I'm giving this a 10 to offset the IDIOTS that think ANY game, no matter how bad, deserves a 0 (as they did for the PS3 review). In actuality, the game is about an 8.5. It has solid graphics (not the best, but clean), and great gameplay. Most heists are a huge challenge on normal, and I can't even imagine playing them on the higher difficulties yet. Decide what to unlock by pressing tab then numbers 1-3 ingame, and you get additional skills and unlocks. The downside to it is some of the sound work and lack of direction on some of the heists. Do NOT play single player, multiplayer is where it's at.… Expand

Summary: Taking everything into account, Payday: The Heist is an unpolished yet brilliant game. With all of the replayability, upgrade progression and fun to be had with your friends the price tag is more than reasonable. The team themselves have said they will be continuing to support, patch and provide DLC for the game so there is a stage for even more fun to come in the future. As it stands, this modestly priced game is still the most fun co-op experience I've had in a long time - there is something special to be said about robbing a bank and hearing your friends saying "Start the heist" or "I'm going to tie up the bank manager" that brings an extra level of excitement to the game, especially with the very cool, well placed soundtrack that adds to the tension in the background. The levels are frantic even on easy as they throw hundreds of cops at you to get the adrenaline pumping as you make your way through the objectives.
-----------------------------------------
In depth: The video options are incredibly bare, only allowing you to select the resolution and brightness you wish to play with. It has been stated that advanced settings will be patched in which is good to hear but possibly this is something that should have been included from launch on a PC title and not an afterthought. The graphics are not the the pinnacle of 2011 gaming but they aren't bad either. When the gameplay and price are as good as they are, you can definitely overlook the graphics imperfections. The upgrade system is not explained even a little bit and that in itself is slightly strange, as is the the way the upgrade system itself works. The customisation and upgrade process is rather hefty and it will be very confusing for every new player due to the lack of explanation.

As for the actual gameplay, Payday ships with 6 maps which you can play co-operatively with friends, AI or you can play solo. They are not scaled around the number of people playing though so with more human players you should be able to crank the difficulty higher rather soon but playing solo or with just one buddy will mean you have to stick with easy-normal. The friendly AI is tremendously dumb and they only serve as cannon fodder and turrets with unlimited ammo - they will not contribute to the objective at hand and they will not drop any equipment items ie. Ammo/medic bags which can prove very frustrating. The co-op AI are good group fillers though; if you just want to play with a couple of friends and don't want to have to bring in a random player. On the other side of the AI-coin, the law enforcers are a lot better and more intelligent. They make interesting decisions and use different entry points to form attacks from different directions and as such no 2 heists will be identical.. They will free hostages, dive for cover when under fire and get more hesitant when you destroy CCTV cameras. There are also "Special" enemies just like in Left For Dead although these tend not to try and eat you. The special enemies you will face are snipers, shields, tasers, cloakers and bulldozers. They each have something unique about them and require a different approach to take them down for your crew to overcome the odds.

On the subject of the maps, they appear to be made in brackets. There are 4 difficulty levels to choose from (Easy, Normal, Hard, OVERKILL) and 2 have a minimum difficulty of Easy, 2 a minimum difficulty of Normal and 2 have a minimum difficulty of Hard.
The gunplay is good, but not perfect. There is no gore (so no loss of limbs when up close with a shotgun), no ragdoll effects (death animations are scripted and do not react to where you shot them) and the sound effects are punchy but not quite as perfect as in Killing Floor. The weapons feel good though, they look different as you upgrade them and the differences in statistical upgrades are noticable.
The audio in Payday is interesting. The soundtrack fits very well, the guns sound good and the playable character voice acting is great. The sound effects set can set a very tense atmosphere. Sirens that sound like they are slowly getting closer, helicopters flying overhead, radio chatter, screams from civilians and all this backed with the tense soundtrack I mentioned just adds to the experience as a whole.… Expand

Payday: The Heist is a low-budget, low-cost independent co-operative FPS. It features a 4 player co-op mode in six different heists (two more if you have the Wolfpack DLC). It features a level-up perk system that differs from Call of Duty's because you choose which of the three (four with Wolfpack) trees you level up. The max level without the DLC is 145, and it gets up to 193 with the purchase of Wolfpack (9.99$). You couldn't call Payday's graphics "amazing", but they are decent and enjoyable. Its fast pace is extremely captivating, when you have dozens of police officers marching at you at once. It's also a good feeling to be on the bad side for once. There are very little bugs (I haven't encountered any myself), and the heists aren't linear, they can change at several points (for example the game randomly decides whether the helicopter driver throws the C4 at the building's roof or in the back alley, etc.), and they all feel realistic and well-thought. Every heist is unique. The only thing that is bad with this game is that the AI can sometimes glitch out, making the officers just stand and do nothing. That happens rarely and they start moving after 2-3 seconds or after you shoot them. Overall, this game is fun, it'll take you some time to get to the max level (you can reset levels if you want to start from scratch again), it features unlockable masks which is also a pretty good system of customization and it costs mere 19.99$. You should definitely get it, and if you liked Left 4 Dead, this game is pretty similar to it, but with more diversity and a different setting.… Expand

I'm giving a 9 to this as there are some problems atm with match finding and the lack of drop in gameplay. Hopefully that's something that can be easily changed but it's only a minor problem as once you're in game it's forgotten. The 9 is because WOW what a adrenaline rush. I installed the game expecting a bit of a left 4 dead clone (I mean come on who didn't) joined a hard game and about 20 seconds in was already down and cuffed. second time round we managed to get a bit further but it wasn't till I was in a good team that it started coming together. This game is hard and it is intense. Team work and 3 people who know what they are doing is absolutely essential on anything other than easy. The levels are all very unique from each other ranging from bankjobs to freeing prisoners from prison transports all of which require very different tactics. The skill progression is nice as well and makes you think "maybe I'll come back to this level on a higher difficulty once I've unlocked that". Graphically it is nice to look at and it all feels like you are a part of a bigger place and as a previous reviewer said they are clean. And the music track complements the gameplay perfectly with just the right amount of tension to really get the blood pumping. Overall Overkill software have managed to take the intensity of a game like left 4 dead's most nail biting moments and extended them to create something that never lets up and just keeps coming at you. Also everyone has guns aimed at YOU.

PS vochaisl If you are going to give a 0 please give a justification other than "it sucks" cos otherwise you are just trolling.… Expand

When I saw the user score on metacritic and the critics score, I was a bit sceptical if this is a good game. At the end I bought it, because a friend had it and he said it was a good game. OH MY GOD, after I played it an hour I realised how awesome this game is. The idea of doing heists is just a very good idea for a game. Fortunately, there is an AI-Director like in l4d2, that means that everytime, the situation will be different (for example the bank manager will be at another place etc.) Also, if you kill civilians, more cops will come (and stronger types of cops, such as SWAT or special units). That means that the heists will never get boring. The gameplay is exactly what you want from a FPS, the weapons feel great and the controls are precise. There are also level ups (you can unlock weapons, perks etc), some kind of perks (you can choose between ammo bag or health bag or you can choose between having more ammo or being stronger for example). This class thing is also important, since you really need to work together and have a good plan. The game is quite challenging, so coop teamwork is essential. Because you have to work together its very fun and tactical, especially if you play with friends. The best thing is, that it only costs 20 bucks. The only contra thing I have is, that the upgrade stuff isnt explain very good (you have to press tab while in the game, and choose the class you want to upgrade in the next level up). The graphics arent exactly crysis, but they look good (in my opinion). Finally I can only say, if you are tired of all these military FPS or just want to experience something unique in FPS or love movies like heat or the town or just want to play a great game, then go and buy payday. PS: sorry for bad english^^… Expand

Alright take this with a grain of salt as I am unable to play coop. I think its a good idea with poor execution. I was looking for something akin to Kane and Lynch bank mode but this is pretty far from it. Alright here come my gripes. The controls feel loose and floaty, there is no bullet penetration, theres only one path to take, you cant pick up or use weapons you didnt enter a mission with, and the AI is far from intelligent. I got bored restarting this or that eight times in a row just to stretch out a mission. On the plus side there is huge potential for multiplayer fun, the unique units add something different aspects to standard shooting, and it was only 20 bucks so i dont feel like I lost too much. Overall I wouldnt recommend unless your just looking for L4D in tighter spaces with worse spawns but like I said I never did get to play multiplayer.… Expand

I was skeptical, and took a shot in the dark buying this game, and I'm honestly very impressed. Get this game right now. Except for there only being 6 maps, this game is as good as any AAA $60 game out there. DEFINITELY worth 20.

