Hey Guys! Today I am reviewing the £2.99 ($4.99) app, called ‘Payback’ by Apex Designs. ‘Payback is a critically acclaimed GTA-style game’.
When you tap the icon, that looks like this:
You will see a night-time scene, with ‘Payback’ in the top right hand corner. You will then see an ‘Apex Designs’ animation. Finally, you will see an Intro video – to skip this, tap the screen. When these have passed, you will see the main menu.
You have the options to:
Play
When you press this, you get the options of :
Story
You have to play all of the game.
Challenge
You have to get a certain amount of points
Rampage
Complete certain tasks that have been given to you
Load Game
Loads previously saved games
Profile
Change everything that your account on the app has:
Change Name
Change your name on the app
Create New
Create a new account on the app
Delete
Delete the account on the app
Options
Change the settings such as the camera height and a rotating map
Extras
This gives you the options to ‘View Intro’ ‘Credits’ and ‘Stats’.
Quit
Quit the application.
When you have chosen the type of game you would like to play (in the ‘Play’ Menu), you will see a spinning city in the middle, this is the level, if you tap on to the right of the screen, you will see a different level, but this one has to be unlocked. The first level that you see, is the only one that can be played – before you unlock any. Press play, underneath the spinning city.
You will then see the name of the level. Then, you will see something like this:
How do I move?
You have to press the arrows on the right of the screen, up is forward, down is backwards.
How do I punch/shoot people?
To punch, you just tap the ‘punch’ button at the left of the screen, to shoot, you have to have a gun, tap the top left of the screen (to change the weapon). Then press ‘Fire’ – where the ‘Punch’ button was.
When you start the game, you have to go to the phones, to receive your first challenge. When you are at the phones, just walk up to one, and you will then receive your instructions.
You are told that you will get to the challenge faster, if you drive. To do this, you have to walk up to a car, then press ‘Enter Vehicle’ on the left of the screen. When you are in the vehcle, you will notice that the ‘Punch’ button on the left, changes to ‘Horn’, if you are in a Police car, it will have changed to ‘Siren’.
How do I move the car?
Exactly the same as walking, up is accelerate and down is reverse.
When you get to the location of the challenge (by following the arrow) you will be given instructions on what to do.
Have you had any problems with the app?
It has crashed once, and that was the first time that I had launched it, after downloading it. Apart from that, it has been perfect!
What is coming in later versions of this app?
There should be:
- A much improved minimap
- An easy way to restart missions
- Built-in instructions
- Optional new camera angle
- Support for different device orientations for more comfortble use
I am looking forward to the much improved minimap, as the one that is used now, is extremely hard to understand!
What have other people said about this app?
‘Payback is a solid GTA-clone for the iPhone. Lots of guns, lots of driving, and really, really solid graphically’ – Gizmodo
‘Payback could well be the best GTA Clone you’ve never heard of… there’s absolutely no reason not to get in on this superbly crafted videogame’ – 91%, GamesTM (GP2X)
This is probably the most addicting iPhone app I have ever played. The graphics are great and the types of challenges vary so much, that you want to keep playing just to see what the next one is! Even though it is £2.99 ($4.99), I would recommend it to anybody – especially if you like GTA.
You can download the app here (US)
Or here (UK)
