Hate to admit it but true, I’d always be grinding for the best parts in payback just to have even more speed and acceleration. And people are saying they were locked behind a slot machine to progress through the game? Nah you could beat it with some of the worst parts Oh and it also made me feel a lil more attached to the cars I had, since I’d be playing with them constantly and never rlly had to switch to a different car. I’d often grind the money to buy a certain car, then whenever I’d unlock it, I went straight into the shop to upgrade it to finish the rest of the events and finish the game F off-road events tho, hate those…

The separation of the garages in Unbound is what killed the game for me. I built some really good cars. No way I was gonna grind 100+ more hours to get them back

I'll give this to payback: the heists have the absolute best in-game cinematics ive ever seen in a racing game

Cancelled some DLCs, cancelled Toyotas, unfinished story, but there is Aki Kimura in PB.

NFS payback was hella underated tbh, Driving at the night was a different vibe tbh! And one of the last nfs with a good sound track too! And the cars in the garage look so good!

Knowing that someone in the nfs dev team will probably see this makes me happy

Im willing to die on this hill: Payback was fun despite it having multiple problems. It should have never had those stupid cards for upgrades. I get the Vegas theme but the gambling for parts should've been left out. And the characters were a bit annoying. But, the online was very fun to be honest. and the drifting was handled better than all the other Ghost games because of just how smooth and fast it was. I really did enjoy how they didnt try to do either grip or drift with it, it was fully arcade drift handling and it was very fun and I'm still not sure why everyone has a problem with NFS having actual arcade drift handling like actual arcade machines

Payback we always one of my favorite games. But it does have alot of problems with online mode, for example people will try to ram you every time you try to drag at the air strip.

hot take, nfs payback is the most underrated recent nfs game. i love it, yes it has problems but its fun in my opinion and i like the class system and upgrade system. Loved the map and the derelicts.

I still remember the lead up to Payback and Theo getting to cover the game at E3 before the gameplay streams at the end of 2017. I feel so much nostalgia for that time that no other NFS since has managed to match

NFS Payback is UNDERRATED

I still play it till this day, yeah it had problems but i still loved it

The one thing the speedcard system did right was make upgrades marginal and frequent and after every race your car would get a little bit faster. Compared to unbound where you max out your car early in the week and drive the same car for the rest of the days.

Drag racing on the runway in online was peak

I remember the challenges with Matty C😂😂😂😂

*in payback, you take corners in circles, not in squares.* this is a saying that gets thrown around a lot in the payback crew i run - controversial (i think) opinion: the powersliding handling model of payback is more fun than the "realistic" model of unbound, and i think thats the underlying reason for why its more fun just driving around. Also, nowadays its standard practice to use mods to max out your car to its legal limits, max performance is kind of a given so it actually comes down to the driving skills, also due to the game (with the exception of the regera on highways) being acceptably balanced in its cars

Reminder: BlackPanthaa was in NFS: Payback promotional video (that one with driftin' McLaren)

Payback is hella underrated, im starting to slowly feel nostalgia for it.. jeez this game is getting old

*No. Among all the "modern" Need For Speed it is definitely the worst. Progression shold NEVER be locked behind a literal slot machine.*

What I liked the Most was this minimal delay when using NOS. That Little delay with the Sound before the nos kicks in was great

Biggest thing I miss about payback which is very minor but I absolutely loved it’s how the dirt would fly when you would drive through it, it looked beautiful in off-road racing but heat and unbound got rid of it and now it’s not that fun to drive through dirt bc the visuals just look stale

You can modify any car that you have into drift mode or more grippy normal mode, by upgrading to better differential lock and then go to handling settings while driving and slide the option to drift.

This is where I still prefer Heat, the high heat races that give you better parts. I'm on the fence between letting us just unlock the part for all cars and grinding them to earn the part each and every time. What i do think payback did good was adding the additional perks of acceleration vs top speed or having both and so on and so forth.

People can hate this all they want, but in my personal opinion payback is very severely underrated. Yes the upgrading system shouldn’t be the way it is, and there aren’t any free roam cops, but the way the game feels and the way the cars feel when you’re going fast I think feels better than unbound and maybe heat.

