Taking back an impenetrable fortress! Let's Play WinBack!

Or, Special Operations for Dummies.




WinBack is another one of my all time favourite N64 games. It came out around the same time as Hybrid Heaven, actually, and was ported to the PS2 a year later. It also came out a year after Metal Gear Solid, and you can see a number of influences from it on the game.

WinBack is also notable for being probably the grandfather of cover-based third-person shooters. Though MGS also had cover previously, it was only used to hide from enemies, while cover in WinBack is used to provide protection while you engage them. Players can put themselves up against almost any wall or obstacle and lean out to fire at enemies, though the game didn't have a "blindfire" mode.

Compared to modern shooters, WinBack is a bit stiff and unpolished, but back in it's day it was an amazing advancement of the genre. It also has some funny bugs, like cover providing absolutely no protection at all from explosives if you're pressed up against it. And since you take bonus damage from being shot in the back, this makes for a painful experience. But through it all, I still really enjoy the game.

WinBack also has multiple ending paths, depending on how fast you complete the game. The regular videos will be on the Worst ending, but I will have some supplementary videos that show the differences between Worst and Best. The biggest difference is that Best has about 3 more boss fights then Worst, on top of the better ending itself.


As mentioned, this is a video-based LP. Unlike Hybrid Heaven, I decided that due to the nature of the game I would do some post-processing and remove deaths and the required double-backing. As well, I'm using a new recording system for these videos compared to Hybrid Heaven, and I had some configuration issues with it for the first few videos, so there's a bit of corruption. Sorry!

For this series, I decided to play the PS2 version of the game. There's not much that's different between the two versions; The PS2 version uses a more accurate health bar, changes the location of a few items, (hilariously bad) voice acting and also includes a Vs-AI Challenge mode. I'll record a few of these later.


Videos

Introduction, Tutorial, and Fortress Grounds

Introduction Video
Tutorial
Fortress Grounds: Area 1
Fortress Grounds: Area 2
Fortress Grounds: Area 3

Office Building, Express Elevator

Office Building Lobby (Boss Fight!), Sewers, Backyard
Office Building Offices, Sewers
Office Building, Sewers, Backyard, Offices
Office Building, Roof, Control Rooms (Boss Fight!), Backyard, Offices, Sewers
Office Building, Express Elevator (Boss Fight!), Sewers, Offices

Factory and Warehouses

Factory and Warehouses: Part 1
Factory and Warehouses: Part 2 (Boss Fight!)
Factory and Warehouses: Part 3
Factory and Warehouses: Part 4 (Boss Fight!)
Factory and Warehouses: Part 5 (Boss Fight!)

Gulf system Control Center

Control Center: Part 1
Control Center: Part 2 (Boss Fight!)
Control Center: Part 3
Control Center: Part 4
Control Center: Part 5
Control Center: Part 6 (Final Boss!)

Special

Alternate Scenes: Good Ending


S.C.A.T. Personnel

S.C.A.T. (Strategic Covert Actions Team) is an unfortunately-named generic anti-terrorist organization. And like anti-terror special forces in video games, it's made up of an eclectic band of quasi-soldiers.



You control Jean-Luc Cougar. He used to be a member of some city's SWAT team, but decided the life of a SCAT operative was just more exciting. He's also the leader of the Advanced Strike Team, which basically means he's the top dog on the ground. Not bad for someone his age.




Lisa Roberts is the team's token female. She's apparently a criminal psychologist, and was recruited out of the FBI. Probably because she was the only female that would take the job.




Jake Hudson is Rambo, but with his shirt still on. He used to be in the Army, and joined SCAT at the same time as Jean-Luc. Just goes to show that being a gun-nut won't get you anywhere, though!




Danniel Stewart is the SCAT commander, and a former Navy SEAL. He is well trusted among the team.




Law Bruford is the team's token Native. But don't say that to his face, because he'll kill you. He is a badass gunman and unmatched in hand-to-hand combat. He was also apparently the contender for team leader, against Jean-Luc.




Matthew Brown was Air Force before he was in SCAT. That's all you need to know.




Steven Legal is the team second in command, and really loves his shotgun. Almost too much. He was also SAS, and is a scouting expert. And loves his shotgun.




Mike Hawkins is the team's bomb expert. He's not actually fat, he's just wearing a really heavy bomb vest (no, he's actually fat).




Thomas Smith is the team's communications expert, and is well versed in all kinds of electronics.




Keith Birdy looks like the team's nerd, but he's really the team's medic. He's also the youngest member of the team.

Ah, early PS2 VA. You're so terribly amusing. And terrible.

That Secretary of Defense has an incredible mustache.

- Eddie

It keeps happening.

Jean-Luc Cougar is the worst name I've ever heard.

The mature and sexy captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise is on the prowl for some hot young men tonight!

EDIT: Beaten to the punch by Nich!

What's wrong with Steven Segal Legal?!

Thomas Smith and Keith Birdy look awfully familiar...

Unlike Hybrid Heaven, WinBack doesn't really have all that much that gets slowly uncovered in the game, so I'm not quite sure what I should be talking about in each update post! If people have questions or requests, please let me know! I actually have a much easier to work with recording setup for WinBack (and I unlocked level skip for beating the game), so it would be easier for me to take requests.


Anyway, with today's update, the game proper actually begins, and our hero, Jean-Luc Cougar, makes his entry into the Fortress of Westham in order to stop the Crying Lions from using the GULF System for their nefarious purposes.

