WinBack 2: Project Poseidon Critic Reviews

Sure, it's not the best or most original thing, but Winback 2 offers solid shooting action in spades, with some really interesting ideas of how to handle the already crowded third person shooting genre.

Had WinBack 2 been released in 2002/2003, it would have been far better received but as a full-priced game released in 2006 it has to be held to the same standards as other top notch software and it falls short.

The generic levels, poor audio, and sometimes downright confusing level objectives and bizarre CRT system become a little worse for wear.

The presentation of Project Poseidon also leaves much to be desired, with awkward and simplistic texturing, not to mention some downright asinine vocals.

Worth a rental for those in need of an action fix or someone with a short attention span.

A stupefyingly simple and basic action game that will only linger in the memory because of the laugh-out-loud funny voice acting.

Basically, what we have here is the same game as was released in 2001, except it's five years later, near the end of the system's life, the plot has taken a downward turn, and the muddled controls have gotten even more muddled.

Some aspects are incredibly polished and fun, but others are terrifically broken, and while there's a real sense that it could have earned a lot more than a five, overall it doesn't.

Koei tries to revive the Winback franchise, but with limited success, thanks to a bare-boned story, simplistic gameplay and the lack of a challenging AI.

From its bland, generic premise to its one-note gameplay, WinBack 2 does nothing that another third-person shooter hasn't already done better.

It's dull, dull, dull and chockablock with the blandest levels and flick-the-right-switch challenges.

Expect to spend an hour or less with this one before growing bored. Pick up Winback 2 only if you're a glutton for mediocrity.

It has a few fun moments, but for the most part Winback 2 is an utterly unremarkable game, except perhaps in that despite all the gunplay, it's completely bloodless.

Winback 2 is essentially the closest we've come to a three-dimensional maze hunt, complete with action elements that attempt to distract you from an overly simplified gameplay structure. This may have worked at the tail end of the Nintendo 64's lifespan, but at the tail end of this console cycle it just doesn't cut it.

Due to things like a shared health bar for both routes, bad jumping puzzles, and a camera that has a hard time keeping track, you'll find yourself repeating the routes--a lot. Which gets boring.

Perhaps the most entertaining bits are the laughably bad voice acting, which gives the game a Resident Evil-style, B-movie cheesy charm.

Two years later, this doesn't look any better than Cavia's earlier efforts -- its visuals are marred by aliasing that's unforgivable at this stage, and the animation blending is so primitive that you can't even reload while moving -- while its design doesn't try very hard at much of anything.

Winback 2 is an abysmal relic of gamings that sets a new low bar for itself and fails miserably to even hit that.

Budget price point or not, Winback 2: Project Poseidon had the potential to be very, very good. But it’s not. What a shame.

No online support and "everyone's the same" characters mean no reason to bother at all.