I love NFS Payback and I love the Desert Theme, I love the year of 2017, I love everything about this game. But most importantly the engine sounds are so crisp and the soundtrack is fire, unlike NFS Heat and god awful NFS Unbound.

good story line

Pros:
- Decent driving

Cons:
- Boring story that makes very little sense
- Really bad dialogue that sounds like what boomers think millennials sound like
- Open world
- Annoying NPC cars will get in your way when completing challenges
- The best way to upgrade cars is with gambling, shops are almost useless to find the right 'cards'
- Engine parts replaced with 'upgrade cards'
- Extremely unlikable main characters
- Terrible writing, half the major characters are just called 'the [noun]'
- Lootboxes
- Nothing stops you from going and buying all the best upgrades immediately and breezing through the campgaign

Overall decent if you're just here for the racing but the writing, balancing, and gambling mechanics really weigh this title down.