The good things: Most of the game. It's only $20!! It has very solid shooting, about 15 different guns, 20-25 types of enemies including 4 special 'boss' type enemies that are difficult to fight alone if your not careful. It has leveling, skills, 'perk' type things, and requires teamwork to do well. It does only have 6 levels but they are all rather replayable. So far I have only gotten bored of one level, but the other 5 have no end in sight. Also, the hardest difficulty is actually really hard. Some games have an 'expert' and it's somewhat hard, but a group of good people can easily beat it, but in this its a challange even with the best. Also, this game has very few bugs, and no major gamebreaking ones.

The bad: A few minor bugs, but nothing more annoying than some wall clipping, or getting stuck in a menu every once in a while. Only 6 levels, additional ones would be nice, again a really minor issue due to replayability. Voice chat cannot be bound to a key. It's either you have a mic in, and broadcast whenever you make noise, or you dont have a mic in at all.… Expand

Suprisingly good! Like all the upgrades possible, very replayable and an excellent cop-op game in the vein of L4D etc. For £14 you cannot go wrong, much fun!!

Dull. For the first few hours I thought something interesting might happen but I found it to play out like a gaming version of a low budget made for TV movie.

Even though a bit rough around the edges, Payday The Heist is... badass.
For people who don't know what this all is: 4-Player L4D inspired(but not ripped off) co-op, with instead of infected, relentless police.

Gameplay wise, this game borrows a bit from Left 4 Dead, but it has firefights, something L4D does NOT have.
It's hard to describe how tense things get, when you are in a firefight with a lot of police, waiting for your drill to drill through a door.
The rest can be guessed; good shooting, OK AI, a bit of a strange, bad, level up system and lackluster team AI(so play co-op, not singleplayer!).

Visually Payday isn't stellar, but it isn't bad either; the game looks fine, and the guns have nice touches to them.
Also, even though the visuals aren't top notch, the maps are.
You'll make off with a bank's money and lift a panic room out of a building to name just a few.

So, what to think of this game?
Even though rough around the edges, and bad singleplayer, Payday The Heist is a game I'll be playing for a long time. Especially counting that it's a budget title(20 euros), you should get it now from Steam.… Expand

With the release of Payday: The Heist, Overkill steals the spotlight (and everything not nailed down) from more than one anticipated game this year. In Overkill, you play as one of four professional criminals (Dallas, Wolf, Hoxton, Chains) through several fast action heists, raids, and cleanup operations that will test your teams cooperation as you're swarmed by SWAT and whatever tricks they have for you. While at first glance, mission selection seems limited, each one is completely different, and even if you've played through it 100 times, there is NO guarantee of even completing the first objective. Some people have complained about the lack of visible timers on objectives ("How long until that saw cuts through, there's F***ING SWAT EVERYWHERE!"), but I think it really adds to the experience, especially when the saws and drills jam and the fires burn out. It really makes you hope your teammates arent pinned or lazy, otherwise, you'll end up having to run through hell and every kind of special unit in the map to fix it. Game-wise, it works somewhat similarly to Left 4 Dead. If you run out of health, you enter "bleedout" which means you're on the ground and can only use your pistol until someone helps you up. If no one does before the timer runs out, you're "in custody". This is where Payday really shines in innovation. With the "hostage" system, you can take civilians, or even police if done right, as hostages. After a set time has passed, your teammates can trade one of their hostages for you. Be warned, though, you have to make the change manually, a.k.a. actually go to the selected hostage. So if it's a hostage you caught at the beginning of the heist, you may be nowhere near him/her when the trade is authorized. Just a warning. As for customization, you can't change any of the robbers appearances; Overkill said they didn't implement that feature to "create a sense of identity in the robbers". Translation: We were too lazy to put customization in. However, as you complete heists, you can unlock weapons, perks, and special equipment from one of three trees: assault, sharpshooter, and support. Each time you "level up" or gain another reputation level, the tree you're currently focusing on (changeable at any time during the heist) also gains a level. You'll see as you play with higher level teammates that their playstyles are significantly different. Some may use the M308 and the Locomotive 12Ga.,which plays significantly different than one using the M308 and the Mark 11, and these are just weapon choices. You can have your own perks, like increased damage resistance, extra ammo or supplies, increased accuracy, faster reload, etc. Since its release, and the passing of "First Week Syndrome", most of the bugs are fixed, but there still are some glaring ones. More than once, the cops have stopped in their tracks and will just wait there, not doing anything, even if you shoot them. This is hardly a copy of L4D, or any other game out there, and there is a learning curve that it seems those who rated this game poorly just lack the mental ability to learn. As for the rest of us, I say it's a good game, and for $20, it's (I'm gonne say it) a steal. Pick it up now, and you won't be disappointed.… Expand

This game is reallly really fun, requires a fair bit of teamwork and good communitcation. Decent graphics that play very smoothy, gameplay is great, weapons are great. My only complaint is that it can be a bit tricky managing your ammo.. you can sometimes end up with no ammo at all and having your teammates needing to kill an enemy so you can pick up some of there ammo

It's definitely a fun game, and for only 20 bucks, it seems worth price. The action is fast-paced and definitely requires teamwork to complete the heists. There are some cons in my opinion, which are keeping me from giving the game a higher score. One is the multiplayer aspect and how it's set up. It's archaic. There are no dedicated servers, so every game is hosted by a user. This can be frustrating as the host can just decide to kick you out whenever they feel like, and if the hosts quits/loses internet connection, the game is over. This also means that you cannot join a game in progress. There are some comparisons to Left 4 Dead in this game, but the way multiplayer server/hosting is set up really bothers me. The other thing that irks me a bit is that there is six heists. Ok not bad, but some of them can only be played on normal/hard/overkill. Only two maps can be played on easy, which you almost have to play starting because you have little skills/upgrades. I have a heck of time finding an easy game to jump into (since I am still low rank), and once you find if someone does like your name or rank they can just kick you before you the game even starts. The last con for me is the graphics options. Game really feels like a console port if you look here...there are none. No advanced options to speak of, so if you do have a low end or high end pc, good luck with the settings. OVERALL though I give the game a seven, because it is a fun game. I recommend it, just wish they had dedicated servers and more graphic options.… Expand

This is pretty obviously what you get when you spend less focus on graphics, and more on game play. Thank you. Finaly. Perhaps Carmack can take a page from Overkill after the disaster of a game Rage was...
F- the fancy graphics, and bring out the fancy gameplay! For 20$ this game is a steal. I've wasted more money on **** games all year! >:/ So far this game has made me very happy. I would like to see more weapons and ammo. Its not perfect, but at least its awesome. Builder out.… Expand

If you dig crime, this game is fun and well put together. Purely online, the single player mode is weaaaak. Nonetheless, playing out your fantasies of robberies and whatnot without the 20 years in the slammer hanging over your head is fun. Can't beat the price for a well put together game. There is a leveling system that gets you to play more, I'm not saying this game is on caliber with other triple-A titles, but damn if I didn't have fun shooting hundreds of cops. A solid happy 7 for a great price.… Expand

At first i seeing those trailers,i thought it would be suck despite of some sluggish animation and some lame trailers,but after i playing this game,it was actually fun at all.I give it 8 because of some good Co-Op games,pure fun and addicting game-play,and simplistic game.and the bad is the stiff animation kinda hurt your eye will ya,but anyway.....this game is fun and i recommend anyone that this game should be played,if you saw that the trailer was kinda embarrassing,trust me.....if you start playing this game,you starting to like it.… Expand

I'll start off by saying the game is fun with friends. The problem is that just about ANY game is fun with friends, and it shouldn't be used as a crutch for the score. The screen shaking/"jelly"/red tint effects are really obnoxious and annoy the piss out of me. It feels like I should be taking the game a little more slowly and tactically, ala SWAT 4, but it is far more rewarding to just rush a stage down. I think the perks system is nice, but any EXP system that insists on restricting your vertical growth (leveling up one job) to promote horizontal growth (leveling up multiple jobs) sucks ass, even if it is minuscule. Picking up team mates who are bleeding out should restrict others from trying to assist the same person. Some of the map objectives feel extremely tedious and grating, like Heat Street.… Expand

Graphics look decent but the lack of realism is very irritating. You rob banks but when you shoot a civilian you get punished with extra time. Kinda strange, armed robbers with high ethical standards. Compared to the numerous better games out there, BF3, Shogun and even oldies like GTA and mass effect not really worth your money.

