A Big Score- A Payday: The Heist Analysis

The Left 4 Dead series raised the bar for small group co-op design and was able to scratch an itch that most multiplayer games ignored. While Payday: The Heist lacks polish, it does managed to separate itself from L4d with some unique design.

One of the biggest contributions Left 4 Dead has given to game design was resurrecting small group co-op design. Since then, we've seen more games being developed around playing with your buddies and Overkill Software's Payday: The Heist is no exception. While it may look like from the outside as a re-skin of Left 4 Dead, there is more to look at under the mask.

The basic plot is that you are a part of a squad of robbers who are looking to hit it big, along with your NPC handler you'll have to pull off various heists. Each heist takes place in a different circumstance, from robbing a bank to escaping a job gone wrong and standing in your way is the law. Like L4D, your opposition comes in several forms, from beat cops to FBI, to Special Forces who each want to put you behind bars.

The first change is that there is a leveling progression. There are three skill trees to go up: assault, sharpshooter and support. While selecting a class has no affect on your actual playing ability, it does determine what unlocks you earn at level up. You can switch classes at any time during play, and yes that also means right before leveling up. As you go up in rank, you'll find your equipment options will grow and you'll be able to create your own equipment load out based on the options from the three trees.

While Payday doesn't have competitive vs. like L4D, it does come with an advantage. By keeping the multiplayer co-op, it gave them the luxury of designing unique heists both in their objectives and layout. One heist has you crossing all over a city trying to get to the getaway vehicle, while another begins as a stealth mission in a skyscraper. Because the missions are more varied, it also gives them a more dynamic feel compared to L4D.

In L4D every map is structured mostly the same way (not counting the first and last map of a campaign.) During play you have three main threats to deal with: the already spawn infected, the special infected and a mass group of infected called a horde. Because the basic objective is to just push forward, means that average to advance players will encounter the enemies at roughly the same point.

Payday is different, as you're not just running from one end of a map to another. Sometimes objectives require you to stay in one place for several minutes to complete them. Once the initial objective has been completed an invisible timer will begin counting down to when the police will begin their assault on your group. During an assault, the Police will continue to attack along with the Special Forces. If someone runs out of health they'll be knocked to the ground and a countdown appears. If another player can revive the player then they'll be all patched up, but if time runs out the player will be arrested and knocked out of play.

If the remaining players can survive the assault wave, afterwards they'll be given a chance to release one of the hostages they took to get a player back in the game. Regular officers will still be attacking during this phase which will require your team to be on alert. After a few minutes another assault wave will begin and this pattern continues until the players either win the map or are all locked up. In most cases, it's better to hunker down while an objective is being completing during an assault wave, and to keep moving when you have to get somewhere.

The change up of fighting enemies who can fire back gives the game a different feel compared to Left 4 Dead. The concepts of providing cover and group dynamics are more pronounced in Payday. While the "Rambo style" wasn't applicable in Left 4 Dead, it was possible for one really good player to effectively lead the team and be the linchpin for success. However, in Payday, with police attacking from all angles and the need to perform objectives one person really can't do it all alone.

While all this sounds good so far as they say, there is no such thing as a perfect plan. Payday also borrows Left 4 Dead's lack of in game tutorial or manual. The importance of shooting out cameras, how upgrades work and getting police officers to surrender is not explained in the game. While the game does feature a single-player mode, at this time the AI will not perform any objectives leaving the player to do all the work.

Police spawns can make or break your run on a heist, and sometimes the "gamey" way they spawn breaks immersion. On maps where the players are mainly hold up in specific buildings or areas, the police will spawn off camera or behind inaccessible areas. However, two of the current maps require the players to keep moving forward to complete objectives and because of this, enemies tend to spawn out of nowhere.

On the heist "heat street", there were plenty of times where a SWAT van will spit out dozens of officers like a clown car, to only be completely empty when you get close to it. If the players try to take on the police first before moving on, they'll most likely end up fighting unending waves of officers. With ammo limited to one time deploy-able bags and dropped from killed enemies, it's very easy to get stuck in a bad situation.The best (and unrealistic) solution to these areas is to push as forward as you can to get past the spawn trigger then turn around and deal with the remaining enemies.

Last issue is that while the game does offer a lot of bang for your buck, there are some polish issues. Enemies will sometime clip through objects and the graphics are somewhat basic looking (there is an advance graphics feature coming in an upcoming patch.)

Payday has managed to pull my friends and I away from Left 4 Dead, which is no easy feat. The only concern that I have with the game is that without additional modes or heists, that the game's replay ability is lower then Left 4 Dead. The developers have already promise more content coming in the form of DLC which I think will make or break Payday's lasting appeal. Still, there is a lot already in the game and with some great design; for people looking for another co-op fix, Payday is a great fit.

Josh Bycer