By John Walker on July 14th, 2011 at 10:08 am.
Payday: The Heist, as Quintin pointed out, looks like it should be a stealth-based bank robbing game, but is in fact a full-on murder-em-up. It’s Left 4 Dead, except they’re not dead until you show up. Which is an angle on bank robbery you don’t often see. Take a look at some of those angles in the screenshot gallery below.
Rarely do screenshots show so much ceiling and wall.
14/07/2011 at 10:11 Hentzau says:
So not actually a game about planning and executing a heist, then. Colour me less interested.
14/07/2011 at 10:13 Askeladd says:
This looks awful.
14/07/2011 at 10:32 unlimitedgiants says:
L4D: COPS doesn’t seem fun at all. I’m in with you on this; planning the heist would have been fun. Just shooting every cop (or robber? there are two teams I guess?) that shows up? Not fun.
Even unlimited dragons couldn’t save this one.
14/07/2011 at 10:35 felisc says:
mpf. excito-meter for this game just met a nice 0.
14/07/2011 at 11:12 Gonefornow says:
yep, this is bad.
I’d really like to have a Bank robbery game Ravenshield style, but no dice then.
14/07/2011 at 16:22 ColOfNature says:
Agreed. I’d been quite looking forward to this. What a shame.
14/07/2011 at 18:23 digitalus says:
No longer interested. I was actually looking forward to it until I saw/read all of this, but it doesn’t seem fun at all now.
Disappointed.
14/07/2011 at 23:35 Bret says:
You know how TV news always says that some popular game or other is a “murder simulator!” where the player just kills cops without care?
This looks like somebody watched one of those and said “I should make a game like that!”
14/07/2011 at 10:13 weego says:
Surely the fun of playing a would-be bankrobber is planning one that no one knows happened until after you are far away. Using it as a stage for a LFD scenario seems kind of crass.
14/07/2011 at 10:55 Alien426 says:
Let’s hope Introversion finishes Subversion soon, then.
14/07/2011 at 10:16 CMaster says:
It’s similarity to Left4Dead based on the screens and videos shown so far really is very, very strong.
It’s amusing that the developers actually think a regenerating health, murder-the-charging-braindead apparently recreates an “authentic bank-robbing experience”. (listen to the background chat in the weakman video in a previous RPS article)
It might still be fun, but it’s neither what the concept should deliver, nor anything more creative than a L4D clone.
14/07/2011 at 12:20 Baka says:
Before reading the other article, by judging the screenshots, I honestly thought this was a L4D Mod. Had to see the moving pictures finally get it.
14/07/2011 at 10:21 Magnetude says:
A slower, more tactical L4D? Yeah, why not. The title is a bit misleading though.
14/07/2011 at 10:22 CMaster says:
Have you seen the video? It certainly doesn’t look any slower or more tactical.
14/07/2011 at 10:35 Magnetude says:
Haven’t watched it yet (at work, no headphones). So it’s just L4D, but the zombies have guns?
14/07/2011 at 10:50 CMaster says:
Watch the weakman gameplay footage in this article when you get a chance.
Basically yeah, L4D but the zombies have guns, with some modern shooter conventions stirred in (iron sights, regenerating health, sprint-but-can-shoot)
14/07/2011 at 10:52 Mad Hamish says:
Well the “with guns” part would change it quite a bit. I doubt the cops charge at you in massive hordes. I haven’t seen the video, but at best it could re create the bank robbery scene from Heat.
14/07/2011 at 11:00 CMaster says:
“I doubt the cops charge at you in massive hordes.”
They do. Not L4D size hordes, I’ll grant, but you see them piling through doorways 6 at a time, bumping into each other. Those guys with the riot shields? They act just like the L4D2 charger, running very fast in a straight line at the robbers.
14/07/2011 at 11:16 Magnetude says:
Mad Hamish: If Heat is what they’re going for then sign me up, but only if the cops act like cops – taking cover behind cars, putting snipers on rooftops etc.
This is an L4D mod, right? I know Source when I see it, and that X-ray vision effect looks very familiar. I can’t think of any Source games that have the kind of AI you’d need to pull off a game like this (a lot of HL2′s cleverer behaviours were actually tricks) so I’m not sure about this.
15/07/2011 at 00:34 Strangineer says:
Know the guys involved, and I’ve worked with the engine, it’s not source :D
14/07/2011 at 10:38 sinister agent says:
Not dismissing this as NOT POSSIBLY FUN, but it does seem like a strange decision, give how many people would be interested in an actual heist game, and how few options those people have.
