EA spent a portion of its E3 conference today highlighting gameplay footage from its upcoming Need for Speed game, Need for Speed Payback. But if you thought it seemed strangely similar to, well, quite a few Fast and Furious movies, you’re not alone.
You’re also not wrong.
From parts of the dialogue that were included in the gameplay segment to actual moments from the heist seen in the video above, there are scenes that are almost identical to some Fast and Furious movies. For example, there’s a scene in Payback where one of the characters, who appears to be the lead female role in the story mode, says to her male counterpart, “Get me close to the truck and I’ll take care of the rest.”
Those who know the Fast and Furious movies may have smiled, like I did, because it’s a scene that we’ve seen time and time again in these movies. In fact, there have been similar lines delivered in the original The Fast and the Furious, where there’s not just one, but a few different truck hijacking scenes. In fact, even the way the main character from Payback leaps from the car onto the truck she’s trying to take over is eerily similar to sequences from that film.
To make it easier to visualize, here are a couple of GIFs comparing various moments from the Fast and Furious franchise to Payback.
The truck jump
As previously stated, this is the scene that most strongly evokes The Fast and the Furious. Yes, there are some differences. Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) kneels on the hood of the moving Dodge Charger for a little bit before leaping. Both, however, manage to get ahold of the external ladder on the truck and move their way up the moving vehicle.
This particular scene occurs in Fast and Furious, the fourth movie in the franchise.
And here’s another one from Furious 7. Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) isn’t jumping onto a truck, but he is jumping onto a bus in a very dangerous situation. Not unlike the Payback GIF below.
And here’s the scene from Payback shown off by EA earlier today. The Charger has been switched out for a Ford Mustang GT, but you get the message.
Foreshadowing the truck in question
Before you can have a heist, you have to include shots of those involved with the heist preparing, plotting and sometimes even posing thoughtfully on the side of the road. It happens in almost every Fast and Furious movie, and people will be happy to know that it also happens in Payback.
In the first Fast and Furious movie, the person who watches as the truck drives by gives the heads up to Johnny Tran’s (Ricky Yune) crew that they should prepare for their hijacking attack. The way the film introduces the scene, with the truck driving by and the dust swirling around him, shares a few elements with the scene below. The only thing missing is a Mustang GT.
The goal of each scene is the same: to introduce the truck that will ultimately be attacked, giving the audience or player an inclination of what’s to come. Foreshadowing — it’s a thing!
Here’s the scene from Payback.
This isn’t to say that Payback is completely inspired by the Fast and the Furious franchise, but there are a number of similarities that are undeniable. If this means that Need for Speed Payback is going to feel like a Fast and Furious movie, it may just be one of my most anticipated games of 2017. Based on what we know — the story will be action-oriented and focus on three main characters — it seems all the more likely.
Need for Speed Payback will be released on Nov. 10 for the PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One.