Well, to be really honest I just pre-ordered this game when I saw the first few vids and read it's description. And I'm totally happy that it didn't disappoint me as of now, not only me, my group of friends were also amazed by the game-play and the way it levels up your progress. I can not understand why would some hate such a nice game? Probably they didn't figure out that you can change your class by pressing TAB+ 1 / 2 / 3 buttons ;) !!!
Just get this game, and have fun.
Hoping for more game-mode and DLCs in the future, soon maybe lol !!!… Expand

If this game were single player only, it'd get a 6 or so for the good graphics, fine sound, great gameplay and terrible, terrible team ai. Assuming you play it online (and it takes about maybe 20 seconds to find a group) it gets a 10 - all the positives are in, and there is no more team ai to worry about. The police don't have the best ai but it's not the worst either, I never really was shocked at how they acted. The game makes up for the weakness of the ai with sheer numbers - some people may be unhappy with this design choice, but for me, in this game, it works just fine. I'm not sure why the critic reviewers are bashing this game so much, but I am very happy with the purchase and think the 20 dollar price tag is a steal. for a game of this quality, I would have expected to pay 30 or 40. The only real downside in my mind is that there're only 6 different missions, but Overkill has stated that they'll be releasing more in dlc. Free would be nice, but paid is perfectly reasonable to me considering the low price of the base game. Get this game, play it, and give it a 10 when you realize that it's a lot of fun.… Expand

very fun and challenging game. for $20 you get basically one of the most unique and rewarding shooters out on the market today. i'm truly impressed by what overkill has done and look forward to any of their future projects, as well as more dlc for payday which is forthcoming. get this if you like realistic FPS that requires tactics and good teamwork.

Payday: The Heist is an extremely fun game, but it wasn't what I hoped for it to be.
What I expected was a stealthy game where you have to just steal money without anyone noticing, but it really isn't. Payday: The Heist is a game completely about fighting off wave after wave of police, but that doesn't mean it's not fun.
It really felt like Left 4 Dead, but in a good way. It seems like they got everything that Left 4 Dead did right and put it into a game about robbing banks, but it still felt like it could stand up on it's own. It didn't feel like a Left 4 Dead rip-off, it was it's own game, but it's always a pleasant surprise to see some of the things they've taken from Left 4 Dead.
It can get extremely hectic at times, and you need patience during these moments to be able to complete it.
This game is a bold step towards the things that some governments would normally censor, like taking Civilians hostage or robbing banks, But I think this is a good thing. Video games is media too. People who play Video Games are not all children. This game really does a good job of practically rubbing itself in the face of the Australian government and governments that are like that, and that is always a plus.
And for only $20 on STEAM, This is a really great deal.
I really wanted to rate this an 8.58/10, but Metacritic doesn't let me, so I'm just rating it a 9 for now.… Expand

finally a heist game and a good one at that i puchased this for $10 dollers on steam and it was well worth it this co-op is very fun with so many different things to do it will never leave you bored it is fasted pased and its all about team play there is no solo to this it is also very polished and the hiest are not all the same, its replayable as challenges are not always in the same spot wich will make you rethink your tactics, the game play is quite good the game feels a little like lfd but thats not a bad this as it works quite well… Expand

A very fun team-oriented experience that has a reasonable price tag. If you love Left 4 Dead, this game is right up your alley. The game challenges your abilities to work with your team efficiently through many scenarios, where every team mate counts. The control is generally smooth and it plays great for a game at it's price range.

This is a fun but casual co-op game, basacally you start on a map and have to complete several objectives and survive waves of law enforcement, theres no real story or plot, and there shouldnt be one, you can play this game for hours, or just quickly play a game or 2 before going tro work, this game does however need more content, the few available maps are not quite enough to stay intresting for too long and replayabillity would be higher if there was more.… Expand

I'm hesitant to rate this, because I feel it's more a WIP then a full release, which could be attributed to executive meddling for fear of Fox News' take on a game where you kill cops. But it will always have a higher rating then MW2, for the exact reason that you still aren't allowed to kill civilians. And the cops are American. Let me say that again; a game where you're killing AMERICANS. Seems there's still hope for the game industry's maturing. But back to the game; some aspects do get in the way of a smooth experience for me. The gunplay seems a bit iffy, or hit-or-miss at best, the screen effects tend to get annoying, such as blood from a melee kill being mistaken for being wounded/directional damage/etc., and other things I just don't understand how to use. Once you take a hostage, what do you do with them? Leave them there? If you've got a group of decent players, nobody will be captured so there's no need to bargain. If you could take the hostages with you, that'd add to the dynamic. Other things, like the ability to take hostages, a quick command/spotting mechanic, multiple enemies, perks, the heist, dialog, and the very fact you're involved in a frigg'n heist (how awesome is that?!) make it worth playing, but I'm on the fence about calling it a good game. It's decent, but still has a few small issues to work out.… Expand

It was fun on my first runthrough of each campaign, however at the end, I found I couldn't replay the missions because the leveling system was boring.

@Xalder1 I am sorry that your computer is suffering from low specs, but it is not a right way to rate a game. This is not just any game. Its released in the year 2011 for your information. So the graphics is that way, and I am sure you will rate Battlefield 3 the same way. Just get a better PC, then start rating games from year 2008 to 2012. As for the PayDay Heist review, I personally enjoyed the game. It is full of action and it keeps your mind on the go thinking of faster ways to get things done. Graphics are not as complex as some other first person shooter and its to be improved on. Gameplay? I think its great, especially when you are in a co-op game all four computers next to each another. It takes team cooperation to another whole new level. SINGLE PLAYER, the AI are intelligent, compared to the previously released Left 4 Dead 2. The AI's are more cooperative and more dependable. They don't do all the work, but yea, they got your back good. All in all, its a great game to get for just $20. Hey! and paying to rob a bank and not get yourself killed! Thats another point! :D… Expand

It's rough around the edges, short in length, and aiming takes some time to get use to. However, in it's own way, it is very innovative. Each stage (lasting roughly 25-35 minutes) boasts with new surprises and situations depending on how you play and who you play with. No run through of any stage is ever the same. The stylish gameplay, cool concepts, and massive amounts of variety within it's few stages will keep players coming back for a very long time.… Expand

Enjoyable but really fun when multiplaying. Otherwise, bots are RETARDED and make you fail a heist because of their stupidities. Very frustrating. Without multiplayer capability, this game would suck. However, it's one of those few games that is filled with hidden objectives and prices so there are good chances that you'll discover something new you missed every time you redo a heist. In that sense, this game has one of the highest replay values I've ever seen.… Expand

I played the game on a free 2 play weekend on steam, and from my experience everything seemed to work alright except there was one major flaw, the enemy ai. The main complaint I have with the game is that 50% of the time the enemies will function in a typical fashion, the other 50% of the time they will just sit there doing nothing. Sometimes waves of enemies will shoot at you, other times they just remain in a passive state after spawning, sometimes entire rooms will be full of brain-dead enemies just sitting there, and when you shoot at them they still remain unresponsive. This really killed it for me. When everything works, the game is decent, but from my experience, that was only half of the time. I cannot recommend the game because of this, regardless of price.… Expand

PAYDAY is very fun 4-player cooperative game. It feels a lot like the Left 4 Dead campaigns, yet offers its own identity with its bank robber foundation and character leveling--plus in L4D, you don't have to worry about the zombies shooting back at you! In fact, if you've ever watched the movie Heat, you have a good idea of what's in store. This game does require a lot of teamwork to win, since you usually have to rely on teammates for ammo drops in addition to covering your ass. The campaigns are a good length and there are several levels of difficulty providing a challenge for any level player. Tasers, riot shields, bulldozers, cloakers, and hostages give it a well-rounded feel. It does lack a decent tutorial and the campaign objectives are not always straightforward, but the community has been pretty friendly in lending a hand. There are also some minor nuisances and deficiencies, but overall it's worth a look.… Expand

absolutely brilliant recommend this to everyone, if you can find it cheaper even better but the current price is cheap enough! GET IT NOW! The re playability is astounding and its a truly wonderful experience.