One thing that piss me of from unbound is the library, is now separated from single player and multiplayer When you buy the same car and apply the livery (or color) you are wasting 2 slots from the same car for no reason and i what if i wanted to make more i can't i have to delete a duplicate slot Every time i want to play online i have to remove the liverys from non duplicated slots

It seems to me that dividing the cars into classes like in NFS Payback would be a good move because they would have more room to show off when it comes to second control (drift). In Payback, unfortunately, they did something a bit like they used to do in GTA Online, except that in NFS they slightly modified the racing driving model, and in GTA they added tires with low grip, "supposedly drifting, but what kind of drift is it?" But in the last update (GTA) they added a completely new one. driving model (drift) and it turned out to be good. If in the new NFS (or try to save Unbound) they did something similar, that when you buy a car for a race it has a racing driving model, and when you buy a car in the drift class you get a car with completely different handling, for example with the UNITE mod or something similar (I don't mean the guidance from Forza because NFS would lose the atmosphere and dynamics of 200+mph in a corner), it seems to me that there could be something to it (if I remember correctly, in older NFS there were different guidance, in it was different in normal driving and racing, and in drifts it was different) if Rockstar could add it in one update, I guess they can do it too (I find it hard to believe that with one slider you can change the lead by 180 degrees and for it to be good)

Totally agree about the driving in Payback. It felt really good. Huge upgrade from 2015. Again, I don't love the upgrade system, the characters were weirdly written and voice acted, and honestly the map felt too bland to me, mostly visually. (Guys I'm tired of deserts) But man the driving is nice and snappy, it doesn't feel eerily similar to ocarina of time block pushing puzzles, and the drifting is so good feeling compared to every other (new) NFS game in the last decade. Sure, I don't like that it was faster than grip. But when they made it slower in NFS Heat, they made it so slow that it just didn't feel good at all. I think it felt better in NFS Unbound, but I find it lacked good drift events. And it STILL didn't feel as good as Payback. I guess the solution would be to made drift cars have the same handling, but when grip cars drift, they slow down a bit more. Not as much as in Heat, but maybe a pinch faster than Unbound. Or... honestly I think grip handling could have been tweaked. When you're grip turning on a wide sweeping corner, you seem to lose speed and don't accelerate much. I think grip handling should also have made it so that you can accelerate more easily and lose less speed when gripping around a corner. Look at Forza. Drifting is slower, but it doesn't feel like crap. I think they had the idea of slowing down drift, rather than slowing down drift AND speeding up grip. As for the upgrade system, I still prefer buying parts, but this was one of my favourite interpretations of the loot based upgrade system. Being able to buy high end parts, but also having the additional perks that ACTUALLY affected how your car behaved rather than 2.87% better braking. I was never on the bandwagon hatred of the game. 60 hours flew by when I played it. That means something.

i loved payback as it was my only recent nfs game besides maybe you could say the run but the drift event was so fun to grind out for cards and yes i absolutely agree upgrading your car by luck is ridiculous, but if they added it like a little feature after each endgame car you can maybe get just a little bit more top speed or acceleration for endleasly grinding, itd definitely give a good progression feel

Tbh, the only problem I have with payback is the performance customization, other than that I thinks it’s a great game

The best thing with paayback is the progression. You need to grind through boss' crews and eventually the boss itself. And after a lot of time grinding and beatng against bosses and when the final race you met the bosses you've beaten before and eventually winning the race, it's just so satisfying and worth it. It doesn't left you with "That's it?" or "There's nothing more?". Just "Man the grind is worth every second"

Keep up the amazing videos Theo 👍

Funnily enough i have most hours in payback. Unbound is catching up tho. I genuinely think unbound multiplayer is really fun, especially link-ups

Payback overall was one of the best. It just had a poor performance upgrading system. But that was easy to work around if you knew what to do

Honestly, I had more fun playing Need For Speed Payback and actually unlocking every single achievment then playing Need For Speed UNBOND. Plus I also prefer the drift handling in Payback. The UNBOND drift handling is trash.

