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Winback for the PS2 is an okay game..

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: August 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

WinBack takes the player through the heart racing adventure of Jean-Luc Cougar, a member of the elite anti-terrorist squad S.C.A.T, as he & his team attempt to stop a terrorist group called the "Crying Lions" from using a space sattelite to blow up random spots on earth. But did his team bite off more than they can chew??

I'll start off by saying this game is wicked repetitive, but it is fun. To start off your main weapon, the handgun, has unlimited ammo and will quickly force you to choose it as your weapon of choice. You run around as Jean, doing rolls, aiming with the R1 and firing with the X buttons, pressing up against crates & walls for cover, flicking switches, blowing up laser boxes, shooting more terrorists een though you are heavily outnumbered (usually 4 or 5 against one), and collecting the very small array of generic weapons - a shotgun, an assault rifle, and a silenced handgun. Oh, you also get a flashlight later in the game.. dont know if I should mention that.

There is a "Bot Challenge Mode" where you run around (depending on the challenge) either alone or with a computer controlled bot and fight off other teams of bots. I believe there is 20 challenge missions? Whatever. As you beat them you unlock characters to use in multiplayer mode. Hah, multiplayer mode is where the real fun is at. You and, if you have the multi-tap adapter, 3 friends can go either toe to toe in a free for all or a team match in a variety of stages where anything is cover and you can jump over railings and what not. Its really fun.

Sadly, the enemies attack patterns are bland and very predictable. You pop out from cover, shoot two or three times, take cover again, and the enemies shoot once or twice, then stop and stand there as you jump out from cover and repeat the whole process again. Unfortunatley, the aiming system doesn't really help out in a lot of spots. Lets say there is a guy standing on a ledge above you who poses the biggest threat, and there is a guy below you - more than once I found myself jumping out thinking I was going to aim at the ledge man only to find my gun pointed at the ground guy. Sure you can manually aim, but by the time you begin raising your handgun or whatever up you have already been shot once or twice. You'll hit them only if your lucky, or you'll die first.

What I thought was really cool in WinBack was the fact that you ran into your entire team as you progress in the game.. and almost all of them die in some brutal way or another, but after witnessing their deaths you (the player) feel you must avenge them. Take the guy Law who, after forcing you to go onto an elevator alone because enemies were coming and he insisted he would slow you down, fights & kills all the terrorists after sustaining a few more wounds.... then as he sits down to recoup, Cecile (one of the main enemies) comes and caps him right in the head. Or take Mike Hawkins, the fat pony-tailed demolitions expert in SCAT, who opens an elevator and catches a whole clip of rounds by a boss right in front of your eyes. Although there is no blood, and the enemies blink & dissapear as if it was on the NES system, the game is pretty violent and really helps add realism to the game.

The voice acting takes away from the realism of the game, sadly. There is almost no emotion in any of the characters exept the generic terrorists who scream "STOP!" or "HOLD IT!!". Jean-Luc in particular sounds unenthused and straight up bored in every cut scene. I guess I can't say too much figuring N64's WinBack had no voices just dialouge boxes. However, the music, although many don't like it, sounds pretty good. It is a sort of an eerie techno beat which, I guess, helps add darkness and hart pounding sensations to the atmosphere.

Generally speaking the graphics are alright. The character models of the SCAT members look really good & smooth compared to WinBack's N64's release. The stages are massive and pretty detailed with graffiti sprayed around and boxes and ladders and stuff scattered around.. did I mention the levels were massive? The terrorists look pretty interesting, but look good all the same. However, some of the bosses, look lame - like this big diesel guy with a huge .50 caliber machine gun.... and a purple shirt. Come on now.

I'll tell you straight up this game is hard and pretty long (31 missions), with only a handful of checkpoints scattered in each level. Boss fights are hard where, just like in Spartan Total Warrior, you'll fight the boss in a small room while fending off against a bunch of other average terrorists while avoiding exploding barrels or lasers. Other times you'll enter a narrow hallway with two large windows on your right and left and as you walk into the room enemies come pouring in behind you, to your sides, and in front of you and all you have to use as cover is speed, rolling, and a single box. Oddly, if you take too long or take too much damage, it actually effects the ending. My ending for this PS2 release was garbage - my entire team got killed except the geek Keith. Jean-Luc & Keith stand on a helipad, waiting for a chopper above them to evac them outta there. WinBack Mission Complete!!

