Payday 2: The Ukrainian Prisoner Heist Review (ShadowAngel)
Payday really refuses to die, so instead, we get another DLC. Back in 2013 the lore was, that we are this near-invincible, undetectable group of super criminals. Now, in 2021, we really do look like a bunch of clowns. First we lose Bain and now Vlad gets kidnapped out of the blue. How did it happen? Nobody knows. Why did it happen? Nobody knows.
But who cares, when this situation leads to a lot of shooting, right?
Well, you can also sneak around, but who does that? Playing a First Person Shooter to sit around in a corner and sneak around guards is like playing Basketball without a Ball. So as always: I can't comment on the sneak stuff.
But doing it the proper way is a ton of fun and i have to say that this is by far the most sophisticated, diverse, interesting heist Overkill dropped. What happened? For years they were about as creative as a piece of stale bread and now we get this? Multiple paths to chose from? Different ways the mission can play out? So much replayability?
I've done this mission so far three times: Every time Vlad was in a different container, every time the paths were different (and at certain points you can choose 1 of 2 ways to go), in my last playthrough i didn't have to gas the guy in the locked up room, which i had to do before to access the warehouse, this time i just had to hack a computer. This is a crazy amount of variety actually.
And it gets bonus points for giving you the chance to zap Vlad multiple times with a Defibrilator.
And the mission is fun. Tons of cops, you go through warehouses, you fight on a ship and a harbour or you go another route and fight more between crates on roads and it takes long. My main criticism was always how short some of the missions are. 7-8 minutes and done - but not this time, it usually can take up to 20 minutes to finish this just once.
Also the assault music is pretty good, after a string of relative weak stuff after Simon Viklund left (Like that Le Castle Vania crap) things finally make a turn for the good
Also, contrary to other reviews, i didn't encounter any FPS-Drops, which is weird, considering previous heists, like the San Martin Bank stutter a lot, especially in the beginning, while this mission runs smooth all throughout. But nothing should be surprising about this crappy engine anymore.
Let's hope Overkill sticks to this mission style for the future and doesn't go back to tiny, cramped maps.
Absolutely reccommended.