Aside from the shipments, I quite enjoyed the way they setup the classes and upgrade system in Payback. I remember feeling like I wanted to grind for that slight edge of parts. If the presentation had felt more diegetic, a lot more people would have been more receptive of it

I still play Payback. To this day. Almost every day. No joke. It's my favorite NFS game ever. My favorite racing game ever. And my favorite console game ever. No lie. I'm probably the biggest fan of Payback. Nothing is wrong with it. Everything about the game is good. I love the voice acting, the story, the progression, the upgrade system, the Slot Machine, the Speed Cards, the micro transactions, the side bets, the handling, the offroading, the different car types, the visuals... and so on. Everything people hate about it, I love. Everything people love about it, I love MORE. I'm sorry, but I've not played any other NFS games besides Rivals, 2015, Payback, and Heat. I know I've missed out on a lot of classics. But from those games I've played... Payback. All day, every day. What I need to do is get PS+ again and find people that actually still play the game. But even if I can't, I still play the game. I even gone through the whole game 2 whole times. Or is it 3 now? 🤔

I decided to get all achievements on that game yesterday i was able to get the The climb (play 10 ranked events) which technically speaking is not available but i was lucky some other players were trying at the same time. Got the online achievements cleared and now i just need to complete the activities. Payback is not bad when you want to play it.

The thing I never understood about what EA, ghost, and even criterion were doing was GETTING RID OF CERTAIN EVENTS. Like payback gave us drag racing back, they took it away in Heat. Why? 😑 they still had drifting in heat but then took that away in unbound. Why? 😑 They gave us back the “speed cross” events of which NO ONE was asking for in unbound but renamed them as “street takeovers”. Like really? People were asking for drag racing to come back for the next game after heat but they didn’t listen. No instead they did the opposite and scrapped drifting which was one of the more popular events of the franchise and replaced that too with “street takeovers” all because of the intersection take over BS that legit no one actually cared for at all and quite possibly is the most hated thing going on on in the “street scene” right now. Why replace two of the most popular events with an event hated by legit everyone even though people are begging you to bring them back? 🤦‍♂️ I never played unbound because they got rid of drifting. I almost never played heat because they got rid of drag racing. The only reason I played heat was because of the cops and even that was annoying due to the fact they shoved health bars on the cars like really? 😑 If you’re trying to bring back the nostalgia of Mostwanted 2005 then let us HAVE THAT FUN without having to worry so damn much about the vehicles health bar. Hell mostwanted 2005 has smarter AI cops then heat ever did. In heat they just ram the living piss out of you rather then try to box you in like in mostwanted 2005. Like if this is the best EA can do for the franchise then it’s already dead. Reasons I never bought unbound, because I’m tired of them not listening and taking things people enjoyed in the previous games away. 🤦‍♂️

The drift handling was light years better than heat or unbound

Plus this game has probably the best racing layouts in nfs and as much as I hate off road racing the layouts were amazing

The modern NFS games use the same formula but still can’t seem to perfect that action racer feel

straight facts spoken. thos cards in payback.. whyyy? ... lol... problems with unbound, 1. No parts inventory (lotta wasted cash) 2. those heat levels, first hour in the game all i say was heat 4&5 (also still had random police spawns that arent visible on the map when tryna hide) ... and also whyy do i gotta keep back by cars to a specific rank to participate in races.. i didnt really like that part of it

i think just parts having more depth to them is a big factor in continuing to play after beating the game or maxxing a car. because even if you have maxxed a car out you may not have the best perks on it. Perks are a very important thing to me and payback did it so well even tho they had it as speed cards... I feel like in unbound I forget cars I've already maxed out cause there's no point in using them anymore and ill just buy a new one. With payback it kept me using the same few cars because it took a while to ever get them as perfect as you wanted performance wise.

I don't know if it was like this on launch, but now if you do rolls for cards, they will always be on par if not better than your current parts. So if you want to brute force a maxed out car asap, you just keep rolling the same car part until it's lv16 then roll for the brand you want and then brute force the triple perk rolls. It's a boring way to upgrade a car, but at least it's not full RNG where you're at lv16 and might get a lv2 card or something.

