WinBack: Covert Operations
Reviewed by Henry Sun
How do you like to play a Metal Gear Solid type game on Nintendo 64, but
with better graphics and sound. Well one of the newest and
hottest games right now is Winback for the Nintendo 64 console. I don't
want to given anything away, but i will say that the story line is
pretty cool. When you start the game you control the main
character name Jean-Luc Cougar, he is a handsomely built
young man (like any main characters are actually not), but
anyway you get the point. You are able to pull off more than 50
moves, and shoot everyone, unlike in Metal Gear you must
sneak around. This game although surprisingly fun, does not
compare with the overall game play of Metal Gear Solid.
Graphics 10 out of 10
The graphics of the game is really really good, even without
the expansion pack it is the epitome of all games. Like all
Nintendo 64 games there are not many FMV sequences, but the
game play graphics are great. Although at times it gets scratchy
when you look at things from a distance, but hey who's perfect.
The details are really good, and the movement is superior to
anything I have ever seen. The FMV are way better than the
ones from Metal Gear. I still remember how scratchy they were.
I always wondered with my friends if the makers of Metal Gear
didn't have enough memory to the result of all the talking.
Music and Sound 8 out of 10
The music and the sound is not as glamorous as it can be, but
none of the Nintendo 64 games have this anyway. The Music is really
repetitive, and can be really boring if you just listened to them.
Fortunately, while playing this intense game, you would not
care for it too much. The sounds are pretty good, but they
lack in volume and they need to be more 3D ish. Overall the
music and sounds are not perfect but you can certainly live with them.
Game Challenge 10 out of 10
There is a lot of thing to master in this game. For instance
you have to learn how to work with the auto aim (Down C), it
is harder than you think, and u need to figure out how the move
the camera angles, not to mention u have to aim really slowly.
You have to learn most of the 50 moves in order to do well in
the game. But one you have learned just about everything it is
quite worth it. You are able to pull off almost anything (a little
better than Metal Gear), and the aiming isn't that bad, it has a
laser thingy too. The good thing is, the game starts off really
easy, so you have time to master the moves without playing
the training. At the beginning the enemies are quite stupid, but
don't be fooled, they become vigorously smart later on.
Game Play-Fun 10 out of 10
The game play is really good, you get addicted to it as fast as
you can say addiction. I mean it can compare with any of the
greats, such as golden eye and Zelda. You get to use several
different weapons, and with each comes advantages and
disadvantages. The game play is very realistic. I love to use
explosives (C4) in this game. Is it ever fun. You can shoot up
creates to damage enemies, and hide almost anywhere to catch
them by surprise. The Multi player is a joke. It is really dumb, I
don't wanna even talk about it. In four player you can't see
much, and every time u shoot someone, they flash and become
invincible for like two seconds, but they can shoot you.
Rumble Pak 8 out of 10
There isn't too much to say about this, every time you do
something it shakes a little, and when you get hurt it shakes
even more. I wouldn't waste my time using the rumble pak,
it gets annoying at times.
Frustration
There are several points in the game that frustrated me,
some of the guard lasers are really annoying, and during the
later levels the enemies get too smart. They sometimes
pretend to die, and when you walk by, they get up and start
shooting you. The save points during a level are hard to come
by, and also you restart when you die with the same amount
of life you started with.
Replayability 7 out of 10
There is not much replayability, unless you like to challenge to
harder things, for one thing it will get stupid the second time
around. One reason is that, it is too hard to get yourself to
play the really hard levels again if you already beaten them.
And since during the first time around you had to play some
missions over and over again because you die pretty quickly.
One shot in the head, you are good as dead.
Game Value 8 out of 10
If i were you, I would borrow the game after a friend has bought
it and played it. I wouldn't buy a game if I was only going to play
once, like RPGs you would not want to buy this game, unless you
knew you wanted to play it more than once. Besides the
Multi player is really stinky, and there is no value like Goldeneye.
Overall 9.5 out of 10
This is a game that you definitely would want to have a chance
to be able to play. Once you played it you would not want to put
it down. You get that crave to play it when you are at school,
and unlike some games that make you sick after an hour or so,
this game you can just sit there and play until your hands hurt.
From a 16 year old point of view I loved this game.