It bugs me to no end how Activision can release the exact same game year after year and get striaght 9/10s across the board, meanwhile indie devs trying to do something different rarely break mediocre reviews. All the innovation in this generation has come from games like Minecraft, Mount and Blade, and Arma II. But since these guys cant pay off the big game reviewers, the mainstream generally shrugs them off. Rant aside, this game is great! you play as a team of 4 robbers in a co-op effort against waves of police officers in an effort to complete successful heists. The game manages to pull off a cinematic quality that ive yet to see in a multiplayer game. When you first walk into a bank you notice a sense of tranquility about to be shattered. It reminds me of the first moments of the Airport mission from Modern Warfare 2. This game succeeds in making you feel like the bad guy, but a pretty badass one at that. Once you start to do battle with the bank guards and the bullets start flying, its complete pandemonium. Bullets shatter glass, computers, statues and...glass. lots of it. Civillians scream and run as you scream at them to GET THE F*** ON THE GROUND! and handcuff them to prevent escape attempts. Killing them is a no-no, you will need them to bargain with the police if they arrest any of your cohorts and will lose money if you kill one. Waves of increasingly difficult enemy types will swarm the building, trying to rescue hostages and kill you and your buddies. This game gets hard, trust me on that, but if you have good buddies to play with it is an absolute blast. Graphically the game is decent, but nothing breathtaking. It looks like a game from 2007, but a nice looking one. Considering what Skyrim was able to get away with, theres nothing graphically wrong with it. The music in the game is dark and energetic, but pretty repetitive. The Guns sound weak and weightless, and feel that way too. Reminds me of Left 4 Dead in that respect. Also there are not enough weapons. Beyond the basic shotgun, pistol, machine gun, assault rifle, sniper rifle etc. there is not much varation, which is a shame. I would love to test out some more weapons on the cops, who act like the brainless zombies in Left 4 Dead. Also, a versus mode where one team played as law enforcement would be nice. If you are looking for a game with nicely balanced weapons, competitive play and sharp graphics, this is not the game for you. If you want a game that tries to reenact the stylish gunplay and tense moments of movies like Resivior Dogs in a multiplayer setting, then there is no better way to spend 20 dollars (i spent 10 dollars on it, for a steam sale) I would normally give this game an 8.5 because of some of the flaws, but im just going to round it up because im looking forward to further output from this studio.… Expand

When the game first released, I was willing to try, but the trailers I had seen didn't seem to make it worth while. After playing it on Steam's free weekend, my mind has been changed. The above average graphics, good level design, and surprisingly good re-playability for some maps makes me less bothered about the downside of occasional dim-witted AI, although it isn't always the case. I think my favourite part of the game is when you can get into the diamond vault without alerting any guards just because most times the security box spawns prevent you from hacking in fast enough. This game is best played with good, INTELLIGENT friends, and teamwork is essential. The other option of team AI is good in some cases, but it takes them a while to come to you if you call out to them. If they make a sequel, I'd like to see AI improvements mainly, but I would also like to see how they could fare in making missions have multiple endings, and not just one, with different paths to get to it.… Collapse

The price of this game is very appealing and from the first 30 seconds I saw that the graphics were very good for a £14 game. HOWEVER!! I could only play for 30 seconds because there is no support for controllers. It's very simple, enable controllers and I will give a perfect review.

Very fun game and not that bad considering the price tag! Though the graphics are something you would see in Counter Strike: Source for example it isnt too shabby. The unlocks and perks will also keep you in the game! However, I will say the game lacks more gun choices, maps, enemy variety, and you will find yourself constantly low on ammo. Plus, the time penalty for killing civilians are just... out of place. Since when did heavily armed robbers care about civilian casualties? They aren't cops? I mean the cops kill more civilians with crossfire in the game then your allowed too!… Expand

Payday: The Heist is a Left 4 Dead clone. It features First Person Shooting, objective-oriented gameplay and a maximum of 4 players that work co-operatively. You fight endless swarms of zomb.. I mean Police Officers while trying to complete the objectives that range from sawing open vehicles and escorting the prisoner to holding a bank manager hostage while robbing the bank's safe. At some point, the cops inevitably show up and they will increase in toughness as time passes. There are different types of police officers such as, but not limited to, "bulldozers" which is a cop with very thick body armour and SWAT infiltrants with taser guns that keep you or your team mates stun-locked, incapable of fighting back. When a player goes down, you've got 30 seconds to get him back up. If he isn't up by that time, he will be taken out of the game for 3 minutes ('in custody'). You can set him free by taking hostages in the forms of civilians. Killing these civilians nets you a money (used for leveling up) and a time penalty on negotations. It is therefore vital that you tell civilians to keep their heads down and protect them from hostage liberation units that the police sends out. As mentioned earlier on, you level up by hoarding cash. You gain money from performing objectives, even if you do not finish the map. Before the game starts, you can press TAB and select one of the three classes that each feature a different upgrade path. However, if you unlock something in the Assault class, you can also use that with the Sniper or Support class. The game makes use of the same engine used for Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter but it plays and looks a lot like the Left 4 Dead engine. It's smooth, pretty and the game has no hick-ups whatsoever. The permanent upgrade system works very well, it gives you something to come back for and if you think it makes the game too easy, try playing on "hard" or "insane". A must-play for Left 4 Dead and Killing Floor fans.… Expand

A very fun game! What's good about it that its original and its not another army or war fps... I'l give it a solid un-chewable 10 because its original and fun online :D

Payday: The Heist is a great game with a good replayability however the single player of the game is pretty bad while the AI on the game are bad sometimes they pretty much let you die. The online of the game is fairly good but does get boring after some gameplay and sometimes I would rather be playing with bots other then some people online.

i thought for this price the game cant be too great, but after playing it i have to say its cool. a lot of fun, nice graphics, good maps, good sounds, enough enemies... for my opinion only the music is annoying but after i turned it off its perfect. team up with 1-3 friends for playing, of course you can also play with 3 bots in your team, but their skills are very limited. buy it and im sure you wont regret it.… Expand

This game is good, but man is it F***ing hard, on single player the AI teammates on normal arent tactical or smart and pretty slow, so you kinda have to play with real life people (i assume) who know what their doing with FPS games to stand a chance. You get overrun so easily near the end of the levels and it turns into just praying u get lucky to beat the level without your teamates dieing and you get tazed to the ground by the cops and lose. The levels are doable, but freakin hard. I speak from my single player experience. Single player on easy is hard and normal is way hard. Ive played FPS games since wolfenstein back in the day, so im no noob ( COD series is a joke compared to this) ...anyways, its a fun game, hecktic, fast pased insanity, fighting waves of cops from all directions, back, front, building roofs, heli swat drops, windows, snipers, seems like from everwhere as you try to rob certain situations...god, ok well back at er i guess, just thought id take a break and write this review and go have a cig before trying again, one more time on this level before i stop for the evening. Havent played online yet, but i hope its alot easier (guess it depends on who you play with, but the AI in this are retards) happy heisting fellas, hope ya get rich :)… Expand

I have to say that I haven't had this much fun playing a PC game in a long time. I just picked up BF3 and find myself always coming back to this game because it offers a lot more fun factor to me.

