''Payback'' is a video game developed and published by Apex Designs. It was first released in 2001. It was followed by a sequel in 2012, ''

Payback 2 ''Payback 2'' is a 2012 mobile online multiplayer action game developed and published by Apex Designs Entertainment Ltd. It is the sequel to the 2001's ''Payback'', and was released on 4 October 2012 for iOS, became free-to-play in 2013, and ...

''.

Gameplay

The game is similar in gameplay to the original GTA, with new camera angles and more weapons being obvious differences. The player can use shotguns grenades, as well as weapons such as remote controlled cars carrying explosives. The game also supports four-player

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system ( couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

deathmatch Deathmatch, also known as free-for-all, is a gameplay mode integrated into many shooter games, including first-person shooter (FPS), and real-time strategy (RTS) video games, where the goal is to kill (or "frag") the other players' characters a ...

. The

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...

version includes eleven cities.

Development

It was originally a fan's project to make an

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore International, Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and sign ...

clone of ''

Grand Theft Auto ''Grand Theft Auto'' (''GTA'') is a series of action-adventure games created by David Jones and Mike Dailly. Later titles were developed under the oversight of brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut. It is primarily de ...

''. In the author's own words, "every effort has been made to ensure that Payback beats GTA in every way." The game was eventually expanded into a commercial release, and in 2002 Apex Designs announced plans to bring it to Microsoft Windows,

Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...

, and the

(GBA). The Mac version was speedily released, but there is still no word on the Windows version's released date. A version for the

GP2X The GP2X is a Linux-based handheld video game console and portable media player developed by South Korean company GamePark Holdings. It was released on November 10, 2005, in South Korea only. The GP2X is designed for homebrew developers as wel ...

handheld was released in 2006. Despite the game being a clone of GTA, even copying car names such as the "Mundaneo",

Rockstar Rock Star or Rockstar may refer to: Films * ''Rock Star'' (2001 film), an American film starring Mark Wahlberg * ''Rockstar'' (2011 film), an Indian Hindi-language film by Imtiaz Ali * ''Rockstar'' (2015 film), an Indian Malayalam-language fi ...

has made no attempt to stop Apex Designs from publishing this game, or warn them about infringing on their copyrighted materials. The GBA version was also finished, but Apex Designs couldn't initially find a publisher. After numerous failed attempts to get it published, it was not until late 2004 that

DSI Games Destination Software Inc., better known as DSI Games, was an American video game publisher and video game developer. Based in Moorestown, New Jersey, DSI is best known for publishing SNOOD. DSI published titles for the Nintendo DS, Wii, Game Bo ...

finally picked up the game. The GBA version received an age rating from North America's

ESRB The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings to consumer video games in the United States and Canada. The ESRB was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Asso ...

, however it didn't officially release there. An

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

version of Payback was announced on December 29, 2008 and released on January 28, 2009. It contains all the features of the GP2X version. The developers announced that it was going to be released on January 15; however due to a bug, it was pushed back to January 28. A behind-the-scenes report is listed on their website. A sequel to Payback, ''

'' for iOS and Android devices, was released on 4 October 2012

Additional content

The Amiga version allowed fans to make their own

maps (see the link below). These cannot be added into the GBA version, but a slightly modified 'Isla Nublar' map is featured as an unlockable bonus.

References

{{reflist

External links

Payback official site

(Mac and Amiga only)

2001 video games Amiga 1200 games Amiga games Android (operating system) games Classic Mac OS games Destination Software games Freeverse Inc. games Game Boy Advance games GP2X games IOS games Multiplayer and single-player video games Organized crime video games Video game clones Video games developed in the United Kingdom