I honestly like payback a lot, it’s definitely top 10 nfs for me. After I beat it I usually delete my progress so I can restart it, idk if it’s the music or maybe it reminds me of prostreet, but I really like it(minus the upgrading thing)

There's a very funny and awkward moment in the game which is not related to the story but when you start the league Silver SIX gallo and Tyler are high school friends and after the long time no see during the race gallo tries to refresh tylers old memories how they both crashed a 65 mustang during high school and Tyler was blamed for it now this part is over for now😂. Now comes they funny part i was searching for delericts parts with MAC driving and tyler calls mac he questions out of no where that did he find his uncles 65 mustang and mac says im on it and tyler says good luck 😂😂😂. Man they worked on this game super hard idk why people keep hating.

A game shouldn’t be inflated for content and grind just for wasting the players time. A game should instead give reasons for the players to come back, like fun events, events you can play with your friends, like what criterion is doing with Unbound. They should also listen to the player base, just like criterion are doing.

Payback and 2012 are the most hated NFS’s for the wrong reasons only. Unbound makes people appreciate just how great past NFSs truly was, especially the pats ones

I played this game during covid as it was free on PlayStation plus and I hadn’t played NFS since Rivals. I had no expectations coming into payback and while it definitely has its flaws I instantly fell in love with it and got the platinum trophy for it after just a few months

It's true that the drifting in Payback is the most enjoyable. I don't know about console fellas but, the grinding and slot machine thingy doesn't bother me at all when I can just install some money mods via FMM, or just simply use Cheat Engine.

I loved NFS Payback when i played it (i played it after nfs heat came out) and it felt just good and have a grinding system that make sense and rewarded you every time you raced and not something so plain and simple as paying to upgrade your garage to have everything unlocked, and when i checked the game ratings and most people dislike the game, it got me confused bc it was so much more enjoyable than others nfs in my opinion, and its one of the games that got me hooked on drifting 10 times more than any race game i played before, I still think the game is very underrated.

After underground 2 payback is my favorite nfs i saw a playthrough of it in 2017 when it came out and ive never wanted a game so bad i got it for Christmas and played through it multiple times since made many friends while drifting in freeroam with randoms in the session the memories ive made on this game i wont ever forget

I know its a hot take, this game is one of 2 resons why i love cars, i have a weird liking to it and i dont think it really deserves all the hate

3:08 I remember taking turns at this event with my little brother we'd take the different cars we built and compete on drift courses *we were sweaty as all hell I'd always pick the less competitive car even after he got good 😂 now that was a load of fun*

Payback and other games at that time (not including heat) all had unique things do it that made it more arcade like. Now need for speed games are all trying to be more realistic than the last one. the player base is always complaining to the developers to remove things from the new games that alter the gameplay from the previous title. And then have the audacity to say their always making the same game with a different name. Or saying the game has “wasted potential.” All I’m saying is maybe if we let the developers creativity run wild, we would have better nfs games. 🤷

although welcomed, the problem with nfs unbound is the fact that its multiplayer was an open world and you had a divide in the online where people didn't want to race because there was a public event or they were building/fine tuning their cars in the garage. I say this then remember nfs "Most wanted (2012)" and "Burnout Paradise". I think they need to sit down and think about how their multiplayer is going to function because you can't please both sides. On another note, the thing you described was the almighty chase and satisfaction of building the car you want through the grind which many a "Destiny" player has fallen victim to (grinding strikes/raids for better loot); mind you "Destiny 2" has severly watered that down which pleases some but, when you get everything what is there to chase.

Personally I think NFS Payback was the last NFS game to have good and enjoyable music in general. When loading up Heat (no I didn't buy Unbound) I always just put on some spotify in the background.

i never played unbound cause i never bought a ps5, but how does it rank nowadays compared to when it first came out? never felt like it was worth it from an outsider point of view but maybe those who got a lot of time with the game can maybe give me a rethink? i'd be interested to know how you'd compare NFS Rivals to the NFS entries in the last 10 years. i know you ranked it low on your tier list, but it looks like it's aging better than the others. i found myself playing Rivals for a good couple of weeks recently because it was actually quite enjoyable (whereas Heat was relatively boring and Payback just feels meh).