Fortress Grounds: Area 1

WinBack is split into 4 main areas; there's the Fortress Grounds which is where we start at, then the main office complex where there's an express elevator that goes all the way to the control center, then a factory complex that leads to the secondary freight elevator, and finally the underground control center itself. And of course, each area has a different number of levels; for example, the Fortress Grounds are only the first 3 levels of the game. And these levels I have totally played to death, because every now and then I decide I want to replay WinBack, then just kind of give up after the first level or two because they're kind of long and annoying.

In today's update, Jean-Luc continues heading towards the office complex, hoping to find the rest of S.C.A.T.

Fortress Grounds: Area 2

There's not really much to the first arc of Winback. It's mostly just Jean-Luc advancing forward towards the office complex that houses the express elevator. Later arcs will include a lot more, however.

So maybe I'll take this moment to talk a little bit about the villains themselves. The Crying Lions is the alternate name for the Zarozcia Liberation Movement, a radical terrorist group that is fighting against the US (or UN? I don't think it's made really clear) occupation (liberation?) of their homeland. Many of their members used to be part of the Zarozcia army, so they are unusually well equipped and trained for a terrorist group. They also allegedly recruit mercenaries and vicious criminals to bolster their ranks.

And if the number of troops that are occupying Westham are any indication? They have a lot of them. And they have either magic or alternate forms of transportation, since they like to come up behind you after you cleared an area.

In today's update, Jean-Luc meets up with another S.C.A.T. operative, and manages to reach the office complex!

Fortress Grounds: Area 3

Geez, if Matt is any indication, S.T.A.R.S. finally has a special forces unit it can feel superior to.

Actually, the overall vibe I'm getting from this (especially from the introduction) is an attempt at a dollar-store Metal Gear Solid.

This I can agree with, however the game is actually still pretty good. It came out only a year later then MGS did, but there really is a lot of influences. I would always describe the difference as being that WinBack was more action-movie-ish, while MGS had stealth deeply rooted in it's history (which also reflects it's consistently shitty combat controls).

WinBack also has a much simpler story, which goes with it being an action movie. It's almost Die Hard-ish, really.

In today's update, Jean-Luc enters the office building, fights the first boss of the game, and catches up with 2 more S.C.A.T. personnel!

Office Building Lobby (Boss Fight!), Sewers, Backyard


So, this begins the second arc in WinBack. And this one is punctuated with a lot of back-and-forth, retreading much of the same areas in order to get to whatever the next sub-objective is. While it may be annoying, I felt that it better represented what the mission was, instead of it just being a lot of new locations all the time; I mean, we ARE a special ops team trying to take back a "military" base.

The only problem is that enemy soldiers like to teleport into locations you just cleared. What jerks!

Lila's VA sounds familiar.... Never seen someone spell Cecil with an e at the end.

And enemies teleporting in behind you are the worst. It's shit like that that made me stop playing Bioshock.

There's actually a really bad and obvious example of it in this latest video, where just a little bit after Jake sends you off and says he's going to hold that position... a set of guards walks through the door from there.

So, what? Is the game trying to suggest that Jake bought it? That he's incompetent? Or that he left that position (and thus is incompetent)? Or just that the guards have magical teleportation abilities?


Regarding Lila, if IMDB is to be believed, the VA was Lynn Harris, who was also Rebecca Chambers and Amy Rose. Lynn Harris is indeed mentioned as a VA in the credits, but no roles were mentioned for anyone.

wait, they're really called S.C.A.T., I thought that was a joke

In today's update, Jean-Luc finds out about a foul bomb plot, and must stop it in order to save the express elevator!


Office Building Offices, Sewers

As I mentioned before, you're going to see Jean-Luc running over a lot of terrain that he already cleared in order to find all these bombs. And the terrorists will always manage to somehow rearrange the area in just the right time to make Jean-Luc have to go somewhere else. That said, I don't really think this area is all that badly designed, other then the inclination of the terrorists to suddenly appear in locations that is utterly ridiculous. There's one example in this video, and a really bad one in one that's coming up later.

So the blue lasers just summon enemies? In a game that's already proven willing to spawn enemies wherever the hell it wants, with no regards to logic? That would be the most useless trap ever... unless the point is that sometimes you can avoid it and thus miss out on one illogical gunfight, at least.

The blue lasers are basically just trip sensors. They are tied to a number of things, like spawning enemies or activating death lasers. They're not all that common, either, but the other times you see them they're REALLY bad.

In today's update, Jean-Luc meets up with more S.C.A.T. members, gets some help finding the bombs, and walks into a diabolical trap.

Office Building, Sewers, Backyard, Offices

In today's update, Jean-Luc basically covers everywhere in the office building. He also fights a lame boss, and disarms the rest of the bombs.

Office Building, Roof, Control Rooms (Boss Fight!), Backyard, Offices, Sewers

In today's update, Jean-Luc makes it to the express elevator!

Office Building, Express Elevator (Boss Fight!), Sewers, Offices


This episode is the end of the office complex arc. In the next one, we return to a more linear progression like the path to the offices at the start of the game.

In today's episode, Jean-Luc enters the factory area of the fortress.

Factory and Warehouses: Part 1

I'm not exactly sure what the factory is meant to do. As you go through it, it's not much more then conveniently placed obstacles. But maybe that's part of the deception...!

Isn't that what real-life factories are anyway?

In today's update, Jean-Luc fights a very hot boss, and then goes on a cart ride.

Factory and Warehouses: Part 2 (Boss Fight!)

In today's update, Jean-Luc enters a warehouse apparently designed by M.C. Escher.

Factory and Warehouses: Part 3

I... don't really have anything more to say about this. This video highlights some of the weirdest designs in the entire game.

In today's update, Jean-Luc encounters a person with a learning disability that rose from it by wielding a large gun.

Factory and Warehouses: Part 4 (Boss Fight!)