Chi is dead-on with the control issue. Playing Winback can feel totally natural, considering the things that Jean Luc (the main character)
is doing. Leaning against walls and jumping out is done almost perfectly thanks to smooth animation and well-placed button assignments. I
never saw the 'limited' choice of weapons as a problem because when I needed them to, the weapons worked. And besides, this isn't GoldenEye 007.
It's a military stealth game, not a movie-port about a romantic superspy. The thing that hurt Winback for me was the enemy AI. Sometimes, as
Chi said, they were eerily smart but there were many other times when they were little more than shooting-gallery targets. Enemies would
sometimes run up to me and stop dead once they lost sight of me. Or they would just stand off in the distance only to be picked off like clay
pigeons. Their standing in the open for my shooting pleasure was good for me because it enabled me to more easily progress through the game,
but it ruined the very authenticity Koei was shooting for (pun intended).
All in all, Winback surprised me, it's faults like the graphics and music (Chi and I agree here) and AI (I think it needs some work) take
it down a bit but they certainly don't ruin it. Often, I was able to do things, like a duck and roll for a sweet shot of an unsuspecting guard
that looked real and certainly felt rewarding once I did it. I don't know what Winback would have looked like had Nintendo not 'urged' them to
work on it a little longer but it's obvious that Winback was solid from the beginning. Throughout, Winback feels complete and focused. It's
good enough, dare I say to have come from one of Nintendo's own development studios. I can't wait for the sequel.
- Published November 22, 1999
Reader Second Opinions
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