I dont mind RNG but would like it unlocking more realistic parts like the w16 or a rotary etc.. also likevthe night runners style build where so many different elements are looked at. The crew parts where everyone has the same build is more boring and i could imagine a summit with different builds fir a particular car

Grids are what brings you back, borderlands for example you don't need the god rolls but playing for that 0.5% drop is achievement and scaling not rubber banding but actual scaling when you improve in tekken the AI remembered your go to movements and goes he's jump punching at start ..block

i cant believe there are people actually defending speedcards

This reminds me of the time where you used to play need for speed payback ngl

Payback is my favourite Ghost Games NFS title and will be like that forever

Why do i keep seeing your vids so damn early

I think the feature from Payback called 'bait crate' should be adding to Unbound. That giving $50,000 (day) and $25,000 (night)

I played NFS Payback alot when i was in foster care. So I love it for those nostalgic memories I have from a safe space.

Hey blackpanthaa neat video. It might sound a bit strange but I kind of like nfs payback. Yes unfortunately the fact that there were no free roam police chases is a let down. I'm not saying need for speed payback is the game from what I understand no game is perfect. Yes you are right that in a way nfs payback has a way the let's you keep playing with the speed cards. You can earn different speed cards that change your performance a bit. In my opinion it was a bit confusing on how you earn parts by either playing events/missions and going to tune up shops. There's a bit of a learning curve too it. It seems like either they were trying to have a slot machine like vibe too it or ghost games was influenced by the first the crew game in which you earned performance parts after each mission. Or maybe both I could be wrong. Once I got used to it I sort of found it a different way on performance customization. I like the fact on that you can replay the action story missions after completing them. They did I think fix the problem with nfs heat with the performance customization which as they said made it more "grounded" in were after leveling up your xp you would unlock new parts by getting rep and night. Yes in nfs payback the crash cameras and when you took down the house gang vehicles or police how it slowed down and showed them crashing was cool maybe criterion can implement that in a future nfs game. They should maybe also give you the option to have it on or off. Maybe they should have it that it doesn't do it all the time but only when you completely total an enemy or cop vehicle. Yeah unfortunately maybe nfs payback although I kind of like it although it is on the list of ghost games they've made that are down. I've played nfs 2015 I wasnt a fan of how the police were in that game I found them to be bland and they didn't give much of a challenge and they were a bit of annoying obstacle. I think having the cops be a bit of challenge but not impossible to evade as that you get really mad and can't play the game but just challenging enough and so there they are not just an annoyance or as annoying but fun and as you maybe progress with in the game that hey get harder and give a little but of a challenge. That's my opinion. In need for speed heat they fixed that issue too with having free roam cop chases and making that I think a focal point in selling that game. When i play nfs heat or even unbound i don't find the cops to be of an annoyance like i do in need for speed 2015. Sometimes maybe they can be still but i find it fun to get into cop chases in nfs heat and nfs unbound. I do remember there is a part of the career in nfs 2015 that focuses on the cops a bit not to spoil anything. It requires you to get into pursuits but it still doesn't make the cops much funner to get into chases with in my opinion. Even though in need for speed payback the cops are only certain activities and missions I don't find them to be as bland as I think they are in nfs 2015. I also find they give you more of a challenge when having to complete a mission where they are trying to take you out. In some respects it's kind of similar to as in nfs carbon which I've also played there is police in the game but like you've mentioned in a past video there a bit of an afterthought and other than maybe completing minor objectives they don't really play much of a role within the career other than just being there and it's funny for me saying this even the pursuits in nfs carbon I find are a bit more fun than nfs 2015s police chases. They serve a small role within the games story kind of but other than that there's really no requirement to get into a pursuit with them. If they appear during a race then maybe you would have to face them but they were a minor part of the career at least correct me if im wrong. These are just my thoughts on this video. Take care blackpanthaa have a good day.

