Winback follows the exploits of Jean-Luc Cougar (Meloncamp?) and his attempts to win back (hence the name) the GULF satellite. The GULF satellite is a weapon that appears similar to Goldeneye from James Bond in the fact that it can cause mass destruction. Im not sure on the inner workings because I seem to have misplaced my schematics for the both of them, so youll just have to trust me on the similarity thing. The GULF satellite was taken over buy a terrorist group known as the Crying Lions who are bent on destroying US interests unless their typical terrorists demands are met. Cougars unit, the Strategic Covert Actions Team is charged with stopping the terrorists and regaining possession of the GULF satellite. Its not exactly an inspired story, but theres been much worse, so I cant complain.

Winback plays like a cross between Metal Gear, Time Crisis, and Syphon Filter, borrowing a little something from each series and making it its own experince. Winbacks control scheme, which initially feels very complex and clunky, allows Jean-Luc to perform a wide array of moves, once the controls have been mastered. Cougar can crouch, roll, sneak, hide against walls, place C4, and even pop out from behind a wall and cap an enemy. Jean-Luc apparently struggles with earths powerful gravitational field, as he cant jump, or push objects, or even climb over them, its just too much for him to handle. The game features a training mode which is almost essential to complete before starting the mission, or else youll find yourself riddled with bullet holes very early on in the game.

Why are the controls so tough? Its because each button has a specific purpose on its own, but it can also be used in conjunction with another button. For example: The square button presses Jean-Luc against a wall, the analog stick moves him along that wall, R1 will make him pop out towards and enemy, square then shoots, x reloads, and releasing R1 will make him head back towards the wall. Throw in the L1 button to crouch, and it is easy to see how things can get confusing in the heat of battle.

Hiding and then firing, a la Time Crisis is a huge part of the game. Crates, boxes, trailers, and walls litter the landscape, providing you with ample cover as you guide your hero across the level. Stealth isnt too much of a factor, but it is possible to sneak around and surprise the occasional guard here and there. Should you fail at your efforts to get by undetected, its no big deal because the guards arent packing a whole lot of brainpower. Once they discover you, their routine is activated and they will perform it until one of the two of you has died. They also shoot in pre-determined patterns with fixed intervals between shots, so its easy to time your actions and pop up and shoot them. Their locations are also all the same each time you pass through a certain point, and theyll respawn if you enter another part of the level and come back later. Killing some guards more than once seems like a pretty cheap way to add a challenge to the game, but cest la vie.

Progression through the game is very linear; theres usually one clear path to take and the times where the road forks you generally have to come back and take the other way regardless of your original choice. Sometimes it is tough to figure out certain objectives, and it can be difficult to find hidden items such as keys, because they dont stand out in the room. There are checkpoints spread throughout the level, but you cant save the game at them and then turn it off, that can only be done at the end of the level. The game is full of action, like Syphon Filter, but the objectives arent as entertaining.

There is a rather deep multi-player mode, but its more of a bonus than a purchase-worthy portion of the game. The main things holding it back are the games complex controls, and a style of game that isnt conducive to running and gunning, specifically the fact that you cant run and gun. Hiding around corners waiting for your opponent who is hiding and waiting for you isnt exactly the most exciting thing in the world. Eventually the match will boil down to a shootout between players that are just anxious to see someone die.

Its pretty clear that Winback wasnt designed with the Playstation2 in mind, and while it certainly looks better than the Nintendo 64 version, its not very pretty to look at. The biggest improvement is in the games texturing and draw distance. Character models are nicely detailed even on close inspection, even if they arent too varied. The levels themselves are free from the blurry look of typical N64 textures, but theyre not too different looking, and after awhile everything starts to look the same. Streets are barren, boxes are plain, and the indoor environments are so sterile itll put you to sleep. The camera, which caused so much trouble delaying the games original release isnt bad, but it still has lots of room for improvement. The main problem is when the camera gets at a certain angle that prevents you from seeing who is shooting you. Its possible to move the camera manually, but doing this, aiming, and hiding all at the same time is near impossible. This means that there will be many many funerals commemorating Jean-Lucs death at the hands of an unseen assassin.

An odd thing about the games graphical style is when you shoot a terrorist, theres no blood. Instead of a splatter of blood flying about, a flash of light emanates from the wound, similar to what is done in comic books. Theres no Pow and Blam like in Batman, but its very cartoony. Boxes will explode with a nice bang and dust cloud, which makes shooting boxes just for kicks a fun thing to do. The typical exploding barrel which is in every first and third person shooter ever created (this was mandated by NATO I believe), is here too. Although they arent much of a help due to the fact that you have a pistol with an unlimited supply of bullets meaning you never have to shoot the barrels in order to conserve ammunition. While the pistol has a never ending clip, Jean-Luc can also get his hands on weapons with limited ammo like: a shotgun, machine gun, C4, and a few other things. Its best to save the good stuff for the boss battles because its fairly easy to get through the levels with your little pistol.

Winbacks weakest point is certainly its audio presentation. Unlike the 64 version, this release has full voice acting in all of its real-time cinemas. Sadly, the acting is straight out of a B-movie, with poorly written dialog and equally inept acting to compliment it. All of the humor falls flat as well, except for many of the scenes which are meant to convey strong emotions; they tend to be pretty amusing, albeit unintentionally.

The games weapons are solid sounding, with the shotgun being the only exception. Instead of a big powerful blast, theres just a dull thud. A few times, the shot was so quiet, and coupled with the fact that I didnt hit my target, I wasnt a hundred percent sure that I had even fired the thing. The music is lifted straight from Metal Gear, in fact, anyone that passed by while I was playing and heard the game before they saw it thought I was playing MGS2. Thats not to say that its that high a quality of music, because its not; but it fits the mood well. If youve got a surround system, the game does make nice use of it by throwing all sorts of audio to the rear speakers. All in all, the games sound is decidedly uninspired.

There you have it. Winback is a solid concept, with some good ideas, but it falls far short of being a must-own game. With Metal Gear Solid2 so close on the horizon, theres not any reason that stands out to recommend this game as a purchase. Thats not to say that its a bad effort, but its many minor flaws, and lack of any true innovation can make it a tough pill to swallow after a couple of hours.