The ups and downs of Project Poseidon
There were many new excellent features of Project Poseidon. The graphics, aside from the first WinBack, were most impressive. The detail of areas, windows, and inner building structures was done very well. A total of 9 FMVs were added to support plot and storyline as you progressed throughout the game. You also had new weapons at your disposal such as a sniper rifle, various types of grenades and other terrorist weapons that you could pick up. The game physics did a great job of enemy response as to how many times you shoot them. WinBack 2 gave a new realistic feel of having to just shoot an enemy in a certain area of the body to disable them. Though the feature did not apply to boss fights, for obvious reasons, it made the game play more easy (based on the difficulty you set it to) and realistic to complete. On the line of ammo throughout missions, all the talk about conserving your ammo is true on the basis of whether you take the time to search for other weapons in the level or if you shoot an enemy correctly to take their weapon. Ammunition is not a problem in this game. If you hit an enemy in the arms of legs, they are "arrested" and they drop their weapon. However, if you fail to shoot them in those areas of the body, and aim for the chest or head, you kill the enemy instantly without getting an arrest and without having a chance to pick up their weapons. An excellent feature added to the game is the melee attack which applies to "arresting" an enemy as well. If you are near an enemy and you don't have time to aim and shoot, run up to them and you can press the appropriate button to melee them which results in a quick finish and the enemy’s weapon. Your health consisted of points obtained throughout the level by picking up a "P" point which are scattered throughout levels. These are your health points as well as grade points at the end of each mission review.
WinBack 2 uses a new "route" system in which two of your Crisis Response Team members (vary depending on the current mission and are always switched up for each mission setting) start off in separate parts of the level to accomplish a similar goal. You are presented with various assist types to help aid your partner in his/her "route". There are no more check points from the original WinBack, so if you screw up once on a boss fight, it affects overall mission grades, or simply put, you die and have to start all over again. Yes - You are graded on how well you accomplish a mission based on the time it took you, to how many times you got hit from enemies and to how many arrests you made if you correctly shot an enemy. Where you shoot a boss does not affect your stats, however, to complicate things a bit, each mission is timed giving the game a realistic mood to accomplish the mission before the enemy takes advantage of a situation. You can replay previously played missions, so take your time and get the grades you want by knowing the level inside and out to get the highest grade of an A to get an extra treat at the end of the game. Getting back to the routes, during a mission, you may be timed to assist your partner when they call for help. If you fail to assist them in a specific time, their "route" is affected by your incompetence to aid them when needed before. Again, your route "A" is one part of the mission and when you complete your task, the game switched to the other route "B" so you can see what your partner had to do from your supportive roles, or from theirs. When both are complete, the mission is clear, technically from the first route "A", but they want you to play through both. And yes, as you progress throughout the game, the routes get more difficult to complete as well as there length.
Of course, every game has its problems. WinBack 2 failed to add the much needed Bot Mode from the original WinBack, in which you and your friends could go up against programmed intelligent bots throughout various multiplayers’ levels. WinBack 2 has a very primitive "bot mode" of its own. If you and your friend want to go head to head in the normal death match mode, you MUST go up against a programmed computer character that the game prompts you to add. The normal death match mode offers the chance to pick up random weapons and grenades as apposed to the other match modes. The other multiplayer modes consisted of a total all out "blast happy" game where you have nothing but explosives and heavy weapons, a sniper mode (pretty much straight forward) and then the survival mode. In survival mode, you can just go up against your friend(s) and the game will prompt you if you want a bot, or if you want none. Here's the catch, when you play through survival mode, you are only limited to that players default weapon. In other words, you are stuck with that weapon for the entire multiplayer match and you can't pick up any other weapons or sub-weapons. There are also fewer characters to select and fewer multiplayer levels (6).
Overall, having a bad multiplayer experience, timed story mode missions, limited health and the site of level surroundings (walls, doors, and certain areas are the same as previous missions played) give the game a somewhat difficult action to grasp. The game is fun to play through; maybe not a fun as the first or as long, but there is still the mystery of Project Poseidon to find out in this newest addition to the WinBack games. There is much to appreciate as well. I give it a 7 for its game play realism, but fewer points for its side features and mission grades and tasks. I liked the game a lot and I am sure any other WinBack fan will also appreciate it. The whole reason of the plot and play through is not covert at all; it's more stealth and insertion to get the job done! The next step is to see for yourselves.
I hope this review helped you all in your decision to further look into this game or to one day inevitably purchase it in the future!