Perhaps if you start in the heist, and a massive shoot-out can actually be avoided if you take the proper actions… that would encourage teamwork if they’re going all out for the Left 4 Dead co-op style. Also griefing, but then those people are idiots anyway.
Could be interesting. All those icons suggest lots of OPEN THE SAFE style sub-objectives, so I can see it working as a more complex but less roaming thing than Zest 4 Bread.
14/07/2011 at 10:40 ankh says:
To be honest I prefer shooting people over shooting zombies. I think everybody else does too. Just sayin’
14/07/2011 at 11:22 Magnetude says:
I started thinking about whether I agree or disagree with you, then I started to feel uncomfortable so I stopped.
Well, back to work I guess!
14/07/2011 at 11:28 Teddy Leach says:
People are the new zombies. I mean, we have to shoot them in practically every game!
14/07/2011 at 11:51 ankh says:
I was thinking zombies are the new people.
14/07/2011 at 10:41 Theoban says:
Would be nice if they had a Hitman-esque game like this, four people misdirecting the staff and sneaking round corners to get entry to the vault. Sneaky sneaky instead of blammo
14/07/2011 at 10:45 ankh says:
Stealth is for people who can’t afford guns.
14/07/2011 at 10:57 Preciousgollum says:
Stealth is for people who don’t need guns.
14/07/2011 at 11:17 ankh says:
People who don’t need guns can’t afford guns.
14/07/2011 at 11:58 kastanok says:
Stealth is for people with more than half a brain cell who actually want to GET AWAY WITH IT. You run into a bank guns blazing and all you’re going to get away with is multiple gunshot wounds and a multiple life sentence. With stealth, subtly and acumen you can heist all you want and people won’t even realise anything happened anything until you’re half the world away.
14/07/2011 at 12:15 ankh says:
Sounds boring and complicated.
14/07/2011 at 22:33 ttcfcl says:
You should take a look at Subversion then.
14/07/2011 at 10:52 Hedgemonster says:
Am I the only thing who looks at those screenshots and says, “Two by two, hands of blue”, while rocking back and forth?
14/07/2011 at 11:01 Alien426 says:
You can’t take the sky from me.
15/07/2011 at 02:47 DarkNoghri says:
I was, actually, minus the rocking. You’re not alone.
14/07/2011 at 10:52 Moni says:
I feel like it’s still a solid idea. Left 4 Dead just being a big Counter-Strike level stretched out, and the team size reduced to four.
Oh wait, I just noticed the screenshot of a huge pile of bodies. It is just Left 4 Dead with questionable morality.
14/07/2011 at 10:53 Alex Bakke says:
Really, really disappointed. This could have been Heat.
14/07/2011 at 10:58 unlimitedgiants says:
Are the cops allowed to shoot first? I’m thinking yes.
Do they have to try to negotiate? I doubt it.
Why didn’t they just call it “Kids playing Cops & Robbers”?
14/07/2011 at 11:13 mollemannen says:
since you probably already killed several cops i don’t think they will hesitate to fire or try to negotiate. remember that this is a game. it is what the devs intended it to be and nothing else.
14/07/2011 at 11:22 unlimitedgiants says:
So the game is based around the premise that you have a complete team of idiots that botched your bank robbery by killing a cop? … Can I shoot my own team mates for turning a simple bank robbery into a blood bath?
14/07/2011 at 11:59 kastanok says:
Good god, a whole team of Mr Blondes.
14/07/2011 at 12:40 mollemannen says:
you think the cops are just gonna let you walk into the bank and take everything?
14/07/2011 at 23:19 Bret says:
Well, maybe if you just asked nicely, things would be going better.
15/07/2011 at 08:16 mollemannen says:
remember that the heist doesn’t start until you pull a gun and put on your mask. you have the choice to either kill or threat the guy that has the key. depending on what you do in that situation and also if you kill civilians the police will be more or less aggressive.
14/07/2011 at 11:04 skyturnedred says:
Reverse old school Rainbow Six could make an awesome game. Planning phase would be roughly the same of course (how and where to get in, dealing with guards/alarms etc), but instead of the level ending after killing the last hostile, you still have to escape the bank. Bad plan equals large fire fights, good plans could result in clean escapes.
Someone make this happen!
