A terrorist group calling itself the Crying Lions is about to take over the world with its mighty satellite and Jean-Luc Cougar is the only one who can stop it. As Jean-Luc, a covert operative working for the Strategic Covert Actions Team, you are responsible for taking back a Lions-controlled base and regaining power of the satellite. Some of the weapons you'll have to acquire and use to defeat the terrorists are handguns, shotguns, and machine guns, though you'll also need to access such materials as explosives, detectors, flashlights and medical kits in order to succeed. A refreshing take on the traditional action game, WINBACK requires as much stealth and strategy as it does reflexes and use of weaponry. The game features six different multiplayer modes, supporting up to four players: Death Match, Lethal Tag, Quick Draw, Cube Hunt, Team Battle, and Point Match. You select your difficulty level and you can even start off in a Tutorial mode to get the controls down.
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Played this as a kid on the N64. It was ass then and it's ass now. Controls suck man.
when they say first cover-based shooter they fucking mean it
No idea why this got the luck to be translated in italian alongside Mario Party 2 and the majority of the Pokémon games for N64 lmao
Anyways: if you get used with the controls it's a pretty fun third-person shooting experience!
Anyways: if you get used with the controls it's a pretty fun third-person shooting experience!
What’s most impressive in Winback’s design is it’s dedication to it’s groundbreaking ideas. For being the first third-person cover-based shooter, it’s extremely confident in a gameplay philosophy that has never been attempted. All the combat is no-frills cover shooting, and it exceeds at it better than any game since. The third-person cover-shooter genre was pioneered and simultaneously peaked at the exact same time; the absolute zenith of the genre.
Yes, Winback: Covert Operations is that good.
Pulling off consecutive headshots in Winback is a state of gaming euphoria only matched by the Issen in Onimusha or counter launchers in God Hand; A technique that requires finesse over such a simple mechanic. You can either try subtlety adjusting the thumbstick with precise movements, or just hold up and time your shots exactly depending on the cover you are exiting from. Either way, it’s immensely satisfying. Enemies can eat more than half a clip from your handgun if you don’t hit the head. Standing out of cover while dumping bullets down range is a recipe for taking heavy damage. You die quickly in Winback. You will not survive in the long-term if you run out of cover and dive around like Max Payne.
One of my favorite things a game can do is incentivize the best way to play. The most fun way to play should also be the most effective way, and this is certainly the case with Winback. Not only does Winback reward extra points for headshots (known as “lethal hits”) at the end of each level, but it’s also the most effective way to ensure your survival through each stage. Staying in cover, meticulously popping off quick headshots, limiting your exposure to enemies, choosing the most effective weaponry for the situation and positioning yourself in a preeminent line of sight in the level geometry is not only paramount to survival, but also the most rewarding way to play.
Another impressive aspect of Winback is the classic Japanese-style level design that they have flawlessly intertwined with the addicting combat. While not being a confusing game, the level design isn’t a linear batch of corridors filled with chest-high walls like you might expect. Winback has puzzles, backtracking, and smart level layouts that keep the experience from becoming stagnant. Reoccurring mechanics such as destructible boxes, switches, and laser traps combine together to create some fun little brain teasers in between the encounters. I cannot stress enough how brilliantly paced Winback is. While the game never changes substantially, it does continue to combine its’ gameplay elements, as sparse as they are, in new and engaging ways.
However, I do believe that Winback could have benefited from a bit more variety. What's here is near flawless, blasting through a dynamic array of ever-changing combat encounters, escalating puzzles, and the occasional boss battle, but that is all there is to the game. Winback manages to avoid becoming boring or tedious; in fact, it remains far from it. However, the game is surprisingly long, clocking in at over 12 hours. Winback could have been further enriched with the inclusion of another puzzle element to add to the mix, some sort of reoccurring mini-game, or even a few player-influenced set-pieces.
While the environments here lean on the drab side, with office buildings, factories, and sewers sharing a generic and similar color pallet, the arcade aesthetic shines through to dampen the environment’s shortcomings. Enemies are color coordinated and act differently depending on the color. Some might have different weapons while others may be more aggressive and rush you. Additionally, where you shoot enemies dictates the color of the hit effect. Even the UI is arcadey, with individual bullets representing your ammo count. Its all obviously inspired by rail gun shooters at the time, such as Time Crisis and Virtua Cop. In a lot of ways, Winback is Time Crisis in third-person form.
Winback is still the best cover-based shooter because it avoids all the pitfalls that made all the 7th generation chaff so uninteresting – no waiting around in cover for regenerating health to come back, no tedious encounters that feel identical to the last, and no uninvolved scripted events. It maintained player agency and effective level-design, establishing itself as the pinnacle of a genre yet to be fully realized.
Also, please don’t play the PS2 version. Now that I’ve played the N64 version, I realize how brutal some of the changes are. The AI is terrible for the level design and achieving headshots has had all the skill stripped out of it. The PS2 version is really not worth it. Play the N64 version or don’t play it at all.
Yes, Winback: Covert Operations is that good.
Pulling off consecutive headshots in Winback is a state of gaming euphoria only matched by the Issen in Onimusha or counter launchers in God Hand; A technique that requires finesse over such a simple mechanic. You can either try subtlety adjusting the thumbstick with precise movements, or just hold up and time your shots exactly depending on the cover you are exiting from. Either way, it’s immensely satisfying. Enemies can eat more than half a clip from your handgun if you don’t hit the head. Standing out of cover while dumping bullets down range is a recipe for taking heavy damage. You die quickly in Winback. You will not survive in the long-term if you run out of cover and dive around like Max Payne.