I would highly recommend this game if you are looking for a good co-op shooter with dynamic elements.

Amazing game ... just endless FUN !!
145 lvls rep . weapons sites and abilities gives you lot of time to enjoy and changing your gameplay when u finish hiests . graphic is a bit old but still the great fast gameplay just let your forget about it !
great idea for game . i hope that overkill will show us some more great thing with better graphic and same idea for story . and a single player campain with a story can be amazing ! :D thanks… Expand

i wasn't sure what i'd be getting but bought it anyway, ended up really enjoying this game.
the theme is amazing, you don't get to do stuff like rob banks and kill drugdealers and cops in many games.

it's a welcome break from the zombie and war games. i've played online with randoms and they are usually friendly.

Do not let people tell you this is just a Left 4 Dead clone where the zombies have guns. Yes, this is a cooperative experience with up to four people loaded with guns. Unlike L4D, though, this one involves a lot more tactics.

For example, you can order any civilians who are close by to lay low, and then you tie their hands behind their backs so they count as hostages. That will change the way the police deals with you (though they will still be trying to headshot you from afar). In the first mission I played, we had to free a felon who was being freed from prison - under a heavy stream of bullets from SWAT. The way the target is finally liberated from the scenario, just before you have to run away from the place, is... Epic, to say the least.

I'm giving a 9 because the menus could be more intuitive, and it could have more explanation about the leveling system. But asides those, this game is a gem, and a must have.… Expand

A great fun multiplayer game. Its like L4D, but more objective based and instead of zombies its police and SWAT. Also alot of fun to try and level up your person and get the cool weapons. Overall really fun, but it truly shines when your yelling with your friends to save you while your getting tazed or beat by someone out of Splinter Cell lol 8/10

Was rather skeptical about buying this game, looked at a few trailers online and it seemed rather good. I'm really glad with my purchase. For the price your paying you can't go wrong. As soon as I installed it, went straight into multiplayer so I could get the gist of things from other players. The moment I started it I could tell it was a decent game, with multiple ways to play it, tactical, guns blazing etc along with the fact the spawns are different every time so you can't just camp in certain places. My only criticism of this game is the fact it's not really newb friendly, but after the help of some friendly online players I understood everything a lot more and had a great experience with this game.… Expand

I love this game, due to its ever changing AI and Co-Op. It can get very difficult on normal and i love it. Game isnt easy and with unlocks, just makes it that much better.

The game is very nice for $20 dollers they put alot of thought in to it, there are many objectives to accomplish with in the game like drilling taking out cameras tieing up hostages destroying evidence it also has a leveling system and many upgrades it is very team based this is not a run and gun its not made for rambo if the team does not work together you will FAIL it is very challenging at times as swat and police seem endless not to mention the tasers and heavly armored police and its very replayable i can say this is one i will be playing for a wile and recomend it to every one i cant wait for the upcoming dlc… Expand

Cool game, it's not short and little!

I've played almost 30 hours into this game now and have to say, the game is good. The heists are very well scripted and the whole game feels like it's from a movie (obviously what they were going for). The difficulty scales very well with the settings and overkill setting will make even a seasoned player like me struggle. New features have been added (for free) with every patch. The only real fault the game has is it relies on enemy ai which as anyone who's played these kind of games know, can do some weird things. It' s easy to exploit the ai, making the hardest and most pivotal moments of the heists a cakewalk. But this really just comes down to the play style. Another fault would be the lack of heists/weapons/enemies but the dev's tell us more is already on the way.… Expand

If you are 4 players, this is a insane game, full of fun. And you need to coop. If everyone is just sitting without mic, the ruins very much, and get A LOT harder.
So get 3 homies, and get ready for mayhem

very good game.amazing co-op.
the missions are fun and the game is realistic you actually fell that you are robbing a bank or a jewelery store or something.
the bad thing in the game is the number of the missions i would enjoy it more if it has more missions

a very generic 4player coop shooter like l4d. However you will be shooting cops and robbing banks. The devs put extra effort in it by adding another layer of progression system. I do say it an upgraded version of kane and lynch bank heist. However i just prefer the appoarch kane and lynch2 did with its over and down system.

The floaty controls absolutely break this game. It does not flow and the enemies are either brain dead or extremely smart. The unlock system is pretty lame and not up to par with current games. THere is no introduction or anything to tell you how to play the game either, google is used for that. The game is somewhat cheap, but you only get a few missions available to play and that coupled with the broken gameplay is just a huge deal breaker for me.… Expand

This game is not what I expected. After first playing it I thought it was generic. I've got a guy constantly healing me as I absorb 30 rounds of ammo, As I didn't pay much for it I was ready to discard it. I mentioned it to a buddy and he said oh no you're doing it wrong. So I gave it another shot and I have to say that he was right. You get right into the action on this game and the firefights are intense. Without that healing it would be impossible. Once I got over my preconceived notion of what the game should be I realize it's very good, and most importantly fun.… Expand

Unplayable. I bought this game because a friend of mine did. He has a worse computer and connection than me, and I already know we will be unable to play together as this game lags like your computer is made of **** On single player. With no AI companions. I don't know how the **** the game is supposed to run four people online when it has absolutely no options to at the very least turn the graphics to low to attempt to reduce lag. Do not get it.… Expand

Despite only having five heists currently, the game suprisingly gives a lot of hours of gameplay and has tons of replay value. The mechanics of the game are great and the music and graphics fit the mood of each heist. I really love this game and hope that the promised DLCs come out soon!

Great game! But not enough Levels or actions. For example, you can see the AI climbing fences, sliding under cars and even using railings to climb down high floors... Why can't we do that? The game is basically Left 4 Dead but with a huge horde of police, love the way you can take people and police hostage. Overall sweet game play and Nice graphics also a good selection of perks and weapons.
Improvements could be the extra actions/levels maybe more realistic hostage situations and more realistic police tactics?… Expand

Un juego mas que aceptable para jugarlo en compañia y sobretodo para jugarlo con dificultad subida.
El apartado grafico es excelente y la posibilidad de que las situaciones vayan cambiando le da siempre un toque diferente a cada partida. Para mi muy recomendable.
Solo encuentro algo negativo: la falta de mapas. Esperemos que en breve pongan mas!

This game doesn't get enough credit in my opinion. It's a solid FPS shooter with objective based items to complete in order to finish the round. The voice acting is good and the style of play is a heck of a lot of fun. The community also seems pretty cool. If I had anything to gripe about, I'd like to see more missions, as it only comes with six. Occasionally Amazon will run it for $5.00 - $7.49. Purchase the game download and activate your CD key using Steam. You will still get all your Steam achievements. Good way to save money on such a great game. I give it a 9.5. Two thumbs way up!… Expand

When the game was out for free to try the game out, it was amazing. An amazing FPS game with you and 3 other people robbing a bank or getting a criminal or etc. The graphics in this game is amazing too! This is a really great game to get and it is worth your money. The problems you will have is online. In online, if someone joins the game, the game gets paused and will wait for the guy to get ready and etc. Another problem is first connection problems but, this isn't a major problem. Some games you cannot connect to the host or the host left the game. Besides those two problems it game is amazing!… Expand

I'm really not a fan of games where you don't need any shooting skills (guns without recoil and stuff like that). But Payday is AWESOME game!!!

Gameplay score is pure 10!!! I'm giving 8 only because bad graphics and too less maps which make game repetitive. Don't be fooled with bad graphics! This game is deserved to be played!

A very fun game! What's good about it that its original and its not another army or war fps... I'l give it a solid un-chewable 10 because its original and fun online :D

A very fun game, look like Left 4 Dead !
Dynamic environments and adaptive enemy tactics, teamwork is essential to survive.

