Need For Speed Payback Trailer and Release Date

Need For Speed Payback

The Need for Speed Payback trailer released on Jun 2, 2017.  The next game in the series will be Need for Speed Payback. It looks pretty familiar. It is look like as the mix up of Furious and GTA.

It does look like past Need for Speed games with high-end, licensed cars and police chases, there’s something distinctly familiar about the vibe of the first trailer, and the description of the game itself, which includes “intense heist missions, high stakes car battles, epic cop pursuits and jaw dropping set pieces.”

Clearly, the obvious comparison is the Fast and the Furious film series, which went from cult hit to one of the highest-grossing franchises ever over the course of the last few decades. The trailer definitely gives off that vibe, and gameplay reminds me a bit of something we might see from the Grand Theft Auto series.

I have always wondered why no one got the bright idea to make a licensed Fast and the Furious open world racing/heist/combat game, complete with the out-of-car action Need for Speed Payback will most likely lack. If there’s any brand that has the ability to go toe to toe with Grand Theft Auto in that space, it would be Fast and Furious, but such a project has never materialized, and when you think of Fast and Furious video games, you only think of that one arcade game that has been in your local movie theater for almost twenty years now (though more recently, Forza Horizon 2 did get a standalone Fast and Furious expansion tie-in)


Clearly, Need for Speed sees an opening, and is plowing straight through it at top speed. This trailer and the concept behind it does seem rather cool, though of course it will help if there’s some actual coherence to the story and it doesn’t just seem like a bad knock off of F&F, which it easily could.

 

The game itself will be released during the crowded holiday window on November 10th. Of course it couldn’t come out this summer. Why would any game ever come out during the summer?

Need For Speed Payback

Real-life vehicles are a hallmark of the Need for Speed series, and Need for Speed Payback will be no different. Pre-order customers will receive the Platinum Car Pack, which comes with five souped-up cars that can each be outfitted with an upgrade called Platinum Blue Tire Smoke:

    1967 Chevrolet Camaro SS
    1969 Dodge Charger R/T
    2008 Nissan 350Z
    2016 Ford F-150 Raptor
    2016 Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport

Need for Speed’s arcade-y style has been the only one to keep my interest over the years, and I am certainly excited for Payback. It seems like a smart decision to chase after the Fast and Furious franchise, though that also creates a pretty high bar given how effective those films have been lately.


    November 2 for EA Access and Origin Access Members with the Play First Trial
    November 7 if you buy Need for Speed Payback Deluxe Edition
    November 10 if you buy Need for Speed Payback Standard Edition

And I still think there should be a Fast and Furious GTA killer. Someone get one that