"So I like to make a bet with people who play Payday 2," Overkill's David Goldfarb told me and three other journalists, shortly before unleashing us on the game, "about how long they can stay in stealth mode before they're spotted. I give you guys two minutes." Two minutes? I scoffed, picking up a controller. Two minutes? Pfft, you're having a laugh, mate. Just you watch. We'll show you how it's done. Our first mission was your standard, common or garden-variety assault on a sleepy suburban bank. Our target: the bank's vault, and all the sweet, sweet benjamins contained therein. It was a simple get in, get the cash, and get out affair. Couldn't be easier. Two minutes to remain unseen? Not a problem.

It turns out that two minutes was exceedingly generous. I don't even think we made it to thirty seconds before the first alarm sounded.



It wasn't me that set it off though. At least, I don't think it was - the devs did warn us beforehand that a suspicious bystander could tip off a guard, or that a bank employee could get too close and spot the butt of a rifle peeking out from under our civilian clothing. Whatever the reason, as soon as the ess haytch one tee hit the fan, we were forced to mask up and get down and dirty with local law enforcement, who had the building surrounded within seconds.

Clearing the room of any hostages and setting up a heavy drill to open the safe, we had to hunker down and keep the police assault and the waves of SWAT teams from storming the building. The cops had shot out the front-facing windows, so one of the team ventured out to the rear of the building and retrieved some old planks with which to board up the ones directly facing the drill, which was prone to breaking down mid-breach.

After what felt like an age, the vault opened. We were in and out in a flash, slinging duffel bags full of cash over our shoulders and legging it to the getaway van. Before starting our game, I had spent seven skill points in the enforcer skill tree - giving me the ability to carry heavy loads without being slowed down. Feeling a little greedy, I attempted to make a second trip back to the bank for the remaining bags. I made it about five feet before being gunned down, at which point my allies hauled me up, and the four of us boarded the van to make our not-so great escape.

But however messy the execut1on, we did manage to complete our mission to get the loot and get out of there. Our second mission, a three-part job beginning with a night time robbery of an art gallery, didn't go so well. David Goldfarb again betted on us reaching two minutes before the alarms were sounded, and again this proved to be massively over-optimistic.

After picking a lock to gain access to the gallery's public toilets, we passed a couple of cubicles before rounding a corner and finding ourselves nose to nose with one of the gallery security guards, who swiftly raised the alarm. That one I'm chalking up to bad luck and an NPC's tiny bladder. From that point, it took approximately three more minutes before we were shot to pieces by the advancing SWAT teams. Game over.



So spectacular was our failure that before attempting a restart, the dev team decided to unlock skill points and cash for us to spend on better gear. The upside to this, apart from making things exponentially easier, was that we got to take a peek at some of the game's rarer drops, including a Cthulu mask (which I immediately equipped, naturally) and the Dillinger death mask, an incredibly rare drop (someone mentions the chances of getting it are around one in a million) based on the real-life death mask of infamous bank robber John Dillinger. With better skills and equipment, our second attempt went much more smoothly. Equipped with a personal drill I was able to saw through the bars of each marked painting whilst my accomplices kept the heat off.

After making it to the getaway van, we triggered an additional, post-level escape sequence in which our vehicle was shot down by pursuing police, forcing us into a desperate shoot-out while we waited for a back-up chopper. These sequences happen somewhat randomly, according to Goldfarb, but if you take a more stealthy approach to missions, you're far less likely to have police after you by the end, minimising the risk of ensuing fracas.

Once our chopper arrived, we were borne away to the second stage of the job, where we sold the stolen paintings to a wealthy senator and art aficionado. The exchange itself went smoothly (again, there's an element of randomisation at work), but as soon as we attempted to leave, we were caught in a police ambush. Not all jobs require stealth, Goldfarb told me, and you won't begin every mission in an undercover state.

The final stage of the job was a frame-up - we attempted to double-cross the senator we'd sold the stolen paintings to by obtaining incriminating evidence on him from a personal laptop. Having wired his penthouse and gaining access to camera feeds, we snuck into the bottom level of the building and took out a patrolling guard silently. It was all going so well - we had even answered the dispatched guard's pager so as not to attract any undue attention. But a second guard had to go and spoil it all by seeing his dead buddy's foot sticking out from behind a door. There went those alarms again.



I think it was somewhere between getting shot on flights of stairs and being surrounded by SWATs with shields that I realised I had a newfound respect for bank robbers. Heistin' ain't easy. In fact, Payday 2 is damn hard, and exhilarating, and stupid fun. You suck to begin with, but you also get the feeling that every failure brings you that bit closer to doing things right. It's a good feeling, one that makes you want to retry a mission immediately after finishing it. One day, I'm going to make it to two minutes. Better get practising.

Source: Rheena.com