You must have this **** game !
;D

I found something out what really makes me angry about that game. It starts really promissing: You enter the hospital, for example and you´re about to start the heist. All good. You are cocentrating on your objective and you´re really into that "I can play the bad guys" setting.
But, and its the same in every mission, after you set up a saw, for example, to break a door, which takes about 5 minutes which is ridiculous enough to break a door...., the bad thing begins.

From now on, that game is about to shoot. And kill. And shoot. And kill. I could continue. All you have to do is to shoot the police, which is extremely boring, the game tells you like " forget about your objective, just shoot as many cops as you can".
After you did that, and the door finally got open, you have to break another door, of course you have to wait 5 minutes again and shoot as many cops as possible. Bad thing is, the shootings are not really spectacular. Graphics are kinda boring and dusty, gameplay is ultra 08 / 15.

All in all, I am really dissappointed with that game.
It starts very promissing, you try to get into the story, but after a minute, all you have to do is shoot shoot shoot and forget about anything else. Wow, sometimes you have to reset the saw, lol.
I would N O T recommend it to buy, unless you want uninspired 08/15 shooting, but in that genre, there are 100 games out there who make it betther.… Expand

this game is great. it has great graphics, really good missions and awesome perk tree. my main problem is that i dont have firends to play this game with, so its pretty boring for me. and when you start playing the game its very difficult to understand the perk trees, they never tell you much about it and until you fully understand it, it might be too late. so if you started playing the game go watch a video on youtube that perfectly explains the perks and hoiw to use them. a great game in overall… Expand

Gladio77

the idea of the game its to rob no to kill random people, i anderstand that you think its unrealistic but if they dont make those limits the game will change a lot.

As much as I like the idea of what they were trying to do in this game, it falls short in pretty much every direction. You can tell the game was designed to be 'Action Packed', every moment on the edge of your seat! However the outcome is not like that at all, it is just a grind through shooting police officers, and telling hostages to stay on the floor while you wait for task X to complete. The cops just keep coming, so killing them doesnt really give any gratitude, it just feels like a waste of bullets. For a game entirely based on shooting, you dont have much ammo, which some people might think makes it more challenging, but they are wrong, it just makes the whole thing stale, and makes you feel guilty for doing the very thing the game revolves around; shooting.

Then there's the AI.... the AI is just rediculously bad, it is programmed as if it was a noob cheating on an fps game with an aimbot, literally as soon as a pixel of your body is out of cover 5 bullets are hitting it, its really frustrating because when you get hit it blurs your vision and you cant see the shooter, and so your forced back into cover, I found the easiest way to actually down police officers is to take advantage of nooks and crannys to shoot them, like the gap between a door and the frame, because the AI doesnt seem to see you there, however that just also takes the fun out, because then it's just a case of shooting a completely dumbass unreactive AI, and its then too easy. I gave it a 4, because I admire the idea, and it is obvious alot of effort went into the game. I also didnt pay much for the game, got it in the steam sale for a fiver, and to be honest... the fiver feels like a bit of a waste on it... It's just not that much fun to play...… Expand

If you have the money for it... Buy it. Right. Now. Most amount of hours I have ever spent playing on a video game has been wisely spent on PAYDAY. Buy it. Now.

A well crafted and very fun multiplayer. Much like Team Fortress 2 or Left 4 Dead 2, it manages to keep its charm for a very long time, and the upgrade system helps that out. The graphics are lacking a little, and a good deal of the animations are stale, but that doesn't bog down the game too much. The whole bank robbing/criminal atmosphere of the game is presented extremely well, and is capable of sucking you into the experience. It may not be the best or most addicting multiplayer out there, but it's worth the money and it's still fun as hell. Can't wait for Payday 2 to come out.… Expand

Payday is a fast-paced, objective based shooter, and fairly unique in that you control the criminals instead of the 'good guys'. You don't just run through a corridor shooting enemies who pop out, you get issued objectives that need to be completed to either progress, or effect some other outcome. For a $20 game, Payday has some pretty good graphics and fun team based gameplay, but I would warn you that it is definitely better with friends, and a headset is almost required for online play due to the complex nature of the missions.… Expand

It's mediocre. Only a handful of missions and none of them really feel different or inspired, strange gameplay mechanics - you kill cops but can't hurt civilians, and you are bank robbers. I personally found the aiming on the assault rifle to be terrible - specifically the iron sights (I see no option to turn it off either) which blocks pretty much everything your shooting at with your own gun. I've played other games with iron sights that didn't feel like this. You spend most of the time waiting and fighting off hordes of cops. There are better options for less or no money.… Expand

I'm really not sure why everyone is so ecstatic about this game, it's one of the most boring and fairly unimaginative games I've ever played. It's described as "executing dynamic heists", but you're not "executing" anything; the heist is merely the backdrop, a story to an on-rails shooter where you shoot wave after wave cops and security personal in the head(or waste ammo on weaker hit-boxes). And that's what you do, move shooting guys in the head, stop, shoot more guys, move again shooting guys. Someone was right to describe it as left 4 dead, but with a different theme, but l4d's single player and coop bored me after I'd done everything on expert, but at least that backdrop was compelling, as were the characters, and the scenery and graphics interesting. This has no real interesting story or narrative or characters on rails that makes you want to play for that, and the gameplay is pretty dumb for a game these days. The hitboxes are simply and easy, and it takes a while to unlock any interesting weapons, which don't change the game much, except like the grenade launcher maybe make the game stupid easy, and this game doesn't need anymore brain dead elements. My friends gushed over it during the last free weekend (before the one at the time of me writing this) when I played it, and was bored before we were done the first run through, so I don't see the "endless replay" value they boast. But I guess any sense of a real game is gone from this generation. Just so you know what kind of gamers were talking about here, they have some of the most hours on l4d games, but complained about lack of "realism" in l4d2 (huh? who cares?) and despise the multiplayer...probably because they are so bad at it. So yeah, if you like games with no real variety or challenge, that you could probably finish smashing your face on the keyboard (what I was eventually doing for the weekend I was roped into playing this with those friends) Payday might be the game for you.… Expand

After my first impression on that game it develops towards a nice sparetime killer for a round or two -- nothing I could play for weeks!
+++
Some issues still remain:
[a] AI in terms of civilian behavior, running in your line of fire while the cops seem to be able to shoot right through them without penalties, using them as human shield, [b] AI in terms of escorting behavior, forcing you to push those characters forward in two-second-shouts or loosing those characters 1.000 bullets behind, probably doing the just survived assault once again, [c] AI in terms of companion behavior, reviving before clearing a zone or reviving NPCs first while all players go to custody and thereby failing the mission, and
[d] SWAT-clown-cars flooding the streets with cops even if no assault is going on, so you never know if to hold a position until a moment of rest or push forward until you are moments from death.
+++
BUT after all the game is fun and learning and knowing levels is the goal to handle challenges, offering you a real flow in the game, while in other games the sweet-spot is when you still have something to explore. The game might be dead after a month of playing but surely come up every once in a while anything else is overplayed. Once the AI would get fixed this game was really good!… Expand

$4.99 on Steam sale, and I'm having a great time.. Yes co-op kicks ass! Nothing like getting some friends online and exececuting a flawless heist.. And killing a **** of cops..

Upon playing about 25 hours with my friends I think it´s time for a rundown.
Let´s start with the good things:
- Incredibly Atmospheric: The music is some of the best I heard in a while and it really makes you feel the intensity of the battle and the quiet moments + the music at the end of a completed heist makes you really feel like a smart gangster.
- Great Leveldesign: For people who say they hate that this game is only shooting, you aren´t really that right. There are more then one way for a lot of the missions. For Example Mercy Hospital, you can go in and play a game of chance with the Teddybear Chainsaw (shooting) or hold people hostage, shoot down the cameras, dress up as Doctors and get the blood from him without even killing one person and there are more examples, some are really just shoot missions but incredibly stylistic.
- Customization: While it takes some time to get all of the items it is not really annoying because you always have a reason to do what you do as a player since every mission should be 1-2 Levels up. Plus the Items really differ, from Health Packs to Sentry Guns or Shotgun to SMG you got it, except Sniper Riffle but why would you snipe on a heist?
- Great Co-Op experience: This is the most important point, you need to have 3 to 4 people playing this game with you and a Teampseak or Skype Server but if you do, oh my is this game fun. You really need to come up with a strategy if you want to do Achievements or beat the Overkill difficulty, and only one of you needs the DLC so that everyone can play (You still don´t have the Technician class but what counts are the maps). And if you don´t have friends, or they don´t like Videogames, there probably are some cool people you can meet on the Internet.