One of my favorite things a game can do is incentivize the best way to play. The most fun way to play should also be the most effective way, and this is certainly the case with Winback. Not only does Winback reward extra points for headshots (known as “lethal hits”) at the end of each level, but it’s also the most effective way to ensure your survival through each stage. Staying in cover, meticulously popping off quick headshots, limiting your exposure to enemies, choosing the most effective weaponry for the situation and positioning yourself in a preeminent line of sight in the level geometry is not only paramount to survival, but also the most rewarding way to play.
Another impressive aspect of Winback is the classic Japanese-style level design that they have flawlessly intertwined with the addicting combat. While not being a confusing game, the level design isn’t a linear batch of corridors filled with chest-high walls like you might expect. Winback has puzzles, backtracking, and smart level layouts that keep the experience from becoming stagnant. Reoccurring mechanics such as destructible boxes, switches, and laser traps combine together to create some fun little brain teasers in between the encounters. I cannot stress enough how brilliantly paced Winback is. While the game never changes substantially, it does continue to combine its’ gameplay elements, as sparse as they are, in new and engaging ways.
However, I do believe that Winback could have benefited from a bit more variety. What's here is near flawless, blasting through a dynamic array of ever-changing combat encounters, escalating puzzles, and the occasional boss battle, but that is all there is to the game. Winback manages to avoid becoming boring or tedious; in fact, it remains far from it. However, the game is surprisingly long, clocking in at over 12 hours. Winback could have been further enriched with the inclusion of another puzzle element to add to the mix, some sort of reoccurring mini-game, or even a few player-influenced set-pieces.
While the environments here lean on the drab side, with office buildings, factories, and sewers sharing a generic and similar color pallet, the arcade aesthetic shines through to dampen the environment’s shortcomings. Enemies are color coordinated and act differently depending on the color. Some might have different weapons while others may be more aggressive and rush you. Additionally, where you shoot enemies dictates the color of the hit effect. Even the UI is arcadey, with individual bullets representing your ammo count. Its all obviously inspired by rail gun shooters at the time, such as Time Crisis and Virtua Cop. In a lot of ways, Winback is Time Crisis in third-person form.
Winback is still the best cover-based shooter because it avoids all the pitfalls that made all the 7th generation chaff so uninteresting – no waiting around in cover for regenerating health to come back, no tedious encounters that feel identical to the last, and no uninvolved scripted events. It maintained player agency and effective level-design, establishing itself as the pinnacle of a genre yet to be fully realized.
Also, please don’t play the PS2 version. Now that I’ve played the N64 version, I realize how brutal some of the changes are. The AI is terrible for the level design and achieving headshots has had all the skill stripped out of it. The PS2 version is really not worth it. Play the N64 version or don’t play it at all.
Not sure why people call it the 64's Metal Gear, it's mostly a pretty straightforward shooter rather than a stealth game. And the ancestor to all cover shooters at that. Get it if you want to shoot bad guys with a cheesy and fun plotline.
I'm being very generous with this 9/10. It's a forward thinking, ahead of the curve cover shooter that frankly does it better than every single other one despite being the first real one. Amazing action movie schlock, great soundtrack, very cool vibes though the environments are drab. The basic core gameplay and feedback is great. The encounters keep putting new twists on things, and the game is very long. I like it a lot, also apparently a big involved multiplayer mode I won't bother with.
Except... the last like third of the game is a total slog and is basically built around ignoring or outright breaking all the systems of the game and making you play antithetical to how you were playing before, and basically forcing you to become hyper aware of spawn points and metagaming them. A lot of shootouts in tight hallways with like 5 guys that is just a grind with zero skill, or you walk into a room and a cutscene happens and five guys spawn behind you. I wouldn't mind this if these were bonus hard mode missions and I kinda suspect they were made that way originally, but got shoved into the main campaign. Out of extreme mercy I am ignoring this and instead judging the game on the first twenty or so missions.
It's a visionary game, it influenced just about every thing ever, it's cool, it's fully featured, it is very fun, it keeps pulling out new tricks constantly, ... it's just the last third is a total chore. This rating isn't just about game quality, but its total impact on video gaming in general so I think it deserves it. Give it a shot, you probably will like it.
Except... the last like third of the game is a total slog and is basically built around ignoring or outright breaking all the systems of the game and making you play antithetical to how you were playing before, and basically forcing you to become hyper aware of spawn points and metagaming them. A lot of shootouts in tight hallways with like 5 guys that is just a grind with zero skill, or you walk into a room and a cutscene happens and five guys spawn behind you. I wouldn't mind this if these were bonus hard mode missions and I kinda suspect they were made that way originally, but got shoved into the main campaign. Out of extreme mercy I am ignoring this and instead judging the game on the first twenty or so missions.
It's a visionary game, it influenced just about every thing ever, it's cool, it's fully featured, it is very fun, it keeps pulling out new tricks constantly, ... it's just the last third is a total chore. This rating isn't just about game quality, but its total impact on video gaming in general so I think it deserves it. Give it a shot, you probably will like it.