Payday 2: Crimewave Edition

“An enormously addictive smash-and-grab of excitement” - Robin Banks

Though it doesn’t exactly put the added power of the PS4 and Xbox One to full use, Payday 2: Crimewave Edition is the best-looking console version of Payday 2 you can get, and the best value on any platform for obtaining its wealth of downloadable content. It’s mildly disappointing to see the framerate capped, and that bots are still in the same state after all this time, but Payday 2’s deep mechanics and purity of vision still make it one of the best, yet most overlooked multiplayer games you can play today.

While not as innovative as it once was in the current gaming landscape, Payday 2: Crimewave Edition is the definitive Payday experience on consoles that will provide hours of multiplayer fun.

As a law abiding citizen, committing robbery is probably the last thing on your mind. That said, somewhere inside your deepest thoughts – whether you'd admit it or not – you've probably pondered what it would be like to throw off the shackles of society's laws, and turn to a life crime. In Payday 2: Crimewave Edition for the PlayStation 4 you can exercise your dark side, trying your hand at a wide variety of criminal escapades, all without the risk of having to explain to you loved ones that you might not be around for seven to ten years.

A content stuffed version of 2013's Payday 2, what Payday Crimewave Edition lacks in single-player allure and aesthetic sheen, it more than makes up for with its irresistibly compelling multiplayer heists.

When you awoke this morning, did you find yourself craving the adrenaline rush of first person combat, the thrill of planning and executing a masterpiece heist, or the morally questionable satisfaction of gunning down wave after wave of law enforcement? No? Well most people don’t. However, if the answer was yes to any of the aforementioned questions, chances are you may well want to stay inside today and play some Payday 2: Crimewave Edition. Just don’t go outside.

Overall, whilst Payday 2: Crimewave Edition is not perfect, it’s a unique title that offers an unparalleled co-op experience. It’s not short on content either, with a vast amount of jobs to complete across numerous difficulty levels that cleverly modify the objectives and enemy waves within them rather than just altering damage parameters. It’ll take a huge chunk of time to create the criminal mastermind you desire to be, but for those with the persistence and patience to work through its flaws it’ll be a rewarding journey filled with the joys of success and also the bitter taste of defeat. Ju...

We didn’t review the original release of Payday 2 – which is part of the reason why we are scoring this Crimewave Edition – but even then, this was a game with a lot of depth and variety to the scenarios it put you in, and that’s great fun to play cooperatively. Though it still has its flaws, the added content and changes that have been brought together in the Crimewave Edition build upon the original release and mean that there’s plenty of reasons to sink back into a life of crime.

No game has captured the thrill of the heist quite like Payday, which is why more than nine million criminals in training have flocked to the series since its debut in 2011. Rather than prep a new release for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, 505 Games is following the recent trend of porting successful games from the previous generation to the platforms with Payday 2: Crimewave Edition. The results are a mixed bag.

There is no excuse for an online co-op focused game to ship with the online side of things not working. It is even more inexcusable that a patch hasn't been released yet to remedy the situation. At the time of writing, the game has been available for three weeks and is still broken. Payday 2: Crimewave Edition is an embarrassing, broken release that should be avoided by consumers and is a black eye on the current state of video game publishing.