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Winback Review

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 21
Date: May 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Winback For The PS2 is a Sad Excuss for a game i liked it better when it was called Metal Gear Solid This game Tries so hard to be Metal Gear it is sad..The graphics are PS1 Quailty and the game play is Horrible you can barely move there is no side straf and it takes 3 gun shoots to kill anyone thats if you player does not auto aim straight at a wall in many cases He does...

This game Get's a big controller Down... Dont rent dont buy DONT PLAY! -{_{V}_}aDness

If you like 1st person shooter games you will hate this game

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: September 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is the worst shooter game I have ever played. Weapons are pathetic, movement is akward, and aiming is purely painful. When I see the name KOIE on any other game I will certainly know not to by it. Seeing the 4 star average rating on this site makes me think that most of these reviews are bogus.( Has anyone ever seen a game with a poor rating on this site? I have not. This game diffenitly deserves a zero.) It disgusts me that there are games of this crappy nature allowed on the market. Give me a break.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A Good Game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: August 13, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is a good game with excelent graphics. I think that the environments could be touched up the slightes bit though. I am disgusted at the people that think that winback is making metal gear solid quiver in its rubber soled boots. Ithink that Solid Snake makes Jean-Luc look like a boy scout. I also think that Jean-Luc is a fairy princess. Even thoght I would never be in his position Snake is a better overall charachter. Eny one who is praising Winbak should take a peek at the Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty demo included in Zone of the Enders. I think that some of the more realistic elements make for bad game play like the ablity to hlod only a few clips at a time. Even tough my reveiw is negative twords this game try it any ways.

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.

Fun Controls and a Killer Bot Mode

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 21 / 24
Date: May 04, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I first rented and played Winback for the Nintendo 64. Since Koei, the makers of the popular strategy series Romance of the Three Kingdoms, had never made a shooter before, I wasn't expecting much, but, though it wasn't a great game, it was fairly good. Now Koei has released Winback on the PlayStation 2, and they've even added a few things.

The graphics in this Winback have been updated from the N64 version as you might expect; they don't take advantage of what the PS2 can handle, but they do look a lot better than before. Music isn't great either, but it does fit the game's situations, and when you take damage and are near death, the music changes and becomes faster to express the urgency. The story in Winback kind of reminds me of the movie The Rock: some madman acquires the use of a powerful weapon, and you and several other special forces units are sent in to attempt a forceful recovery of the weapon before it is put to use. Depending on how fast you are and how few times the weapon strikes, you will receive one of three endings. The story could have been better if the characters were developed, but they weren't, so every time a character is killed--and they are killed a lot--you don't really care.

The one-player Story mode in Winback is pretty simple. It is divided into 31 stages, where you basically move forward by eliminating enemies. Puzzle-solving is limited to involving the player in finding the key to a locked door or destroying the source of a laser trap that blocks the way. The rather dry simplicity of the gameplay, however, is made more enjoyable by the variety of moves you can perform. Imagine yourself with your back against the wall of some building. You slide along the wall, come to its end, and carefully peek around the corner. An enemy! You remain calm and check your surroundings. From where you stand you can only see a lone crate that may be of help. Suddenly, you swing around the corner, blast a couple shots at the baddy, and make a mad dash for the cover of the crate. By now the enemy notices you and has his gun aimed in your direction. You've almost reached the crate when you hear his gun go off, but a quickly executed somersault barely saves you from the fast approaching bullets. Keeping your head down behind the crate, you wait until the firing stops. Finally, silence. The enemy must be out of ammunition and in the process of reloading. You take this advantage and come out from hiding, prepared to take down the enemy. But as soon as you're about to take your shot, you spot two enemy reinforcements coming to their partner's aid. That's when you see it! A crate filled with explosives, right in the midst of the enemies. You pump it full of lead and watch the explosion as it sends your enemies to their feet. It's moves like these that make the game come alive.

In Winback there are two battle modes to choose between: Versus Mode and Bot Mode (added from the previous N64 version). Versus is a battle that can be played by 2-4 human players, in one of nine arenas, in any of six different modes of play. Among these modes, two worth mention are Death Match and Cube Hunt. The first is standard fair for multiplayer shooters: each player's objective is simply to eliminate the other player(s). In Cube Hunt, each player must collect seven different colored cubes; taking damage means losing a cube, which the player will then have to find over again. Bot Mode is only 1 or 2 players and is played the same way as a game of Death Match, except that there can be computer-controlled characters and there are always two teams. You can play this mode by yourself against an army of bots, or you can play on a team of bots against another team of bots. Two players playing Bot Mode can play against each other with an assortment of bots on both their teams, or they can work together on the same team (with or without bots) against a team comprised solely of bots. Sadly, Bot Mode only has five arenas, but they are different from the nine you can choose from in Versus Mode, and a couple are fairly large. Also, it should be noted that there are a good deal of options to customize your battles, from adjusting the strength of weapons, to changing the difficulty of bots; you can even choose from over 20 characters.

Winback may not be a Metal Gear Solid, but for Koei's first attempt in the genre, it isn't bad. Probably the worst thing in Winback is the artificial intelligence, especially in Story mode. An enemy confrontation typically unfolds as follows: you swing out from behind a wall and draw the bad guy's attention; you then swing back behind the wall for cover and watch the enemy stupidly discharge a magazine of bullets at the spot where your head was a second ago; a real person placed in the computer's shoes would next either close in and destroy you or seek cover for himself, but the sick AI continues to stand there like a sitting duck until a couple more stolen shots around the corner have finished him off. This isn't to say the game isn't a challenge; the enemies' unnatural actions just make it seem a little silly. Still, Winback is a good game and is probably one of the best that you can get for the PS2 to date. If you already have the N64 version, this is just one to rent, but if you don't, this is a solid buy.

It'll Tide you over Until Metal Gear Solid 2:Sons of Liberty

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 13
Date: March 17, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I have played both the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation2 versions of Winback. They are quite similar but just different enough for people to take a look. The graphics have been totally souped up making it look very nice. The controls are easy to use, definitely easier than the Nintendo 64s controls. If you have played and beaten Winback for the Nintendo 64 you might still want to give this game a try the easier controls make for an enjoyable gaming experience and with the improved graphics this is quite some eye-candy. The plot hasn't changed at all and is just a revamp of the one for the N64. PlayStation2 owners who are fans of the Metal Gear series will enjoy this game and it will get them ready for Metal Gear Solid 2:Sons of Liberty.

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