"Payday 2: Crimewave Edition" Review

     Put your mask on and grab your guns because it's about to get crazy. Payday 2: Crimewave Edition bundles together all previously released DLC and adds in some slightly crisper graphics, as well as a new skill category. Contrary to what the title might have you believe, the game isn't just about making the big bucks. The real goal is to cooperate with other players as a team, pull off the perfect crime and not get your ass handed to you by the opposing forces in the meantime. You must plan carefully... or, you can just go in guns 'a' blazing and mow down everything in your wake. However, in doing so, you risk you and your team's lives dearly. With five difficulty options for each mission, "Normal," "Hard," "Very Hard," "Overkill" and "Death Wish," there is a challenge here for everybody. Most missions also offer the option to be done stealthily. For these, you will need to be at your utmost sneakiness. Some missions require multiple "days" to be completed.
     There are over twenty different missions, most of them being just as variated as the last. Even though there are many missions, once you reach the higher levels, it becomes increasingly difficult to level up unless you do the tougher missions. This is a drag because there are not enough of these types of missions, forcing repetition in order to reach the higher levels, thus leading to balancing issues. If you don't want to participate in the more variated missions, you may also play the simpler ones, like the one-day bank jobs. Drill the vault open, bag everything inside and then throw it all into the escape van and be on your way. In rare cases, the cops can catch up with you and you'll have to wait for another escape method to finish out the mission. "Crime.Net" is your map of available missions. If you don't see one on the map that you want to participate in, feel free to use some of your "offshore money" to purchase a contract at the desired difficulty and start the mission. The difference between your offshore money and spending money is that one is mainly used for buying mission contracts while the other, is used for purchasing skills. Both are earned after completing missions.

     You have five skill categories. Each one has skills that can be purchased with the duo of skill points and spending cash earned after missions. Each skill has a "basic" and "aced" version. The ace being the advanced version of the skill, which is only available for purchase once the basic has been unlocked. Each category offers every player something for their inner thief. For instance, you could choose to be the "Mastermind" and call the shots or be the "Enforcer" and get your teammates out of sticky situations. In addition to the skill categories, there are also "Perk Decks." Perk Decks give players the option to choose a specific deck and fill it up with their perk points, giving them extra abilities. Once you reach the end of your desired Perk Deck, you get a card that gives you an extra special ability.
     You can't forget about the masks and weapons! Payday 2 offers hundreds upon hundreds of customization options to players. Whether it's adding attachments to your weaponry or designing the perfect, custom mask, you have the option to be quite creative. There are materials, patterns and colors for each mask. All of these can be obtained by random "card picks" after missions or by an "offshore payday" where you bet some of your money for a chance at a mask, mask customization or weapon mod. Many of the masks also draw inspiration from popular culture, such as movies and video games.
     After you've reached the maximum level in Payday 2, you may enter "Infamy." Infamy is similar to Call of Duty where you lose mostly everything you've earned throughout your playing time and must re-earn it. It's not all bad, though. Infamy offers players rewards based on how many times they enter it. Some of these are masks and others are XP buffs, making your next go-around to infamy a little bit easier. Payday 2 is a quite the achievement of a game, but it isn't perfect.
     Payday 2, even "remastered" for current generation consoles, doesn't show much of an improvement over its "non-remastered" counterpart. It's still graphically outdated with half-baked textures, disappointing character models and relatively poor animations. There are also glitches with online, preventing the finishing of missions, among other things. Despite these problems, Payday 2 is still one of the most fun games that I have ever played. Each mission brings an intense adrenaline rush along with it and most of the soundtrack is filled with loud, intense bass thumping. It keeps my heart pumping and I'm

always thinking on my toes, planning my next move when I play. The game offers an offline counterpart where you can play solo, completely disconnected from online players. Of course, the game will attribute three A.I. partners to your side. The A.I. team members are certainly not the smartest bunch, but they are good for when you need to be revived and can make good meat shields when you need to get away from enemies. Although offline play is available, I wouldn't recommend it because playing with real people is far more fun, as you can communicate with them and coordinate your moves during missions.

     One of my favorite aspects of Payday 2 was determining who was who before I played with a team. By this, I mean that I would talk to my teammates and figure out who would be providing the medkits or the extra ammo, etc. I won't be robbing anybody anytime soon, but Payday 2 did make me feel like I was in the shoes of my character, pulling off these big scores with a team of fellow criminals. For that, it is absolutely a game that everyone should experience.