But there are also some bad things about this game:
- No Explanation: Until I figured out I was able to Change my Class (Tab + 1-3) I was already level 11 and even if I love the level design you can get easily lost, you will be right on your track a few seconds later but nontheless annoying.
- Unrealistic: While you have the feeling of being an amazing sophisticated Robber, you really start wondering if you just killed the entire Police department of ... the USA and I don´t know but it just bugs me that the enemies are so numerous but so weak.
- Difficulty: It is always challenging which is a good thing but sometimes the game just feels to pull out a **** you Card by letting a Spec Ops leap into you from above and knocking out 1-3 People instantly.

Resume: Payday is an incredibly immersive and fun Co-Op Shooter which has tons of replay value and variety but has some problems here and there. All in all, definitely worth to check out if you have friends… Expand

This game was just a random purchase I made last week. It can be played single player and that's definitely a good experience. But it SHINES when you are playing with your mates. I was telling a friend of mine that I really haven't had as fun with a shooter co-op game like this since the first time me and him played Left 4 Dead together years ago.

Indeed, the game shines in multiplayer and in addition to being quick with a gun, it builds on the features we loved so much with Left 4 Dead.

1) It has an experience system. The more you play, the more perks you get. Extra ammo bags, more zip ties, etc. In Left 4 Dead, the game became stale to us after 3 years of basically playing the same thing over and over with no real difference. In this game, we're always trying to better our experience ratings and it's not a grind at all, merely a byproduct of enjoying the game with only adds to the overall experience.

2) The mission system is perhaps one of the best I've seen. Not overly complicated but not as dull as "press the button, now live through a horde attack". Truthfully, at first this kind of annoyed us as some portions of the mission send you all over the map to perform various tasks, but after a few hours we got really into it and after a while of playing the game, I simply don't know how we did without it before.

3) The enemies fire back! i.e. the AI in this game is fantastic! There are various difficulty modes and it does what it says on the tin. The easy modes are easy, but train you to better play the game. The normal difficulty is great after you've learned how to play the game. The hard modes are absolutely a blast to try with your mates just for giggles to see how badly you get creamed by the enemy. 4) Replay value - you get your money's worth with this game! The day L4D 1 and 2 came out we had beaten each level many times within the first day. After that there wasn't really anything new to do and we continued to play because we loved the randomness of it. This game is noticeably more difficult but in a fun way. Each map has a good 30 minutes worth of enjoyment and often times starting out it's very difficult to even complete the level without dying or being arrested.

This game is definitely one I'd recommend to those who absolutely loved the Left 4 Dead series (people that like having fun and don't particularly enjoy hating life) but couldn't get into something like Dead Island or Borderlands due to those game's inherent RPG elements being both needless, bland and irritating to deal with as they feel tacked on. In Payday the Heist, the leveling system is very much streamlined so you've not constantly fidgeting with grossly misplaced tasks like repairing weapons or leveling up a skill tree. In a shooter I find RPG systems to be completely out of place, sucking out the fast paced intensity that provided all the fun from shooters. Buy this game now, get your friends to buy it (or gift it to them) and thank me later.… Expand

Gets old very quickly but it was worth the 5 bucks it cost on steam for summer sale

hahaha iu luv dis game fk hatres anyone hoo a8ts dis game is gayyyyyy lolololololololollololol i just think dis game deserves less bad reviews lulz haha

Some pretty good graphics, A fast paced fps robbery how much more can you ask for. I honestly tnk from watching the trailers it make it look like yo had more outside freedom but you really dont but it makes up for the robbery freedom and also gives you egleest a good half an hour for each hiest so its more realistic in a sense

Well besides getting this on sale on steam for ONLY 5 dollars, I am very pleased with my investment. The game-play is very original and can be challenging when it needs to. I failed the first bank heist 2 times but I had so much fun doing it that I kept playing again. The leveling system is not very polished but it is fair and gets the job done. Overall 9 out of 10

Well i don't have to repeat what most people already said. I'd rather like to advise that group of "negative" reviewers to play this game with friends and voip, talk to each other or die trying xD Random gameplay gets really hard in higher levels, but is still possible. My tip for "BattleKeks": Try to do the heist "Plan A" Style, the first door is not intended to be sawed open, you have to do the heist the "right" way to bypass this ;)

The new level are really great and as expected very challenging. I don't know any shooter which is harder to complete/master/achieve the this one, maybe DayZ but thats kind of another genre so it's out of competition. It's the "I wanna be the Guy" of FPS xD

Highly recommended to buy and enjoy and also the big advise to play this game with people you know !… Expand

Payday: The Heist is one of the best Indie shooters around at the moment, and with a growing community and DLC's in the wings, Overkill software have made a triumphant splash into the gaming world with their debut title.

Like many others, I was skeptical when I first saw trailers for this game. It looked clunky and low quality, but I thought twenty dollars was not much of a risk. Looking back, I would have paid much, much more for this game than I did. The action is brutal and fast, the gunplay is awesome, and the gameplay is flawless. The upgrade system leaves for massive replay value.

This is one of the best PC shooters around. Buy it now, you wont regret it.… Expand

I picked up this game because it was billed as the same kind of game as Left 4 Dead, a game I highly enjoy. To be fair, it is just like Left 4 Dead. Just as a blatant rip off with no improvement or adaption.

See, in Left 4 Dead you have objectives to survive in a linear level and occasionally you have to fight off hordes of zombies while watching out for special zombies that can make your day even worse. If you get incapacitated you hope your teammates can pick you up further down and you get to rejoin the fun.

In Payday, you have objectives to survive in a linear level and occasionally you have to fight off hordes of police while watching out for special police that can make your day even worse. If you get incapacitated you hope your teammates can trade a hostage further down and you get to rejoin the fun.

If it seems I cut and paste that last paragraph, no worries, that is exactly what the developers did for the game mechanics. Instead of having zombies, you have brain dead hordes of police to gun down. Well done aptly named Overkill Software. Occasionally you have to deal with special police forces such as the martial arts 'smoker' or the one hit wonder 'bulldozer'. These are the police equivalents of the 'hunter' and 'tank' zombies respectably.

There is a problem here though. First off, as you would imagine, everyone has a gun.So the developers put in a 'recovering shield' system on top of a normal health point pool. This makes it a cover game. The problem of this is that in a cover game usually you then have the ability to lean out of cover, usually considered a standard feature. It is sorely missing from this game however, which forces you and your teammates to leave cover.

This brings me to the next problem. Every cop is a marksman in automatic fire, uses automatic weapons, and is perfectly willing to shoot up a room to kill you. While that might tie into real life where police need to be proficient marksman, you however as the crook seem to have higher morals then the police since you get heavy penalties if you so much as graze a civilian. Said civilians loving to jump up and run into the line of fire. I felt as a criminal more of the protector of these poor AI imbeciles having to constantly tell them to stay down so that my teammates, the police, or myself didn't accidentally shoot them. Add onto this the police's ability to shoot at you from across the map without fail and no good way to tell where the fire is coming from.

Speaking of AI imbeciles, don't even bother trying to play this game by yourself. Just like in Left 4 Dead you will have to do all the objectives yourself. But considering all the AI has to do in a zombie game is just shoot the zombies, having basic AI can be forgiven. In Payday you need to do things like set up drills that will constantly jam. This forces you to run over and spend several seconds unjamming it so it can finish up the five minute countdown before you get to the next objective. This SHOULD have been something you could tell either an AI or human player to do, or just have the AI do automatically. But it doesn't which gives a solo player more of a workload besides being the only human player in a town with more cops then a police state apparently.

