Games You May Have Missed: Winback Covert Operations
An early PlayStation 2 arcade style shooter, Winback Covert Operations took fans through a maze of boxes and shipping containers.
Welcome to Games You Might Have Missed. A look at games that didn’t necessarily sell a lot of copies but may be worth a few bucks and a few hours. In this edition, we look at the arcade shooter, Winback Covert Operations
Did You Miss Out on Winback Covert Operations?
In this edition of Games You May Have Missed, we plug in Winback Covert Operations as gamers step into the boots of Jean-Luc Cougar, who is part of the United States Special Covert Action Team (SCAT). The game was developed by Omega Force and published by Koei in North America and Japan, and by Virgin Interactive America in the PAL regions for the Nintendo 64 and by Midas for the PlayStation 2 in the PAL regions. The game was released in 1999 into 2000 for the Nintendo 64 and in late 2000 into 2001 for the PlayStation 2.
Gameplay
Winback is an arcade-style shooter. Gamers are armed with a handgun that has unlimited ammunition as well as a shotgun and sub-machine gun that have limited ammo, and are replenishable through in-game drops. Other weapons, such as a silenced handgun, C4 explosives, and a rocket launcher, are discovered throughout the game.
The game heavily relies on a cover system. The environment has boxes (some destructible, some explosive, and some indestructible) and shipping container-looking objects throughout the in-game universe. Gamers are encouraged to swing in and out of cover to confront enemies. Clicking the action button once near a box, crate, or wall will put Jean-Luc into cover, holding the button will swing Jean-Luc out of cover, and releasing the button will put him back into cover.
Various checkpoints activate throughout the 31 stages in the campaign. If a gamer dies during the campaign, a 20-second countdown will appear on the screen. If continue is selected, the campaign will pick up at the previous checkpoint. If it counts down to 0, they are returned to the main menu.
The gameplay is relatively simple, with no side objectives in the campaign. The goal is to utilize cover to outgun the enemies. The game also has laser traps in various locations on the map. Getting caught in the beam of one means instant death. Some require rerouting through the current level to disable them, while meeting enemies along the path.
There is a good amount of backtracking in the game as the primary objectives change. Most of the game takes place around the main building that has been sieged by terrorists, and the immediate surrounding areas. You will go through areas multiple times with different box and laser trap configurations, requiring different strategies to advance.
Plot
A group of terrorists called the Crying Lions hijack the GULF building, which controls a military laser weapon that fires from an outer space satellite. The terrorists use it to take out a government space center and threaten to fire the laser again if their demands are not met. Their demands are for all military personnel removed from Sarcozia (a fictional country that the group originates from) to apologize publicly for the invasion and promise never to get involved in the geo-politics of Sarcozia again.
The SCAT team is sent into the building to take back control of the system and eliminate the terrorists. Their helicopter is shot down on the way in, and Jean-Luc is the last to jump out of the chopper with the team leader, Dan Stewart, still on board, just as the helicopter goes down.
Jean-Luc gets to the building and meets up with some other SCAT members. Along the way, he runs into SCAT Matt Brown, who is taken down by a sniper in front of the GULF building just after he and Jean-Luc meet up. The team had orders to meet up at the express elevator to get to the control center for the laser. After Matt’s death, Jean-Luc continues to press towards the elevator.
Jean-Luc and teammates Tom Smith and Jake Hudson get to the door leading to the elevator only to find out the terrorists have changed the access code to get to the elevator. Tom and Jean-Luc head to the security office to try and get the access code while Jake guards the door. Along the way, they discover that 5 explosives have been set throughout the building, and the team pivots the objective to disabling those while Tom figures out the code for the elevator. SCAT member Lisa Roberts finds her way to Jean-Luc and the others to guard the elevator while Jake and Jean-Luc hunt down the explosives. After the final explosive is defused, Jean-Luc goes back to the security room to check in on Tom. Just before entering the room, he sees what looks like a SCAT uniform close and lock a door next to the security room. Jean-Luc enters the security room to find Tom dead from a gunshot wound to the back and the new code written in his blood, a move he made in his dying moments to assist his team.