Nfs unbound was my 1st platinum trophy due to grinding all the billboards street art ,long jumps 😢

I would say that the linear storyline along with the randomness of the upgrade system was actually such an interesting take. I feel like the change occurred in an optimal time in which nfs started becoming more open world focused. Imagine implementing most wanted upgrade system of only getting parts on each level- people would be incredibly miffed.

Would be fun to see some NFS Payback content from you. some how my most played NFS. I played alot of FH2 when NFS 2015 was out.

*Theo, 2015 had preformance upgrades you had to LEVEL UP for. Just like in your precious Black Box games.*

Question. Are you planning to make more Payback content or just this going to be the last of it for now ?

This game is something i still love to play and watch...i think it has aged quite well personally anyway

Got to say Pants, you've gotten me back into NFS after not playing anything since the Most Wanted "Reboot" - NFS World is great fun and Payback is next on the list

Didn't grow up with racing games, excluding Asphalt, Payback was my first NfS, so I have a sense of fondness towards it.

My need for speed payback does not even launch/open anymore, ive tried everything to fix it put it is still the same.

What a weird coincidence considering i just finished a revisit playback for payback. However i never really hated any NFS entries and i find each have their charm. The only NFS that i can't play is NFS 2015, the handling literally has a mind of its own and will crash me into walls in evey corner in existence 😔

Honestly what I thought it loved being able to build and “tune” any car into anyway I liked I think I just hate in unbound, I get the drifting nerf they added in this game so people can’t just easily cheese races but I find it hella annoying when trying to build a drift car and it becomes a grip car or a car that just throws its back end out whenever it gets the chance I hope in the underground update they retune the chassis to make them more stable & exciting to drift in I also despise the car progression system in this game, atleast the one in multiplayer..I liked NFS Payback & Heat’s car progression system, ik its was blantant & easy and the new one gives you things to do after the you complete story mode but someone of them are just straight very grindy & repatitive.. take down 40 players during a race isn’t as much of easy feat as it sounds esspecially if you are use to clean racing Tho im not against locking Legendary Custom or Custom vehicles behind those types of challenges, as it does feel proper to have those vehicles locked behind high diffcuit stakes Ik that some people would just say “just get good”& I’d love too if I wasn’t so busy with life

I absolutely loved grinding the best car parts in payback. Also loved that in payback you can race against bots online...

I think Carbon and Prostreet had the best drifting. For upgrades I think Most Wanted 2005 had a good thing going with the "underground" parts. You should be able to buy the best parts whenever you want but then there should be even better parts that are more difficult to find, win and unlock. So a mix of MW05 and Heat.

After this game they went on the ”less is more” route. Think about all the things u could do in this game; missions, drag, roaming racers, derelicts, drift, offroad. Now all we have is races and drift events with two titles (drift and takeover). Seems like more they refine the games the less content they have

4:00 payback is good in drifting I said that in past posts too

I watched the playthrough videos recently , I still think that the game was pretty good (apart from those speed cards)

Bros out here acting like he didn't cause this game to go this direction "i like the co-operative direction its taking screw races and progression lets do linkups" and then complains that the game is stale after man pushed for the second coming of 2012

Nostalgia, back when the Nobeds used to glitch this game out to absolute madness

I like Payback, but I just think the open world is completely dead. If the open world had cops and actual other cars driving it would be so much better. It also could of even just been completely linear and I would of liked it more.

Idk what you put in your hair but it looks great right here just had to tell you that

This game actually felt like real fun when driving and racing I love this game and keep buying it every platform I get the music fit the environment the speed , the drifting the customization the scenery , the roads felt spacious everything felt so good and fun it’s like unbound took graphics inspiration from this game and made the rest ok but this game needs a remaster to me this game is the best need for speed

NFS peaked with heat for me. i put hundreds of hours into it gaming with friends and being a crew and working towards the high heat parts. the day night system felt like dying light in cars and it was ORGASMIC! i LOVED the handling. it was perfect. and then unbound took it all to the ground. no more campaign being in the same world as online. seperate progress for literally what? who the actual fuck wants to race 90 races with an mx5 in b class to unlock an rx7? are the devs fucking restarted? who tf is enjoying that? everything i loved about the night. GONE. the handling is literally all over the fucking place and unpredictable like drifting is just a state for the car to be in. oh now the car is drifting and now it's not. it's nothing like what a car should feel like. it feels like trying to fight against janky code that puts the "car" in a drift state or grip state.

