Payday 2 Crimewave Edition is the HD remake of Payday 2, a title released in 2013 and which immediately met with some success. The originality of the idea, given that the game was considered a bank robbery simulator (it's not just that, of course), and great multiplayer had made it one of the most talked about titles in recent years. One of its flaws, in the original version, was the graphics. The hope was that, with the next-gen versions this too would be filled. Let's analyze, point by point, the work done by the developers.
1080p of bullets
Being an HD reboot, Payday 2 Crimewave Edition was created by bringing the graphic resolution to the highest possible level, that is the 1080p, even if the framerate is locked to 30 fps. Given the frenzy of the gameplay, we believe it was a forced choice. From the point of pixelation and details nothing to say, the work is excellent, even if there are no big leaps forward compared to the old-gen versions. For how the game is set up, however, in the end the graphic part turns out to be the least important one. The shooter system is of a good level, even if it certainly does not reach the glories of triple A titles like Call of Duty.
From a technical point of view Payday 2 Crimewave Edition is an excellence which, however, sometimes suffers sudden and unjustified collapses. One of its strengths is for example thehigh adrenaline rate that catches the player during each of the missions. Missions which, it should be specified, are not limited to bank robbery but also concern the transport of cocaine, manhunts and other types. While playing, especially in multiplayer and therefore with the support of other human users in co-op (we leave out the single player bots here) the game is magnetic: leaves you glued to the screen and brings you to a level of energy and attention that nothing could distract you at least until the end of the mission. The flaw, however, is due to sudden dead times during matches. For example, it happens that you have to use drills to break down an armored door, but these take a long time to do their job. And above all, they jam continuously, thus not allowing the player to explore the area because the drill must be continuously reactivated. While waiting for the drill to finish its job (or waiting for the computer to process the data, for reinforcements to arrive, and so on) attacks by the police take place. Once all the cops have been exterminated, however, there are endless minutes, sometimes even 2 or 3, in which absolutely nothing happens. And here the adrenaline level inevitably collapses.
Still remaining on the technical sector, an excellent evaluation goes to sonoro with pressing music, which skilfully rises or falls in volume according to the more or less excited moments.
Crime.net, the social network of the bad
Payday 2 Crimewave Edition it doesn't have a real storyline, but it puts us in the shoes of a thug who has to complete a series of missions. From the main screen, or alternatively from the computer of the secret refuge, you can visit the "Linkedin of criminals", a social network called crime.net, which allows you to access the various shots that the other gang leaders make available. If there are none, or we are not interested in those available, we could decide to propose a shot. You can choose between online and offline mode. The offline one sees us in command of a group of 3 people in total, two of which are managed by artificial intelligence, but where we practically have to do everything ourselves. Our "colleagues" in fact only serve to cover our backs during the shootings, but they will not participate in more complex actions than simply pulling the trigger. The online version is much more fun, also because the missions are more complex. Each mission can last one or more days and can include some simple tasks (for example cleaning up the coffers of a night club) or more complex such as finding out where a mole is and then hunting it down.
One of the weaknesses that had already been noticed by the community, and which unfortunately also persist in this remake of Payday 2 Crimewave Edition, is that there are not many graphic variants. In fact, the enemies are all the same, they only vary between normal policemen, swat and swat with shields; even the settings are more or less always the same. In the next-gen version, the developers hoped to improve the variety by adding all the DLCs released so far. This is a huge amount of material, we are talking about 8 DLCs, 4 playable characters and the Infamy mode, to which are then added 3 other skill trees and the possibility of studying the shots in advance, for a total of about 50 updates. These are very positive additions but they do not change the substance, or that in the end the missions will always be those 10-15 that are repeated, albeit with the possibility of being faced with different approaches.
The user, it should be emphasized, will certainly not be bored. The curiosity to unlock new skills, to find new weapons and even the possibility of building new masks will push users to play for many hours, regardless of having to repeat the missions. Perhaps, if we were to find a lack, a minimum of logic, a background texture, we believe it would have helped.
Conclusions
Make a remake of a video game released a few years earlier on old consoles is always a risk because old users who have tried it may not be pushed to buy this remastered version as well. In our opinion, we believe that Payday 2 Crimewave Edition is only recommended for those who have not played Payday on PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, or who have bought it, but have not downloaded all the DLCs. Payday 2 Crimewave Edition is certainly a fun game, at times exciting, and of fine workmanship, but it is aimed more at a new audience than at old fans since the differences between the two versions are very few, and there is not even the possibility of transporting the old saves in the new game .
