WinBack: Covert Operations

Timed Nintendo exclusive

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.

Released: 23 September 1999
Platforms: Nintendo 64 PlayStation 2
Genres: Shooter Strategy Third-person shooter
Developers: Koei Tecmo Holdings
Publishers: Koei
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Third person
Themes: Action
Country: Japan
Age ratings: ESRB T
Languages: English, Korean

About

WinBack (known as WinBack: Covert Operations in North America and Operation: WinBack in Australia and Europe) is a third-person shooter video game developed by Omega Force (a division of Koei) and published for the Nintendo 64 in 1999, and the PlayStation 2 in 2000. The story follows secret agent Jean-Luc Cougar infiltrating a laser satellite's command center. Gameplay revolves around its innovative cover system, in which the player takes cover behind corners and then ducks out to shoot.

WinBack's cover system eventually went on to influence several later shooters, including Headhunter, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, (2001) and Kill Switch (2003), which in turn influenced games like Gears of War (2006). The cover system has since become a staple of third-person shooters. WinBack also featured a laser-sight mechanic that was later incorporated in action games such as Metal Gear Solid 2 and Resident Evil 4 (2005), and in turn would also become a staple of third-person shooters. The Nintendo 64 version received its first official re-release on the Nintendo Classics service on October 25, 2021. A standalone sequel, WinBack 2: Project Poseidon, developed by Cavia, was released on April 25, 2006, for PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

Keywords

modern warfare
espionage
multiple endings
modern military
cheat code
konami code
cover system
terrorists
ps2 classics
saving the president
playstation underground
retroachievements

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The game is a third-person shooter with stealth elements. The player must make use of the cover system to safely shoot various armed terrorists, with a variety of weapons (a sub-machine gun, shotgun, silenced pistol, rocket launcher), all needing ammunition found in the world, however the basic pistol has infinite ammunition. The player cannot move while shooting; instead, the control stick is used to aim, a task made easier by the fact that every weapon is equipped with a laser sight. Lock-on isn't required to shoot enemies, as the laser sight can be aimed freely when in aim mode.

Damage to enemies is indicated by three colours, blue to indicate superficial damage to limbs, green for chest for normal damage, and red for a critical headshot. The player can also perform a melee attack while not aiming a weapon, with an instant kill if the enemy has their back turned. The player's movement allows a crouch walk and dodge roll, but is not able to perform actions typical of the action genre such as jumping or climbing over chest high obstacles. There are basic navigation puzzles such as finding keys to progress, and dodging lethal lasers and finding their control box to disarm by shooting.

Story

A terrorist group called the "Crying Lions," originating from the fictional country of Saroczia, takes control of a space-based laser weapon. This is used to attack a military installation housing the controls to the weapon, called the GULF system. The leader of the terrorists calls himself Colonel Kenneth Coleman. The Secretary of Defense contacts the Special Covert Action Team (SCAT) with their orders: Enter the GULF complex and reclaim it.

Jean-Luc Cougar is part of the team, and the last to escape the helicopter being shot down. The player takes control of Jean-Luc as he leaps a wall and enters a parking lot. The team is scattered throughout the complex and you must find them and destroy the satellite control center before the GULF satellite laser can recharge and fire again. Along the way you will face a number of laser traps, puzzles, machine gun nests, ambushes, and mazes.

Development

Gamers' Republic noted that WinBack, along with Dynasty Warriors and Enigma, was an attempt for Koei to branch out from strategy games that they were known for. A gameplay demo of the game was presented at the 1999 Electronic Entertainment Expo and later at the 1999 Nintendo Spaceworld trade show.

Reception

The PlayStation 2 version received "average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Said console version did slightly better than the N64 version, with its improved controls and graphics, but the voice-acting was criticized. The PS2 version also did not release until 2001, while the N64 version was available Holiday season 1999. Chris Kramer of NextGen said of the latter console version, "The action is simple and the environments are not very detailed, but Winback [sic] is fun in an arcade-like fashion."

Jim Preston later called the former console version "a game with awkward controls and stiff action set in a boring world of boxes and bad guys. Skip it." In Japan, Famitsu gave both console versions each a score of 30 out of 40.