Payday: Aces High VR Review – A Heist Best Served With Friends

Payday: Aces High VR Review

Payday: Aces High VR is a co-op, action, heist shooter from long-time VR developer Fast Travel Games. It is based on the Payday franchise from Starbreeze Studios. VR is not an unknown element for the series, but Fast Travel Games’s involvement is.

It’s been thirteen years since Payday 2, so fans are understandably excited for Payday: Aces High VR. True to the franchise’s DNA, Payday: Aces High VR continues the franchise’s strengths and weaknesses. It works best if you can round up a couple of friends to play with. With friends, you can overlook the game’s poor AI for both partners and enemies. The structure of the game is based on a four-man squad, so there is no way to get around that and go it alone.

The Aces High squad comprises the four Aces. They are an elite group of heisters with access to bleeding-edge tech, black-market toys, and weapons. At the start of the game, business titan Warren Jupiter framed the team, and the authorities jailed them. There is only one thing on your mind: revenge. The best way to do so is for you to hit Warren where it hurts. His pocketbook. This means going after banks, museums, and his “untouchable” penthouse.

As with the previous games, you do missions with up to three partners in crime. According to the game lore, the four aces represent one suit of a deck of playing cards. Each ace has their own unique abilities. The Ace of Hearts, aka the Mastermind, is the brain of the team. The Ace of Clubs, aka The Ghost, is the silent team member. Like a ninja, they attack and leave before anyone knows what hit them. The Ace of Diamonds, aka The Technician, is the team gadget guy. They choose the special armaments to create the greatest destruction for a mission. Finally, there is the Ace of Spades, aka The Enforcer. The Enforcer serves as the team’s muscle and unleashes all their firepower on enemies once stealth is compromised.

Four Aces

However, the Four Aces don’t follow the game script. In single-player, you juggle all the duties because the AI of your teammates is terrible. In multiplayer, depending on team makeup, there is a tendency for one player to become the leader, no matter which ace they play as. A player’s functionality is more controlled by what loadouts they decide to go with. The team has a hideout where you can train, plan jobs, pick your tools, and then execute said plan. There are a lot of weapons to choose from, such as ARs, SMGs, shotguns, pistols, plus gadgets like grapple and sentry guns. With the cash and reputation boost earned from missions, you can use them to unlock the skills, gear, and toys that crank your heisting game up to the next level. The higher you climb, the greater the risk, but also the greater the reward.

VR is an interesting transitional phase right now. Players have clamored for game companies to add VR modes to AAA games for quite a while. The best path forward for VR would be for game companies to embrace hybrid versions of their games. A game should include both flat and VR versions. When Sony announced the PSVR 2 with technology seemingly designed to support hybrid games, it kindled VR gamers’ hopes. Alas, Sony has rarely allowed such a dream to be realized. Their only first-party game that supports VR is Gran Turismo 7. And it is such an amazing VR experience.

Several other game companies have provided VR versions of their games, sometimes funded by Sony. Capcom has provided VR versions of Resident Evil 7 for the PSVR 1. They also have VR versions of RE4 & 8 on the PSVR 2. There are also versions of No Man’s Sky and, most recently, Microsoft Flight 2024. All these hybrid versions are fantastic because they have the solid base of an AAA game. Most VR-only games lack the depth of traditional games because they have to work with smaller budgets. The smaller scope of VR only games is why VR gamers continue to plead for hybrid games.

Payday: Aces High VR demonstrates the smaller scope typical of a VR-only game once more. The game lacks the depth and polish of its flat-screen counterparts. Payday 2 offers a VR mode, and the difference between the two games is a testament to the value of hybrid games. It’s a bit of a bummer because Fast Travel Games is not only an accomplished gaming company but a solid VR developer too. They have created VR games such as The Midnight Walk, Ghost Signal: A Stellaris Game, and Vampire: The Masquerade. So Fast Travel Games knows how to make great VR games.

Best Played With Friends

Payday: Aces High VR works as a co-op game despite being saddled with sub-standard AI. If you get together with a group of friends, you can overcome the game’s shortcomings. The pace of the missions is frenetic as you work together to complete missions in the time allotted. Much of the tension of the game comes from enemies coming in continuing waves. It’s the number of enemies that can overwhelm you. Not the combat. Enemies just plant themselves in one spot once they see you and open fire. They take no evasive action and don’t flank you either. The challenge comes from the close-quarters environments and trying to complete mission objectives. Friendly fire is a non-issue too.

Single-player mode is unsatisfying because you have to not only deal with poor enemy AI but team AI too. It’s a double whammy of frustration.

Missions generally revolve around the same objectives. You break into the target area while trying to maintain stealth. I’ve never found this possible in either single or co-op mode. Things become too frenetic, so maintaining sight lines that keep you and teammates out of camera range is impossible. Once in, you need to break into the computer system to find needed info. You also have to open safes by finding the combination. The combo is usually near the safe. Dialing the combination is awkward as you do so with one hand. You cannot let go and often have to twist your wrist to the point of discomfort.

Once you gather the necessary info, the game switches to defense mode. Reaching payday requires you to use a big drill, which creates a lot of noise and draws enemies. While one player manages the drill, the others have to protect the drill operator. Once the players breach the stronghold, they must bag the loot and carry it to an extraction point. Then, to drive the point home to your jailer, Jupiter, you spray-paint the Four Aces logo as your calling card. From there, it’s a race to your getaway car, which ends the mission.

Risks & Rewards

After you complete a heist, the game rewards your performance based on several factors such as time and objectives successfully completed. With those rewards, you can purchase or upgrade weapons and tech. These rewards add incentives for you to improve your heist performance to earn bigger bonuses and take on more difficult missions. It’s a tried-and-true formula and works here, too.

Payday: Aces High VR is a mixed bag, but one that becomes considerably more enjoyable with the right crew. Playing solo is a hollow experience, largely thanks to the shortcomings of your AI teammates, while co-op delivers some genuinely entertaining heists. Frantically communicating with friends, calling for backup, and scrambling to protect the drill operator creates some wonderfully chaotic moments. The mission structure and relentless enemy waves provide plenty of excitement, even if the lacklustre AI and repetitive objectives hold things back. Ultimately, Aces High VR is a game best experienced with friends rather than alone. If you have a crew ready to pull off some virtual heists, there’s fun to be had. Otherwise, you might want to think twice before investing in this particular getaway.

***Steam Key provided by publisher***