Posted in: Games, Movies, Video Games | Tagged: 505 Games, adr1ft, entertainment, Payday: Crimewave Edition, video games

A 505 Games Preview In Times Square – ADR1FT And Payday 2: Crimewave Edition

By Madeline Ricchiuto

505 Games had the beautiful vision of giving game reviewers the opportunity to play video games on the biggest screens imaginable and I was able to get myself a ticket. Their March NYC Showcase was held in the AMC theater in Times Square, which allowed us to play both Payday 2: Crimewave Edition and ADR1FT on movie screens- though ADR1FT was also available to play on the Oculus Rift.

Three One Zero's astronaut survival game ADR1FT is slated for PC and Next Gen. console use, but also designed to work with Oculus Rift and Morpheus. The game is more of an experience than anything else as you spend the game in absolutely blinding terror. The player character is trapped in the remains of a space station and spends the duration of the game's six missions trying to repair enough of the station to launch the emergency escape vehicle and return to earth, all while dealing with a dwindling oxygen supply and a leaky space suit. 505 Games' main page even describes ADR1FT as a First Person Experience because that's probably the best way to describe it. You do not play this game, it plays you.

The first concern you become aware of is your oxygen supply, or lack thereof. The O₂ meter is a fun health-meter-turned-fuel-gauge as oxygen allows you to move around in space and also keep your character breathing and alive. As the game progresses, you are able to make small repairs to your suit, so you spend less and less time scrambling around finding oxygen canisters, but each repair only makes a slight difference. It is obvious that much of the work that has been put into ADR1FT has been in making the experience feel real. Your character's breath is the only thing you consistently hear throughout and it changes depending on activity level and the state of your O₂ meter.

While ADR1FT is certainly a novelty and an enjoyable experience, the movement dynamic can be pretty disorienting, especially at first. You have to navigate in all three dimensions, which is made only more difficult when you realize that every movement causes you to lose oxygen, meaning every moment of uncoordinated flailing costs you quite a bit in resources. It gets easier as you get used to it, of course, but those first few shaky moments do a lot to add to the game's atmosphere. Or maybe I'm just terrible at navigating corners. That is always possible. I did, after all, die after getting stuck rolling on the floor of one of the rooms because an oxygen canister got stuck behind my character's body and I couldn't move very far.

Gameplay is definitely the focus here, as the plot of the game is driven by transmissions sent from Mission Control and the main station computer, audio logs from the crew, and news broadcasts from earth. So you get a nice idea of who each of the other crew members were as you scavenge the station for tech to repair. Really, most of the "plot" is just suggestions for how to move along in your exploration and repair of the station and world building. That being said, it doesn't really need much of a plot.

ADR1FT will be available in summer 2015 on Steam, Xbox One, and PS4. The VR release dates have yet to be determined.

Payday 2: Crimewave Edition collects the base game and all of the steam content to date, along with a few console exclusives. The Crimewave Edition marks the Next Gen. premier of Payday 2 and brings Steam's biggest shooter to the PS4 and Xbox One consoles. Payday 2 has seen 56 updates so far, both free and paid DLC, although what is interesting about Starbreeze Studios approach is that they don't split the community over DLCs. In order to play one of the DLC heists, only the game's host needs to own it. So you could play all of the DLC content without ever having to pay an extra dime over the $35 download price. That same courtesy will be extended to consoles as well and the XB1 and PS4 versions will also see the same kind of post-launch updating that the PC community is rather used to.

Payday 2's main gameplay is in the style of individual heist missions. All 10 characters are customizable with 130 masks, 90 weapons, and 5 skill trees. Each weapon is also customizable to further augment individual playing styles. The main purpose of the game is to allow the player to become the best thief, which includes forgoing character development and plot so that players can fill in those details for themselves.

In terms of gameplay, Payday is similar to most AAA shooters and has all the usual controls, however, it does offer a bit more adaptability for players in terms of classes. That being said, Payday's main draw is the four-person co-op gameplay, which is absolutely make-or-break. If you don't have the right people, or assign players to the wrong task, the game is incredibly more difficult. I would also recommend that players not go completely off script because they will be surrounded by security guards/cops and very easily murdered. Okay, going in guns blazing never was my strong suit, but I only had ten minutes to play the demo.

For those familiar with Payday 2 on PC, there isn't much added to the console versions to make it worth your while, and with the console crowd, there is quite a bit of competition. GTA and Battlefield: Hardline are adding their own heist-style gameplay, and those names do carry quite a bit of weight. Despite the wonkiness of the in-game geometry and quite a lot of bugginess, the game is absolutely fun to play. Yes, even while dying I found it enjoyable.

Payday 2 will be available in June of 2015 for PS4 and Xbox One, or you can play it now on Steam.

Madeline Ricchiuto is a freelance writer and editor with a fondness for comics, movies, and video games. She writes for TheBlot, examiner.com, and sometimes even print magazines.

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