First Look at Grand Theft Auto Advance

Starsmore writes "IGN has a first look at the new Grand Theft Auto for the Game Boy Advance this October. From what I've read of the article, it harkens back to the visual styles of the original Grand Theft Auto games, while taking gameplay advice from the newer versions."

Underwhelmed

[pommaq]

Okay, so with a dev time that long, why does the game still look like ass? The GBA can do a lot better - I was in the GBA development scene for a while, and found a game by Apex Designs (which is pretty much a one-man outfit, a crazily talented programmer by the name of James Daniels) called Payback [apex-designs.net]. It's in 3d with weather effects, night levels, explosions, the works. The gameplay is much the same as GTA, it's just a beautiful game - and of course, since it's on GBA and doesn't have a big-name license, it doesn't have a publisher. Looking at the GTA screenshots I'm not impressed and IMO they should've hired James or maybe just bought his engine outright. There's no excuse for graphics that crappy this late in the life cycle of the GBA.

By the way, if anyone knows what's happening with Payback, if he's found a publisher or just given up... feel free to reply here. I'd buy that game in a heartbeat if it was available.