WinBack: Covert Operations

"Metal Gear Solid WannaBe"

Winback: Covert Operations is an action, espionage game that leaves a little something to be desired

Story 7/10 (Nothing original)- A terroists group hijacks a bomb and threatens to use it unless their demands are met. A group of elite forces called S.C.A.T. are called in to fix the problem. You take the role of a man named Jean-Luc

Sound 6/10 (gunshots gave it a higher score)- The sound effects are top noth as far as gun battles go. The different guns do sound like they would in real life. The sound effects for people, however, is acking. when you blast an enemy it sounds like he is throwing up. The voice acting (as usual for most games) sucks. Like onimusha, you can turn on japanese voice, with english subtitles, but that doesnt really help.

Gameplay 5/10 (lack of guns, disappointing multiplayer really hurt this score)- This is sort of a high point for metal gear solid lovers. It seems like the makers played the metal gear solid 2 demo before they made this game. Jean Luc can peep around a corner, jump out and shoot, then return around the corner. He can also tuck and roll while running.
The controls are good. Jean Luc moves in the direction you move the buttons. However, the gameplay can also be a low point. You get 4 (Count them FOUR) weapons to choose from in your inventory. A handgun ( sometimes with a silencer but you dont get to keep it. Once you use all the ammo in the silenced one, you lose it), shotgun, machine gun and rocket launcher. And what makes it more cheap is the fact that your regular handgun (not silenced) has unlimited ammo!!! All you do is reload. Although this is the weakest gun, it takes away from the challenge in the levels. I think a high point for this game would have been multi-player, but it disappoints. Since it isnt a first person shooter, multi player is played in the same way as the game. It SUCKS. Alosi in mult-player, when you shoot someone, they go mario like and become invicible for a period of about 3-5 seconds. So you CANT shoot them while they are blinking. Again this could have saved the game, but....

Overall 6/10 (Averaged between the three fields I chose to cover- I would have rather waited until Metal Gear Solid 2 came out. A lot of reviews I read made so many mentions to metal gear, so I picked it up thinking it would cure my fix until mgs2 came out. quite the contrary, it made me want the real thing more. Rent first. It isnt worth 50 bucks unless you have played it and like it.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 04/25/01, Updated 04/25/01