Once you beat the game, depending on your score and what difficulty you played it on, you can unlock "Max Power Mode" (which is basically infinite ammo for each gun), or "Trial Mode" where you pick a level and run through it as fast as you can to test your speed.

To finish this lengthy review, I am going to suggest if you like shooting things, are a fan of the N64 version, or simply want to see how your entire team dies then play through WinBack: Covert Operations atleast once. Although hard, the game can be & is a fun, interesting experience.

Solid...But Could've Been More

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: September 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I got into this game when it first released for the Nintendo 64, but always knew that it never reached its full potential. Koei was gracious enough to remake this game for Sony's then-new console, but they didn't take enough time in some spots.

STORY
---It's not like this really matters, as is the case with most of Koei's games, but basically the terrorist Crying Lions take over a base that controls a weapons-satellite, and it's up to the SCAT Team to take them out. In the right hands, there's a good story buried here somewhere, but you could argue that about any plot. As Jean-Luc Cougar, you are separated from your team after a helicopter crash and take out an infinite number of enemies while reuniting with them. The presentation also loses a few points because even after the cutscenes with multiple characters, you will embark on the missions alone --- there's no team combat whatsoever. It's almost as if the story was injected after the levels were done.

GRAPHICS
---Thankfully much better. The models aren't very crisp, but the bolder and darker colors make this game look better than the N64's faded appearance. The character models move believeably enough, such as when Jean-Luc takes cover and aims with that tactical hotshot accuracy. There could've been more animations, plus the level design isn't much to brag about. Also, during cutscenes the characters' mouths don't move. Better than the N64 version, but a somewhat incomplete & minimal look.

SOUND
---The music is fitting, even though it's a little repetitive. None of the game is going to invoke an emotional response, but there are some cool techno beats that get the job done. The weapons all sound fine, but feel arcade-y as opposed to realistic. Then again, "Medal of Honor" had just broken the audio barriers a year before the N64 version was released. The voice-acting, however, is absolutely pitiful. Do I prefer this terrible acting over the N64's silent substitles? Well...yeah --- but only because it's so horrible that I laugh uncontrollable every time I hear it. The emphasis is on all the wrong words, and resembles a first-year foreign language course. Still, for pure camp value, I forgive the shortcomings. What can I say...it's a KOEI game.

GAMEPLAY
---This is where the game's strengths lie. You will engage in a ridiculous amount of shoot-outs with smart AI and backtracking...and you will probably enjoy all of it. Somehow, this repetitive & simple gameplay manages to keep the fun level high. Also, "WinBack" follows a timeless cliche' --- "If there are bad guys, you're going the right way." Because the game has a few weapons (each with its own strategic purpose) and AI that will not mess around with you, the intensity rarely lets up. There are some tough bosses, but the difficulty is challenging, as opposed to annoying. There are some control issues that were never resolved. In fact, I think the game is harder to play on the PS2 controller versus the N64 controller. The N64 had that genius Z-trigger button, but there is a tutorial that helps you play (along with more of that horrible voiceover work). What never worked out fine, though, was the close-up combat. It's clunky, unresponsive, and an absolute mess. Thankfully, you'll only be fighting hand-to-hand if you can't shoot fast enough, so take the CQC as your punishment for not avoiding it. There are a couple of multiplayer options, but none of them are truly great. Still, a solid single-player experience with some nice multiplayer fun thrown in.

OVERALL
---"WinBack" has always been a solid and fun experience. KOEI fixed the look of the game, as well as the sound quality (except for the voice-work). But it still doesn't feel refined enough to recommend a purchase. The game is too rough around the edges, and the gameplay doesn't have enough variety in it. There's simply no reason to buy it if you have any doubts whatsoever. Worth a rental, maybe even a purchase of 20 dollars or less, but don't rush to play it. "WinBack" isn't a great game, but it's slightly more fun than it looks.

good idea, fell short though

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: March 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

this game has a pretty good idea for the plot but the story sucks. the graphics were pretty good as well and some of the thing you can do are cool ex. hide behind walls and pop out and nail someone in the head. the lasers on some levels were annoying one hit from them and you're dead also they're HARD to avoid. there were also only 4 different weapons and all of them do the same damage. I wouldn't reccommend this game unless you're a real fan of shoot'em up games.

