Payback (Game Boy Advance) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

For some years now gamers have been following the developer?s diary on Apex Design?s website as they tried to achieve the impossible: A fully realized 3D city on the GBA. Obviously this has been touched on before in a handful of GBA titles but it was the sheer ambition that kept the developer in the headlines not to mention the similarities to Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto which, at the time, was deep in development hell. Payback had its own problems though so even when the game was completed it was some time before a publisher was found and even longer before it finally landed on our desk. What is strange though is that after years of waiting both of these crime-based games are hitting the shelves within weeks of one another and as GTA already has a huge fan base, Payback (as an original property) clearly has a bit of a challenge ahead. Comparisons aside the review is all about Apex Design?s first handheld effort. So, is it any good? We certainly want to know.

Gameplay

Payback involves you playing a lone underworld figure eager to rise through the ranks of the big players in crime. To achieve this you must prove yourself to 'the boss'. Your objectives (single or collective) are always relayed to you in a phone call and success means financial rewards. Earn enough money and you'll move on to another area or even another city. These missions start out simple enough with tasks such as racing around the city streets or collecting money and delivering it but quickly escalate to more difficult and dangerous missions. One good example of this is the truck filled with explosives, which not only has to be delivered within a time limit but also without too many collisions. Another is the fact that you're by no means limited to every day modes of transport and some missions require you to take the controls of a speedboat, helicopter and even a tank. To become a true mobster it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with the sizeable cities because although there's an arrow indicating where your current objective lies there's generally a short cut that will get you there in half the time.

While this all seems pretty straightforward you do have a small problem: the law. They're not too bright though and even mowing down a handful of hapless law abiding citizens is not nearly enough to tag you as public enemy number one. This is mostly that because your wanted level is based on how much death and destruction you cause in a given time frame and wandering around the street looking for people to run over takes minutes rather than seconds. Throw a grenade into a crowd on the other hand and you'll have every member of the local police force wishing to take you down with little in the way of mercy. A multiplayer mode (for up to four gamers) has also been included but as this is just based on who kills most in a given time it's hardly a huge selling feature. Finally there's the save and while this is automatic it's only available at the end of each completed city and not, as you might expect, after each mission. Clearly this can be a little frustrating especially when you keep running out of time or blowing yourself up.

Controls

While the control system is reasonably responsive it's not very intuitive which will initially cause you countless problems especially when you?re on foot. Stuff like to walking backwards when you mean to go forwards or, more annoying, blowing yourself up because you've unwittingly tossed a grenade at your feet happened almost every time we picked up the game. Cars or indeed any vehicle appear to skid even at very low speed and regardless of the weather conditions but this is all manageable when put along side the 'on-foot' sections. It's probably another example of the 3D engine here receiving most of the developers? time and while it doesn't render the game unplayable it certainly makes it more challenging.

Graphics

Considering this was originally an Amiga title (although I also have it on my Mac) the visuals here are very impressive indeed. The environments are well designed and the frame rate is never compromised although given the amount of time Payback was in development this was to be expected. This is also evident in the various menu systems with sizeable objects constantly rotating as you make your selections and while you could argue that these are simple 3D models with little in the way of texture or detail do remember this is a GBA you're dealing with here. Looking closer at the cities you'll notice some nice graphical touches too, cars leave skid marks as you tear around a corner and the explosions must be seen to be believed. The intro should also be mentioned on the plus side, as it's been some time since a game has featured such a stylish front end. There are disappointments though like the lack of cut screens or indeed any visuals promoting a storyline of any description and all directions are given through simple on screen text. There are no faces, talking heads or images of locations, nothing and whether it was due to time or space constraints the overall atmosphere definitely suffers from these glaring omissions.

Sound

Music wise the developers have attempted to recreate the type of soundtrack which will be forever linked with cheesy 70s cop shows and while this is generally fine within the context of the levels it's certainly not the best composed audio we've heard recently. It also appears to completely drown out the sound effects too with the odd car horn or tires skidding the only things you're likely to recognize over the drone. Dialogue is conveyed with by never ending phone babble and after a few minutes you realize that the lion?s share of the development was clearly given over to refining the 3D engine with the audio something of an after thought.

Final comments

While Payback is technically very impressive what it lacks is any real personality and this ends up making the missions, and the whole game, a bit of a chore rather than hugely entertaining, as I'm certain it was designed to be. The lack of any real storyline or purpose doesn't help and makes the whole thing feel a little disjointed without any real aim or direction. The bland missions are another problem and not one of them come close to the inventiveness or indeed humor you'll encounter in GTA. Even so Payback is a solid enough game that showcases just what the GBA is capable of, so if you have the opportunity take them both for a test drive at your local gaming store. As for a recommendation it's all really down to personal preference but there's no doubting that Apex Designs have produced one of the most technically spectacular titles on the GBA to date.

Pro: Great Explosions.
Con: Uninspiring Missions.
Final score: 6.5

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