You can purchase cards at the auto store but they don’t always carry the same cards as they are switched out every so often, and waiting for the rotation for the card you need may take a long time. You have six slots for your Speed Cards to fit into, and these cards are obtained through varying objectives: such as completing races, completing story checkpoints, and so on. This card game is performed by Speed Cards. These options are trapped behind a very out-of-place card game that you must play to unlock performance enhancing attributes. Then there are the performance customization options. Need For Speed Payback is about pursuits, timing, chases, and objective hunting. And they aren’t just one to one races either.
It’s a little crazy when you think about how other games just make you purchase items by finishing races but just a simple aesthetic change will force you to play the game in certain areas just to unlock the simplest custom item.
You’ll have to earn it and that can come in the form of completing different objectives around the map. You won’t be able to just pop into a garage and customize your vehicle. There are several options for customizing and fine-tuning your car to make it just the way you like it. There is a large catalog of cars to choose from and they sound great, look good and perform reasonably well. Smooth details around the rims and top of a BMW M2 looks realistic enough. You won’t find Forza quality detail and textures in Payback, but an arcade-spin makes that all right to accept. Luckily, they got the city’s details down pretty well along with the cars. If the game is about its racing, then a forced story shouldn’t be put in the forefront of the entire experience. And you may be right, but you’re also wrong. You may be thinking: It’s a game about racing, it doesn’t matter if the characters don’t look good. The character models in the game are sadly average looking. Graphics wise, Payback is good, but never great. "From a ho-hum story, mandatory single player gameplay before being able to access the multiplayer, and a card game inside, Payback isn’t a lot of fun." Mediocre was written throughout the game’s script. You’ll hear one-liners such as, “The House always wins,” or “You’ll be my Ace.” By the time the story was over I felt like a beaten animal. You will often be hearing lines that school and online kids like to throw around that are seriously cringe worthy. Here you’ll meet the man who you’ll be working for for a while exploring the lands of the city, along with the evil mafia-style organization called The House.
There’s glitz and glam, and - are you ready for this? - Payback. You’re in the middle of a desert town - think of a fake Las Vegas. I really didn’t know people played racing games for their story, but Payback has one, and it’s lame.
Soon after the intense introduction you’ll get into the thick of the story. Now, you won’t be doing this too often throughout the entire experience, but when I did, I found it to be a nice touch - mainly for the simple fact that going back and forth between cars allowed me to really feel the differences in the build, models, and handling of these vehicles. This allows you to interact with several different brands of cars during a single run. At first you’ll think you’re playing as one character then, with a seamless switch, you’ll be someone else. It’s interesting how Payback introduces the characters you’ll be playing as. It simply puts you in the middle of an arid desert in a fast moving car, ready to train you for what you’ll be expecting later in the game. A true no-setup style start gets you going right off, going down a dirt road at blazing speeds. Payback starts off with the speed you’d expect from a racing game. From a ho-hum story, mandatory single player gameplay before being able to access the multiplayer, and a card game inside, Payback isn’t a lot of fun. While Need For Speed (2015) had its out-of-touch moments, Payback tries its hardest to solve many of its predecessor’s problems unfortunately, the situation may have gotten a little worse in the process. The wind in your hair, adrenaline keeping you going, and a whole lot of speed to get you there, that’s exactly what Need for Speed: Payback by Ghost Games doesn’t have.