14/07/2011 at 12:04 mihor_fego says:
Exactly! Also, use proper hostage-taking mechanics, adding a system with perks and skills of the squad, meaning you can interact with hostages/personnel, etc. More than that, having to face potential alarm set offs or not depending on the handling of the situation and the actions of the employees being based on random generated personalities. For example one might be intimidated, or another plans to use the silent alarm, so the member of the squad assigned to watch over the specific person could either read the motive,spot the movement or miss it altogether, depending on its skills/perks. The more your team manages to pull off a heist the more security will be raised in an area, there will be different approaches depending on whether you kill customers/personnel/cops and also bigger rewards for hitting on bigger banks with better security. Or also use jewellery stores/pawn shops/casinos or even arm stores to equip the team.
OK, I’m rambling, but I’d love to play this, even as an isometric turn based game, Jagged Alliance style.
14/07/2011 at 16:14 Clean3d says:
Echoing what was said earlier, I believe Subversion is what we’re all waiting for.
14/07/2011 at 11:06 Corrupt_Tiki says:
It looks like a CSs mod, a bad one at that, tactical ops? was fun mind you, oh wait, was that ut2004? my, I am getting old.
14/07/2011 at 11:08 CMaster says:
Tactical Ops was a straight-up UT mod.
14/07/2011 at 11:10 mollemannen says:
since when is a bank robbery stealthy? stealing stuff from a museum granted but bank robberies is guns blazing in my book.
14/07/2011 at 11:16 ankh says:
There was that one movie where the bank robber hid inside the safe or something. I think it was called Inside Man. It was rather good.
14/07/2011 at 11:18 skyturnedred says:
Guess bank robberies are more about getting in and out fast than actual stealth. Although, cat burglar game does sound interesting, a modern day Thief.
14/07/2011 at 11:21 ankh says:
There was also a Woody Allan movie where they dug a hole into the safe.
14/07/2011 at 12:41 mollemannen says:
yes but this is a game, not a movie.
14/07/2011 at 13:17 Alex Bakke says:
Precisely.
14/07/2011 at 17:42 Ultra-Humanite says:
A really shitty looking game at that.
14/07/2011 at 21:07 Bonedwarf says:
Closest we’ve ever gotten to a heist game in recent times is the Sly Cooper games on the Playstation. They gave me a very big Oceans 11 type vibe. Very cool.
15/07/2011 at 08:13 mollemannen says:
what do you mean by heist? remember there is a difference between thiefs and robbers but they both call it a heist. and the game looks fantastic graphically. if you wanted something else then why are you even commenting?
14/07/2011 at 11:16 Brutal Deluxe says:
I find this very creepy (and not because of the masks). More so than Manhunt. I can’t wait to see what Fox news will do with this.
14/07/2011 at 11:54 Jabberslops says:
This makes me wonder why no one has made a Stargate Left 4 Dead 1/2 mod (or similar to avoid a C&D letter). It only seems logical… Nobody has really made a good Stargate mod because they just never captured the feeling of really being a part of the SGC or even the Atlantis crews. There are so many episodes that would make great scenarios. If a team of modders could pull it off, fighting the Goa’uld, Replicators or Wraith could be even more fun than L4D.
Just think of the possibilities.
14/07/2011 at 15:38 Jhoosier says:
Yes to this.
14/07/2011 at 12:35 Tretiak says:
L4D is fun, this will be fun.
14/07/2011 at 14:05 Radiant says:
“It’s Left 4 Dead, except they’re not dead until you show up.”
GENIUS BOX QUOTE
14/07/2011 at 14:08 Mr_Initials says:
I actually thought this was like a “play as the joker’s henchmen” L4D clone. Those masks do look very similar.
14/07/2011 at 14:22 MajorManiac says:
Visuals look terribly sterile. Makes me think of a modern version of the Die Hard game – http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2002/pc/act/diehard/diehard_screen001.jpg
Just hope they get the game-play right.
14/07/2011 at 15:04 Radiant says:
And why be squeamish?
If you’re so offended by the game get the german version where they will no doubt be robotic cops.
14/07/2011 at 16:56 Cunzy1 1 says:
There was a mode in the original Timesplitters where you had to escort somebody out of a bank. Friends and I used to choose Elvis as our escortee. Elvis would slowly meander his way from the vault to a designated end point on the street. You could keep the enemies in check as long as you were inside the bank but as soon as Elvis got out of the front door it was chaos from all sides. We played that set up for hours on end.
Timesplitters is an 11 year old PlayStation 2 game and looks infinitely more fun than this.
14/07/2011 at 19:02 Gabbo says:
If there’s an SDK released (and anyone actually buys the game), perhaps the dream of a SWAT4-like heist game could be created.