Ross Hartley: "Payday 2 is a fantastic game. It has faults but the game absolutely nails what it sets out to do. The moment to moment gameplay is intense, the gunplay is really satisfying and the deep unlock system keeps players hooked. Payday 2 is easily my favourite co-op shooter and it is one of the best games of the year so far. I hope you get the chance to try it."
GB: "Of course, Payday 2 has had its fair share of ups and downs as well, in spite of the success that it has enjoyed. For starters, the disparity between the game’s PC and console versions is a major issue that plagued the game for years on end, thanks to the frustrating optimization issues across platforms brought about by the Diesel Engine, which the game was developed on."
Payday 2 launched 10 years ago today, and a constant stream of updates still makes it worth playing ahead of Payday 3.
Starting today, Payday 2 is free at Epic Games Store. The free game offer runs until June 15. Once you claim it, it's yours to keep.
A perfect score? For a game this buggy? I think not.
For the record, I do own Payday 2 and I am enjoying it, but it has some bugs that NEED to be ironed out and soon. That and certain aspects of the game really need to be expanded upon. Another week or two of development time could have fixed many of the issues.
If you need an example, I've been playing the game with two friends and an AI companion. If the AI goes down, after being revived by an ally, only the host can see the AI character. For the other two players he appeared sitting crouched in the same exact position that he was downed in, but we would feel extremely confused if one of us went down and suddenly started getting revived by home from quite a distance away. We also encountered a bug that prevented me from leaving a building and basically forced me to jump out a window and lose all of my health.
Great game and tons of fun, don't get me wrong. But definitely doesn't deserve a perfect score.