WinBack: Covert Operations

"Sure, single player is above average, but multiplayer SHINES!"

Winback: Covert Operations is a first-year Playstation 2 game that is often called a Metal Gear Solid 2 and a Syphon Filter clone. As much as I have to agree, I still think that Winback is a good game regardless of its certain parts taken from other espionage games. I will admit, this is not exactly a perfect 10 game( it is a perfect 7 game), but It can be a serious load of fun for you and a friend. Oh yeah, you can also do it by yourself, but it isn't nearly as thrilling this way.

Gameplay:8

Boy, this was a tough decision, since most of the problems and most of the great things about this game fall into this category. The single player mode puts you in the boots of a cool(yet not nearly as cool as the ultimate Solid Snake)secret agent named Jean-Luc.You must travel through bland yet pretty interesting locations. These locations get tedious after a while though, since they kinda look a lot alike. There are plenty of soldiers that need a good bullet to the chest, all of which can either be as stupid as a rock or absolutely berserk and nearly impossible to kill. There are some pretty cool elements to this game like jumping off rails and pressing up against walls. There is nothing as satisfying as picking off a cocky sniper from a balcony, able to walk out in the open and scream to the world your bravery. It does get a little restricting with only four weapons. However, the multiplayer mode is great. Bot Mode pits you against a ton of enemies, all in which you must wipe out in an arena with either a computer friend or another human. My brother and I had a blast with this.

Graphics: 7

Nothing special here, yet some of the screenshots can be quite impressive. I enjoyed it all, but you aren't getting what the PS2 can really do here.

Sound: 8

Not much to say here. The sounds are great. The bulletshots are really cool. It sounds like you are in a heated battle when you are, guess, in a heated battle. The music didn't do much for me though.

Control: 6

Jeez, the developers could do better than this! The slowness of your character is terrible and leads to numerous death. The game has horrible use of the analog sticks. I can't spend a day with this without fumbling up the control. Still, I might be overexaggerating. It really isn't terrible. The button layout is good.

Story: 7

They didn't hire a pro writer here, but it was satisfying. I really don't see anything too bad with the mediocre script, except that it is a mediocre script. People will enjoy the suspense plot, but don't go buying it for the story.

Buy or Rent? People should probably rent it first, but if you did buy it, disappointment will not come to you. I enjoy playing this really cool clone of Metal Gear Solid 2. Just kidding, it isn't that much of a clone. Buy it or rent it, you can't go wrong.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/30/02, Updated 01/30/02