SDCC 2011: Payday: The Heist (PS3) Preview

Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 08.03.2011

Hands On: 411mania.com gets a look at the first person, heist-themed shooter from Overkill Software. This is Payday: The Heist.

While at Comic-Con I got to check out the Sony Online Entertainment booth. And one of the offerings was the new first person shooter game, Payday: The Heist. I saw this one getting some play at E3, but I didn't get the chance to sit down and play it, but it looked cool. This is a first person, co-op shooter game. You along with your friends can play as a group of expert gangsters/cons that are pulling off a bank robbery or heist. In the stage I was working on, you are a gangster in your crew and attempting to pull off an elaborate breach of a gigantic safe filled with money and blow. You also have to deal with FBI and SWAT officers invading the building as well as snipers.



The game allows a great deal of interactivity. Their are civilians and innocent bystanders in the building you have breached. Hostages can be taken prisoner and zip-tied. Members of your crew can be arrested, however you can trade the authorities a crew member for a hostage. Co-op play is important because if you are gunned down, you will need one of your partners to administer first aid.



Shooting mechanics and controls are really good. The enemy AI is really solid. You have to conserve ammo and you do not want to go around guns blazing. In stealing the giant safe you have to place carefully set C4 charges throughout the building. This will blow the safe. After that you have to defend the building until a helicopter arrives. The helicopter lets you place a magnet on the safe to lift it out and following that you have to escape the building through the sewers.



I thought this demo was a lot of fun and I wanted to play more. It is not often you see many games where you are playing as con artists pulling off heists. The heists are nicely elaborate and there is a nice amount of detail and interactivity in the stages. The release date for Payday is TBA and it will be available on PC Windows, PS3, and PlayStation Network.