EA Play kicks off E3
As expected, E3 2017 kicked off with a bang this year at EA’s Play press conference. Melanie and I were there to check out their stellar line-up of games, including hands on time with Need For Speed Payback. Here are the highlights!
Need for Speed Payback’s bold new direction
We got significant time with Need for Speed Payback and were extremely impressed with what we played. It’s an exciting new direction for the franchise that mixes in high speeds chases with superb CG cutscenes. In many ways the game felt like a marriage of NFS’s adrenaline-fueled racing with The Fast and the Furious’ dramatic heists.
In the demo, we played as a character named Tyler Morgan who’s preparing for a highway heist of epic proportions. In a nutshell, a cartel has just stolen a shiny new car and is transporting it via a huge semi truck. It’s your job to intercept and steal the cargo.
While chasing the semi, some of the cartel’s best drivers would out of the woodwork and try to ram you off the road. You can push back, and doing so results in awesome slow-motion scenes of you ramming the cars, complete with shrapnel flying everywhere. Graphically, Need for Speed Payback is major eye candy, especially the pristine car models.
Precise controls
As well, the controls were slick and responsive. You have your standard gas and break, a hand break, and to add more fun your car can nitro boost. During certain high-speed moments the game automatically transitioned to cutscenes, which was very impressive. Apparently this was the 2nd mission in the game, so I can’t wait to see what else is in store.
Customization options
Following the gameplay demo, I checked out Need For Speed Payback’s customization mode. It was set-up like a garage filled with beautiful sports cars like the Nissan 350Z, and BMW M4 GTS. I was able to add paints and wraps, add visual customizations (e.g. after-market parts), and tweak the stance (e.g. ride height and camber). Many of these customization features were included in the 2015 Need For Speed game, so awesome to see them back.
Both Melanie and I were super happy with Need For Speed Payback’s new direction, and can’t wait to see more between now and its November 10, 2017, launch date.
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Check out Best Buy’s coverage of E3 2017 for more great articles, links to preorder games and more
