as a whole.

Its an improvement over 2015 but that's not exactly hard. 2015 was such an awful game. Handling is better but still pretty bad. Why does NFS seem to fawn over drifiting and power sliding so much. Its getting annoying at this point. Pulling the handbrake at 220mph in in a Koenigsegg to then immediately slide round a 180 degree corner at g forces that would make the most advanced fighter pilots faint is just moronically stupid.

The plot is ok. Nothing great but nothing bad. I liked the race and runner classes. Drag is not even drag. Pressing buttons in time is boring and the routes aren't even straight not to mention there's sprint races in that class too for some bizarre reason. Drift is ok but I don't like drift so can't really comment on it. The events were easy enough though. Offroad is the worst. AI is much harder here and the cars really don't handle well at all. they are just less crappy which makes it look they are suited when they're not.

the card system for upgrading performance takes some getting used to but it becomes manageable. Still seems like a questionable way to improve specs. Cash, surprisingly is plentiful so I'm glad EA didn't give into their natural desires to reduce cash payouts which means more grinding in the hopes to provide incentive for people to pay for MTX.

My main issue is the activities. I hate them so, so much. A good chunk are easy enough, needing only 1-3 attempts but others taking dozens, upon dozens of attempts. Eject button jump is the biggest offender. Its poorly placed and way harder than any other jump. Its there purely to halt any progress made towards the platinum trophy. I gave up after 100+ attempts. Its not worth the stress. Sod that. The activities feel like they're ripped straight out of Forza Horizon only in Forza Horizon they work better as the car handles reasonably and can be controlled better. Their success criteria is not as ridiculous and the traffic is no way near as dense. Yes, you can have the perfect run after trying many times only to have a dump truck block the road and leave you wanting to snap the controller in two. The activities destroy this game. They ruin any fun that can be had and if you manage to achieve the platinum its through sheer and utter perseverance and the resolve of steel. The minute a game goes from challenging enjoyment to rage and frustration, the game has failed.

It also looks like the daily challenges no longer work as they just won't spawn. That's a trophy that's now unobtainable. Thus making Platinum impossible. As a result there is absolutely no incentive to 3 star the activities now. There's a reason why only 0.5% of players on PS have the platinum. I guess its a blessing in disguise. Its strange though, this game was recently on PS Plus and as of yesterday it was included in Xbox Game Pass via EA Play. Seems like a silly time to drop the support. Its only 3 years old.

I hope Heat is better, I really do. I want to start liking NFS again. Hot Pursuit was the last good one and even that falls short of 2005's Most Wanted and (yes I like it) 2006's Carbon. Just drop all this slidy nonsense and use the driving engine from Most Wanted.