Jean-Luc gets to the elevator and inputs the code to get to the elevator room. A boss battle takes place in the room in front of the elevator; at the end of the fight, the elevator to get to the control room is damaged beyond repair. The team now has to pivot to the backup freight elevator to get to the control center. When Jean-Luc returns from the boss battle, teammates Mike Hawkins and Keith Birdy have joined Lisa and Jake. The group sets out to meet with Steve Legal and Law Bruford, who were ordered to secure the freight elevator at the start of the mission.
On the way to the elevator, Steve is discovered dead from multiple shots to the back, just as Tom was. Jean-Luc runs into Keith, who is suffering from a leg wound. Keith sent the rest of the team ahead of him and ordered Jean-Luc to do the same. He finds Law at the freight elevator, who is gravely injured, and sends Jean-Luc to meet up with Jake, Lisa, and Mike. Law uses the controls to send Jean-Luc down and fights off the terrorists as the elevator makes its way down, before being shot in the head by one of the terrorist leaders. Before he sends Jean-Luc down, he notes that no one has seen Dan since the helicopter crash.
Jean-Luc makes it down to the control area where he meets up with Mike. The elevator is not working, and they need to go reset it in the control room. They receive a radio call from Jake and Lisa, who are surrounded by guards and need to get to the fourth floor to get the elevator working again. Mike is killed en route, and it is up to Jean-Luc to get the elevator working. This is where the multiple endings come into play. The endings are triggered depending on how fast Jean-Luc is able to get to the control room.
Endings
Best Ending
A shootout takes place between the Crying Lions’ second in command, Cecile, and their enforcer, Deathmask. Jake is killed in the shootout, and Lisa is knocked unconscious and taken hostage by Cecile. Cecile betrays Kenneth after realizing that their plan is not likely to work out due to the pushback, making it this far into the facility.
Jean-Luc reaches the statelite control room and encounters Team Leader Dan, who is revealed to have betrayed his team and killed Steve and Tom. It is revealed that he and Kenneth are lost brothers, separated during the Saroczian civil war. Dan also killed Cecile as revenge for him betraying Kenneth. Dan gives Lisa the instructions for destroying the system before knocking her out again.
Jean-Luc kills Dan after learning of his betrayal as Lisa regains consciousness. Deciding that the GULF system is too powerful for one country to handle, Lisa, Jean-Luc, and Keith destroy the weapon and are evacuated from the complex via helicopter.
Normal Ending
The ending is similar to the good ending, but the main difference is that prior to the battle with Deathmask, Cecil fires the weapon and destroys the Pentagon. It is not clear if Cecil is killed by Dan or escapes in the chaos of the battle between Jean-Luc and Dan. The mission is a partial success as the weapon is destroyed, but the Pentagon is destroyed in the process.
Bad Ending
Jake and Lisa are killed in the generator room, and by the time Jean-Luc makes it to the control room, the weapon has fired twice, destroying both the White House and the Pentagon. Jean-Luc kills Cecile and confronts Kenneth, who ultimately shoots himself. Jean-Luc and Keith escape the facility with the mission failing.
Critical Response and Legacy
Most of the criticism for the game was aimed at the boring and repetitive setting, as well as the controls and camera. The PlayStation 2 version’s voice acting was also criticized. Overall, the game was met with average reviews, with many agreeing that with some more polish, the game could have been an instant classic action shooter title.
The cover system and how heavily the combat leans on it were an early prototype or future hits from the Metal Gear Solid, Gears of War, and other action franchises.
A sequel was released in 2006 titled WinBack 2: Project Poseidon. The plotline and characters have no relation to the original game. It was released to mixed reviews.
Should You Play It?
Diehard action and shooter fans will find some fun in seeing one of the originators of the modern cover system. Fans of straightforward shooter games will also enjoy the arcade-style shooter that does not overly complicate things.
Plan on giving Winback a try? Have a hidden gem of a game you love? Leave a comment below!
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