STACK #153 Jul 2017

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W hen the E3 trailer debuted for Need For Speed Payback , there was an instant comparison to the Fast and Furious films being made. The feeling of family, of togetherness, was one that resonated through the crew shown in the EA Play trailer, and one that, according to game director William Ho, was a conscious choice. “Growing up, I really wanted to make racing games. I loved Hot Wheels, TV shows and movies

with cars… I’m basically a walking encyclopaedia when it comes to car stunts and how they look and feel. For Need For Speed Payback , it just made sense to tap into not necessarily one franchise in particular, but a lifetime of knowledge and memories. You could say it’s been 40 years in the making.” We jumped in for 20

We have Tyler the street racer, who handles the racing, Mac the showman, who handles the drifting, offroad, and huge jumps, and then we have Jess; she’s the true action hero. She gets a lot of heroic moments, and she’s always threading

through traffic and doing stuff without getting caught. We hope they represent all the different motivations that people have for driving their cars ridiculously fast.” The mission we played through had us fight off a few cars escorting a semi to an undisclosed location that has a rather fast car on board we wouldn’t mind driving. The handling is great, and there were even a few slow-mo crash sequences thrown in that were real eyebrow-raisers. This Need For Speed is as much for the veteran fans as it is for people who’ve never even heard of the franchise. “Our fans are hardcore - we don’t wanna lose ‘em, because they’re the most vocal and most loyal,” offers the director. “We want to pay it back to them [ohhhhh is that where the name comes from?]. Some fans grew up Need For Speed fans, and now they have kids who play it. They’re fostering a whole new generation, and not every racing game has that. It’s pretty cool.”

minutes with Payback on the ground at EA Play, and the short hands-on we got makes it look as though the game is shaping up to be as fast and as furious as ever. The story mode features a roster of three characters that Ho hopes will appeal to every type of driver. “What we found from our fans is that people really want a strong cast of characters that you can relate to.

I’m basically a walking encyclopaedia when it comes to car stunts and how they look and feel

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