Payday 2

I'm gonna start off by saying I'm late with this and have no excuse except that I have been busy playing the game, which says things for the game. Payday 2 is the sequel to a fairly smaller game named Payday: The Heist, both being first person shooters which support 4 player co-op and centre around 1-4 people performing heists and trying to survive the police assaults long enough to complete the job and get away with the money. I'll start with the story, there is none. The story is as robust as it was in the first one, you have something you need to steal, you get it, and get paid. However they added multi-day heists, these are set up like you steal something on the first day, hand it off to someone the next day, and then depending on how many days remain in the heist you may have other objectives to complete, and depending on a day's success you may have to complete a small section where the escape vehicle crashes and you have to hold off the cops until a secondary vehicle arrives. That is as far as the story really goes. There are identified people who you are doing these jobs for and they kinda try to throw some story in there but it doesn't really take well.
Gameplay is about the same as the previous game, fast paced, waves of cops attack you in increasing difficulty as time goes on. The biggest difference is that stealth is a much larger part of the game this time around. Almost all of the levels allow you to complete them in some level of stealth. I'll give an example, one of the most popular maps, Jewelery Store, can be done in a few different ways. You can rush in, get the customers on the floor, steal the jewels, get out, that is the fastest but one of the most risky approaches because of people walking outside, security guards, someone not under control that calls the cops, etc. You can however sneak into the back of the store and drill a safe to get loot from it, and if you're lucky no body will hear anything, if a guard walks in on you you just punch them out and respond to their pager to make everyone think everything is cool. They definitely put more work into making the game more versatile for different gamers.
Another big change is an improvement upon the severely lacking rpg element from the first game. In the original you can pick from three skills which you want to unlock next, but it didn't allow for much choice. Now you have four full skill trees to choose from, Ghost which is a stealth tree, Technician which employs sentry guns and improves your drill, Enforcer which helps ignore damage and deal more out, and Mastermind which allows more assets and gives you more power when controlling a crowd which includes forcing lower level enemies to give up. In the more gameplay area, the weapons feel much more like real weapons this time around and in my opinion feel more real than any other modern shooter these days, they have a real weight and force to them, they sound powerful, and they are very satisfying. The weapons can be modified from sights to barrels to stocks and grips, which all affect the weapon's performance.
For those who have played the original, the masks are back, and in greater numbers. You now unlock masks, along with weapon mods and mask customization options, when you complete full missions. When you unlock a mask it is just a white/grey colour and you can unlock colours and materials to customize them with. Although it is all random so you never know what you may unlock.
So improvements over the original, addition of stealth, improved rpg elements, more customization, better sounding/feeling/choice of weapons, more variety of missions, much improved controls, now on the 360 as well as PS3 and PC.
Would I recommend this title? If you enjoyed the original then definitely get it. If you haven't played the first but are considering this one, I suggest you play the first and keep in mind all the improvements I mentioned here, it is very good but not for everyone. There is a lot of action so if you are crazy about action but not so much story then get it, if you are the opposite then don't get it. But I think the majority of people out there will enjoy this title, and it has been released at less than normal price than any other new release so why not right? Not enough people are playing this game, literally nobody on my friends list is playing it even though it is really great. If you want to see some good gameplay I recommend either Roosterteeth who just did a Let's Play of it, or The Creatures, specifically Nova, Kootra, Seamus, and Spoon, if you don't know who any of these people are look them up on Youtube, won't take long. That's it for now, stay tuned for my review of the new Blops2 zombies map, I have a rant about the newer zombies maps cooking up so look for that too.

Pay Day 2...nope

Ok, so I had planned to be writing a bit of a review/thoughts about Pay Day 2 right now but from what I understand the developer (or more likely publisher) screwed up and the games are being shipped late. This is what the girl down at Eb Games told me so who knows what the deal is. Either way, it is supposed to be coming in either Thursday or Friday so I may not get to writing about it until the weekend or after that. But late is better than never right? Also in the works is a write up on Crysis 3 which I'm sure everyone has played already but I know of a couple who haven't yet so maybe there are more who would appreciate my words about it. More updates soon.