Overall, this could have been an interesting game. Had the AI for everyone been better, the objectives not tedious, the slew of reality flaws, and it not being a blatant rip off of another game just with guns this game could have been good. But it is only a year and some months old and it feels even more dated then that. Save your $20 and the $10 for the dlc and buy something else, like maybe the better Left 4 Dead. If there was a way to get money back from steam for this, I would.… Expand

I just bought this off of Steam on sale for $5. The single player really is quite boring, but the bots are smarter than the bots they put in Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. The co-op is just plain out FUN I haven't had this much fun with co-op. The missions I must admit are HARD. I can't even survive Normal. If your looking for a thrilling game that will keep your heart beating rapidly as you try to escape the police, this game is for you. For the PC the controls are a little quirky which gets kind of annoying. After you play this game you will feel that you want to rob a bank, trust me. If your getting this for $20 (which is it's retail price), then it's totally worth it. This is a MAJOR break from Old, Boring, Call of Duty. This game is also very fast paced so you need some quick reactions, now I don't mean Call of Duty quick reactions like dropshooting or anything like that just plain out REAL reactions. This game is fabulous. I HIGHLY recommend this game!… Expand

Great game, exiting missions and challenging difficulty levels. The grafic is also ok. You can adjust your equip to your needs exactly. If you play as single player your KI-Mates will follow your calling. For the higher difficult grade its necessary to play with real people together.

Payday:the heist is a first person shooter indie game made by the company overkill, their first game and a very good job of it. It takes you to a group of 4 bank robbers (you being one of them) they are all controlled by players, although the game does have AI for robbers instead of players, this AI has a common phraise know as **** They dont complete mission objectives, making single player quite the pain in the ass, and will just be plain stupid. Like reviving you almost instantly in front of the entire pissed off Chinese army and wondering off like there's zero **** given. However these small errors can be overlooked by simply playing the game. It's a real joy, the music sounds like a continuing countdown to the next epic assault wave, the reloading and shooting feels real and powerful. You honestly feel like a hardcore robber without having to go into gregge and threaten the guy at the counter with a (clearly fake) water pistol, and later getting arrested.
Although not explained, this game has a levelling up system, and a quite good one for that fact. The enemies aim very well with very powerful shots forcing you to take cover and work as a team, somthing not seen so often with new modern games. The graphics look very photo realistic and slick allowing you to dive into the games atmosphere even more. So you may think "well that's all good but there's a serious lack of content here I mean there's only like 9 missions?" we'll I can tell you that these are very long and very good missions, they are all extremely different from each other and all give you a new experience. There's different ways of doing them and they are all an average of 45 mins. And the game may say great replay ability, I thought this was meanly an excuse but they weren't kidding. I've played that first world bank mission close to 50 times give or take a few. Trust me I there's plenty of content. All In all payday is a wonderful game. Another thing is it doesn't have dedicated servers so playing can be annoying with unreliable hosts and bad servers but you can always host your own if your willing to wait five minuets. It's good all round and though it has some faults they can all be overlooked by the sheer fun and enjoyment you'll get out of it.… Expand

Best 20 bucks you could ever spend, really great game, great teamwork, great maps, or heists :P, would really recommend this game for anyone who wants a really good game.

A excellent, Jolly good game. The game's genre itself is an exception, being a game independent towards robbery. The gameplay itself is also quite good portraying one needs co-op if you want to be successful towards heisting. The game is considerably challenging leaving players to tactically make a run or try towards the goal. When playing this game it gives me a feel action at Its prime, original and very amusing. The set of law-enforcers or enemies within the game make you switch how you play the game, making the experience of a huge bulking man in a bomb defusal suit ( Bulldozer ) makes you strategically plan how to get rid of him. Bottom line_ get the game. It is very unknown and underscored, but believe me, It is one of the best FPS experiences I ever played that have had a somewhat low score. ( Killing Floor). Trust me, at the price this game is at, It's like Robbery. However not for you, only for OVERKILL for releasing such a game at only 20 USD.… Expand

When I read some papers this game was considered as a little brother of L4D only with cops instead of zombies. In that reviews the game look not very good. When I tried it I found that this game is amazing than L4D. The soundtrack is very good, the game isn't a only way from start point to end point but you need to move continuosly in the map for complete goals or take the police in the back. It's more strategic than most fps that I tried and is good to play in solo as in multiplayer (but if you have a good team with vocal chat is better)
IA isn't very smart but this is a multiplayer game first so it's acceptable and the graphics isn't top, but in a game where you need online people is good because also old PCs can run it
Replayability is high because cops don't spawn from the same areas (or if they, they can be of others tipe), also every heist have some story variables that can change the battlefield, so every game is a "new" game also if the map have the same name.… Expand

Fantastic Game.
Great fun, good by yourself, but much better cooperative. Hours and hours of fun with your Mates!
Great cooperative game and very well done, also considering this was their first game (Overkill) the deserve a high five. the only downside is there isn't more heists! although, 6 is actually good because they change every time you play it and there is the no mercy map (free for pc :D) and the 2 dlc maps which also give you a new unlock tree. :D :D :D :D :D BUY THIS GAME RIGHT NOW… Expand

A very good game, not your usual twitch shooting, run in and kill 'em all first person shooter, which makes a nice change. My only criticisms are that it is very difficult to play the game solo and that it seems to take quite a while to rank up and unlock new guns (about 4 hours of gameplay and no new guns so far, I don't mind all that much though).

While nothing ground breaking, Payday: The Heist does deliver. What exactly does it deliver? Pure cooperative arcade styled action packed fun! Do not expect next-gen graphics are AAA assets, but do expect to have a blast either taking down 'the man' or screwing around with friends. This game does what many have failed to do over the past decade... Focus on fun!

(PC is alot better to play on btw) Overkill did an amazing job with a game that wasn't that huge, and for $20 it may not be worth it to some, try getting it on sale on steam. There is alot to unlock, such as upgrades and new weapons. Personally i think that this is always a good thing, and to any fps gamer out there i think this is a great addition for your shelf. First off the graphics, they are pretty nice, not the best compared to the ones you can find in call of duty and battelfield, but in those games you don't get to hold hostages and rob banks. Gameply is like any other hybrid shooter, and in a way a bit like Call of Duty but it's gameplay is pretty linear. Find the objectives, kill cops and keep hostages, break into something or escort someone, and then hold out until you get to the final objecives. More and more cops keep piling at your doorstep and the AI is terrible, but that's why they have multiplayer, with 3 other friends you will have so much fun you won't come out of your room for 3 days. Difficulty is also a great thing, you can be a n00b and play on easy and normal, or become a pro and start out playing on hard and overkill (overkill 145+ is your level 145) and it rewards you alot of cash, literally cash. Cash is used to level up with, levels are called rep and there are 145 levels (193 if you have the dlc) and there is alot to unlock. Masks are also a neat feature, you have your basic clown masks but there are a ton more to collect, sadly there are some you can't get anymore. This game is defiently worth buying and you should not hesistate to buy, but get a friend or to aswell, cuz AI sucks.… Expand

After hours of playing this game, all I can say is wow. This game is amazing. It focuses on teamwork and communicating with each other. The gameplay is very face-paced as the police attacks you wave after wave and the more bulldozers, tazers, and cloakers come, the more tension you build and the more fun it gets. The graphics, in my opinion, are gorgeous. It's not Battlefield 3 or Crysis, but for a $20 game, you can't go wrong. There are some minor problems I have with this game, though. When you're interacting with something like reviving your teammate, fixing a drill, etc, it doesn't let you look around you and the mouse acceleration. I don't really mind the 1st one but Overkill is fixing that in Payday 2 which is great news, but mouse acceleration was a huge problem for me when I first got the game. However, I soon got used to this and Overkill has also been trying to fix the problem. I was saddened when I found out there were no mods available because of the engine the game is running on. Hopefully Payday 2 will be more flexible with mods and such. If this game was a $50 title, I would grab it. Amazing co-op game.
9/10… Expand