Winback? Is that another new OS? Review

Winback? Is that another new OS?

When you hear “secret agent,” which is the first supercop to come to

mind? Gabriel Logan? James Bond? Solid Snake, perhaps? But how many of you remembered

Jean-Luc Cougar, the star of Koei’s espionage action game Winback: Covert Operations?

He may not have the suave demeanor of Mr. Bond or the

mullet of video game’s most popular Snake, but if you tilt your head to the

left and squint, he vaguely resembles one of the N’Sync boys.

Way back in 1999, Winback became Koei’s first title released for the

N64. Now for the next generation in video game consoles, the game has received

a massive spit-shine. Though its core remains virtually unchanged from the original

N64 game, the PS2 version looks better than ever.

The short version of the story has a group of terrorists hijacking a super

weapon that can cause massive destruction on an unprecedented scale. Naturally,

this is a bad thing, so an “independent government agency” calls in their best

agents. While en route to the target, the team’s chopper explodes, scattering

the entire team. What a bad way to start off the day.

As Jean-Luc, your mission is to find the rest of the team and stop the terrorists

at all costs. Not the most original plot line, but it’ll do.

The game kicks in with the actions of Jean-Luc. By now, many of you have seen

the demo for Metal Gear Solid

2 where Snake pops out from behind corners to surprise the enemy. Well,

the original Winback is where it all got started, being the first espionage

style game to feature this type of gameplay. Like any semi-realistic one-man

army game, running out into the open against six machine-gun-toting enemies

will get you killed, so lots of time will be spent rolling, ducking and covering.

But unlike Metal Gear, Winback is not really stealth-based.

You won’t be going out of your way to keep things quiet. In fact, things can

get pretty loud. Explosive crates, canisters, and your stash of C4 all tend

to make things go boom.

Unfortunately, the selection of other weapons is pretty slim. You start off

with three common guns that seem to be in every super spy’s arsenal – the average

pistol with unlimited ammo, a machine gun and a shotgun. From there, you’ll

work your way up to a rocket launcher, but there’s really not much in between.

It would have been nice to see a little more creativity in the weaponry, as

the most useful weapon by far is the basic pistol.

The act of shooting the enemies is actually a lot easier than it looks. The

press of a single button can “lock on” to a target and make life a lot easier.

At first, the movement controls seem a bit daunting, but after just a little

practice it shouldn’t be a problem. However, you might as well raise the white

flag when enemies rush you. If several of them are able to get in close, it’s

really hard to get a bead on them all before someone puts a bullet in you. Retreating

is pretty much the best solution in this case.

The camera also causes the occasional snafu. There are a few instances where

the camera gets locked in a precarious position or just plain freaks out, which

is irritating and can screw up your game.

You’ll definitely need all the help you can get due to the abundance of terrorists,

who would love to make you have a very, very bad day. The AI running these guys

is mixed. Some enemies will dodge your bullets and duck behind boxes. Others

will stand by as you blast their buddies around the corner. I guess those were

the guys who fell asleep in terrorist school.

Also falling asleep in terrorist school is the sound team. It’s easy to tell

that the voice actors are trying hard to make it into the “B” movie leagues,

with fake emotion dripping from every line. But the end result is just dorky.

All your base

are belong to us!

Sound effects are also a bust with the ratta-tat of a machine gun coming out

like the plink of a BB gun. Stop, or my kid brother will shoot!

The visual effects department did a much better job. The graphics in Winback

are a vast improvement over the original. It’s nice to see that Jean-Luc’s move

to the PS2 included a face-lift. Movement is also pretty good, with accurate

animations for all of Jean-Luc’s actions.

Interestingly enough, Koei has decided to bestow us with a few multiplayer

games in addition to the main story driven mode. Whether it’s cooperative or

versus, you and up to three friends can share in all the gun battle glory.

And if that wasn’t enough, you’ll be pleased to learn that Winback

contains three different endings. Three cheers for replay value!

When all is said and done, Winback: Covert Operations turns out to

be a decent game. Neat gameplay is marred by a tough camera system and the lack

of interesting toys is a letdown, but the game is a solid appetizer for another

certain espionage game that’s on the way.