Bro I seriously spent hours on that specific drift event just to save up 5 million and never use it because I switched to nfs heat but went back still enjoy the game and bought the Regera

From Rival to Unbound, the most time I spent is in Heat, the close second is Payback. I hate the card upgrades in Payback, but still I found Payback has more fun compared to Unbound somehow.

I really enjoy off-roading in the Chevy bel air with high air and speed

honestly i'd put payback behind heat as my fav NFS game

Drag races and Drifting

The most annoying thing for me in unbound is that I cant go free roam until after the story is finished and after i finished the story, there was no need to even go to story mode. And also to do evrything in story mode and doing all of it again on online to get the same exact cars I already have in story mode is annoying. For that reason I often end up just quiting the game. The day and night cycle is....I prefer Heats or even something like forza would've been better, especially if weeks are being implied. And why do i need to go to maps everytime I want to exit the garage? I just wanna go out. Let me go out and explore. And the whole story is about how money is ruining races and the only thing we ever do in the game is race for money. There is no, "huh I finally beat it" feel. It has more of a "its over finally, now I can go out without going for a race. Just drive"

Best part unlock system was with Carbon and I am gonna say this till they bring out another NFS with the same system. You literally had to play the game to its fullest to have everything unlocked compared to nowadays

Payback was slept on. Was it great no but it was better then most ppl give it credit for.

unlike the comment section which I think hasn’t touched payback since release, i’ve recently replayed this on PC and I had a great time with it, here’s why. its a really good arcade racer, i don’t care what anyone’s arguments are. Just because “boohoo bAd hANDLinG nO GRiP” doesn’t necessarily mean it was bad, I loved the drifting aspect of it and I beg to differ it was probably the best brake to drift model they ever implemented, second to only NFS: Rivals. (yes better than nfs:hp, i love that game but god it was annoying to ruin your time trial because you clicked the brake too rapidly and now you have to restart your race). The map was perfect for the handling model, the narrow city section, although small which is a minus for this game, the wide scale of the desert makes up for it, and it’s really fun to go around the map blasting at 200 miles per hour. For its time, the customisation was really the best there was, having a lot more to choose from than 2015. Although I will say this, it is buggy as hell, it’s limited in some cars because of the combinations you are restricted to. The cops aren’t there sadly, i think it’s a shame really they didn’t add cops but rather just scripted events that reward you with some parts, lots of missed potential. The off road section of the game- Awful. I will be honest, if you aren’t driving a car that’s good for offroading (IX evo, or one of the derelicts) you are in for a very frustrating experience because of the pretty bad implemented physics in the offroad, other than that it can be pretty fun although more frustrating than fun. And finally we come to the very despised and very understanding of this, the micro transactioned speed card system. Seriously what the hell were they thinking, i get it, we are EA we are greedy corporate profit seeking company. But ruining a whole section of why people love to play this game, to upgrade their car and see how well it performs when it’s fully maxed out. Seriously who let that guy in charge? buuuut, if you play this on PC (like i did on my recent playthru, my first one was on the ps4) you can just cheat engine the cards and suddenly, the game is actually fun again, because now you are just upgrading your car the usual way. Although the gambling slot aspect of it it’s still very annoying, i spend around 20 minutes trying to upgrade my cars even with unlimited cards, but after that bullcrap. Holy hell is it fun to actually drive a maxxed out RSR or GT-R. So, tl;dr: game has huge bad aspects of it, but calling the worst need for speed of this new era i think it’s too much, that title goes to 2015. People who say 2015 was good are severely nostalgic about the good graphics, that’s it. Payback in terms of gameplay is superior to 2015. Case dismissed

I still love it the most out of the newer NFS games, lovely map, music, acceptable car selection, ok story (ok is enough for a racing game imo).

I honestly loved payback…the story line was great and was not short at all. Plus I loved the three protagonist especially Sean. Plus I loved the heist missions…wish they brought them back.