Worst game I have ever played, actually second worse

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: October 13, 2003
Author: Amazon User

So get this, I play this game on normal the second to last level. Meaning one more and it was the final boss. I went through hell.

The game has you go through really tough things, and really boring environments. The hard part of the game is really the backtracking. I never needed a strategy guide, but jeez man what is this. Once I got underground, I had to backtrack like 8 times.

So the second to final level had me going under lasers again. After I narrowly got by the lasers, I had to go on a catwalk to a small room. There was no cover across the catwalk, and it was easy to die. I ran across for my life to the room which was to the right of the catwalk. Right when I step in the room a missle comes at me and I lose all of my health, and my place. I had to restart from before the lasers.

The games mechanics are fine, the bots are boring though. The longer you play, the more times the nuclear bomb thingy goes off. It went off once during my whole time, and that was right before getting to the underground.

The game itself is boring. I hated bactracking, and I hated how the enemies always had the upperhand. It was relatively easy somewhat, but powerups and life refills were hard to find, so alot of the time I was at low health, knee deep in baddies.

Again, the backtracking is horrible. But also the lasers. My gosh, you have to avoid these lasers on a roof and at the second to last level. The lasers are HARD to get by. You have to do split second reactions.

You can only save once a level is complete, so get ready to make commitments. You can't reload from continues so you better finish that level.

Again, I hate this game for making the second to last level so hard. Honestly, keep the level of difficulty at medium. How hard is it to make the game easier. Koei decided to make all that time I spent worthless, o and there was no way to beat the guy with the rocket launcher unless I had thousands of health, or a cheat on. I will never cheat, so that is that.

Bad Story, Fun Game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: July 09, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game relies heavily on MGS, but nevertheless it is fun. The story stinks, the graphics do not live up to what PS2 can handle, and the voice overs are cheesy. Plus you really don't care when the other charachters die. The idea for the plot is good, it was just poorly executed. But, this game is fun because you can do things that you cannot do in any other game ex: pop out from behind a wall or from a box. There isn't enough weapons to play with but the ones you get are adequate to get the job done. If you like games for the storyline then I would not reccomend this one. But if you are into games for how fun they are you will like this one. Even if you never play the story mode, multiplayer and bot mode will provide you with hours of fun.

great game w/ incredible bot mode and 2 player

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 24, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Well i would like to say this game rocks from the graphics to the game play to the verses mode to the bot mode.this game is up to 4 players (in verses mode) so if you have some friends over it is lots of fun.My older brother isnt that great at the game so he just watches me play.you can never run out of amo because yuor handgun never runs out but you only have certain amout for the shot gun (which kicks) and the machine gun (which also kicks).the levels are beatable but might take 2-4 times to pass them which is good because you arent really stuck on a level for a week usually so it doesnt get boring.I find it funny when they say danm or bastards or what the hell but i wouldnt recomend it for kids under 10 because the controlls might be to hard.

Best game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 14, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Please dont listen to the people saying this game [is not good]...It is one of the greatest PS2 titles ever. You will never get tired of multiplayer, and the single player is fun as well.

Go buy this game!

OKAY GOOD ENOUGH

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 11, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is actually a pretty good game. When you are playing it it quickly becomes evident that this low budget sleeper hit(what some call "The Poor Man's Metal Gear")is very repetetive in its style of gameplay. But this action game still manages to be a lot of fun. Borrowing heavily from Metal Gear in its story and gameplay it is an action oriented game with plenty of things to blow up as you venture through the game. The game plays more like a cartoon than the more serious themes such as in Metal Gear so the game is more acceptable to kids but is fun for all ages.

This game stinks.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 6
Date: February 18, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is the worst game I have ever played. Stay away from this game, don't waste your money.

Winback

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: February 02, 2002
Author: Amazon User

winback is an awsome game! First off you can hide behind crates and jump out and shoot someone. And bot mode is very fun to you can team up with your buds and shoot each other, how cool is that. well one player mode was kind of hard for me but to those of you who liked Metal gear solid you are going to love this.

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