|
|
|
LARGO WINCH: EMPIRE UNDER THREAT
review | GAMECUBE
|
Publisher: Ubi Soft.
Developer: Dupuis. Released: October 2002. Genre: Adventure. Other versions: PC; PS2; XBOX. Posted 16th September 2025. By Tom Clare © 2025 |
|
Women want him, men want to be him… Actually, if we’re being entirely honest, most men and women outside of France likely hadn’t even heard of dashing comic book billionaire Largo Winch when Ubi Soft snapped up the rights to bring his stories over to the gaming sphere. Largo’s key advantages stem from generational wealth, vague-sounding agribusiness ventures, and his ability to deliver scintillating after-dinner speeches at black-tie events. However, what many don’t know about him is, he’s also an all-action adventurer, part-time womaniser, and solver of obscure puzzles. Players will be pleased to learn then, that Empire Under Threat focuses more on adventure and less on admin.
Ubi Soft would publish a pair of Largo Winch games in 2002: the Rebellion-developed .// Commando SAR, a PlayStation-exclusive stealth adventure moulded around the Planet of the Apes engine, and the multi-platform Empire Under Threat. The two are completely separate games and follow different story strands, with EUT focusing on point ‘n’ click exploration, search-and-solve puzzling, and light forays into espionage and action.
|
|
Largo travels the world in search of answers, allowing the player to explore some interesting locations
Having taken over W-Group from his deceased father, Largo discovers a sabotage plot that risks derailing his empire from inside, as dossiers are stolen and his closest allies are attacked. Not one to take things lying down, France’s answer to Batman jets off to Russia, Siberia, Mexico and Sardinia in his quest for answers. Empire Under Threat is at its strongest when involving the player in meticulous exploration and puzzling, and fortunately, this facet occupies the lion’s share of your time. The game is caught between PC and console philosophies at times, with pad-friendly navigation and streamlined inventory screens mixing with heavy, info-dump notes and complicated puzzles more typically familiar with computer adventures.
Despite a somewhat hokey storyline and a cast of characters who look like they’ve been on the receiving end of a vengeful plastic surgeon’s wrath, it’s an inviting enough premise. Certainly, visiting a range of exotic locations is exciting, and whilst the gameplay sometimes settles on a more sedate pace, story evolution is always direct and bombastic, helping create a solid atmosphere. Dupuis has done a sterling job bringing Largo’s world to life, and whilst nothing remarkable, its glamorous settings prove a good fit, with players able to lose themselves in some lavishly detailed contemporary settings. These include a tense exploration of a remote mountain monastery whilst disguised as a monk, a frantic getaway from an apartment to avoid Largo being framed for murder, and unearthing the secrets of Largo’s father’s Adriatic retreat, Sarjevane.
Despite a somewhat hokey storyline and a cast of characters who look like they’ve been on the receiving end of a vengeful plastic surgeon’s wrath, it’s an inviting enough premise. Certainly, visiting a range of exotic locations is exciting, and whilst the gameplay sometimes settles on a more sedate pace, story evolution is always direct and bombastic, helping create a solid atmosphere. Dupuis has done a sterling job bringing Largo’s world to life, and whilst nothing remarkable, its glamorous settings prove a good fit, with players able to lose themselves in some lavishly detailed contemporary settings. These include a tense exploration of a remote mountain monastery whilst disguised as a monk, a frantic getaway from an apartment to avoid Largo being framed for murder, and unearthing the secrets of Largo’s father’s Adriatic retreat, Sarjevane.
|
|
There are lots of nice little touches: Largo taking out his page as a means of accessing the menu, his persistent passive aggressive comments on you examining unimportant scenery. The avalanche of emails he receives at HQ at least serves one specific purpose: being prompted to choose investment directions by his second-in-command. You’ll be told later on whether you made the right judgement call. In a really cool touch, Game Overs result in newspaper headlines explaining Largo’s death or disappearance. There are numerous potential outcomes, dependant on the point in the story and the nature of his demise.
Beyond combining a few items and a couple of unfortunate instances when the HUD is needed to indicate items so small as to appear almost invisible in the field of play, you’re unlikely to find yourself stuck for long. At least, not by the main adventure: mini-games are a different matter, however. Some are surprisingly good; I had no idea the hacking sections would prove as exciting and tense as they did. These aside, it’s all spread a little too thinly, with single appearances for an uninspired Poker game, a Tower of Hanoi bolt-picking exercise rendered nightmarishly tough by the specificity of its solution and the lack of adequate instruction, and a monumentally tedious sliding block picture puzzle.
Beyond combining a few items and a couple of unfortunate instances when the HUD is needed to indicate items so small as to appear almost invisible in the field of play, you’re unlikely to find yourself stuck for long. At least, not by the main adventure: mini-games are a different matter, however. Some are surprisingly good; I had no idea the hacking sections would prove as exciting and tense as they did. These aside, it’s all spread a little too thinly, with single appearances for an uninspired Poker game, a Tower of Hanoi bolt-picking exercise rendered nightmarishly tough by the specificity of its solution and the lack of adequate instruction, and a monumentally tedious sliding block picture puzzle.
|
|
We love a bit of endeavour, though adding turn-based battles was a bad idea. Fights look comically awkward, sporting a level of complexity similar to that of an early NES RPG. In the latter stages, you’ll mostly face crossbow and staff-wielding foes (I can only imagine this was a feature of the comics, otherwise these weapons feel entirely out of place), and these skirmishes will largely be remembered for their unintentionally hilarious melee animations. It’s strange these lame battles occur in isolation: there are no experience points to earn, no weapon upgrades, items, or anything that can be acquired beforehand to in any way influence the fights. Mostly, then, you’ll get Largo’s various accomplices to stun foes, thus denying them a turn, and then have the main protagonist use his expensive shoes to give them a good kicking. I beat the final boss in two turns, first try. They’re a bit rubbish.
There’s a fairly generic (though admittedly enjoyable enough) soundtrack that can most accurately be described as a 2000s espionage flick with flourishes of pure Metal Gear Solid. Ill-fitting ambient noise and overacted lines ensure the audio doesn’t cover itself in glory. Characters appear wooden during cut-scenes, the lip-syncing’s a mile out. There’s an annoying tendency for protagonists to talk over one another, and for the game to jump ahead, mid-sentence, to the next loading screen.
There’s a fairly generic (though admittedly enjoyable enough) soundtrack that can most accurately be described as a 2000s espionage flick with flourishes of pure Metal Gear Solid. Ill-fitting ambient noise and overacted lines ensure the audio doesn’t cover itself in glory. Characters appear wooden during cut-scenes, the lip-syncing’s a mile out. There’s an annoying tendency for protagonists to talk over one another, and for the game to jump ahead, mid-sentence, to the next loading screen.
|
|
The mini-games are spread rather thinly, with only the hacking challenges really distinguishing themselves
It delivers around eight hours of play, and just enough impetus, variety and enjoyment that players will at least see it through to the end. There are no replay incentives, however, unless you count traipsing over Empire Under Threat’s many underwhelming mini-games. Patchy presentation, naff combat and uninspired storytelling prevent Largo Winch from rivalling the Solid Snakes or the Sam Fishers of the espionage scene, but for those who enjoy a spot of investigative puzzling, it’s not without merit.
|
VERDICT"Largo Winch's adventure delivers fun puzzles, and a diverting enough thriller premise. However, patchy presentation, terrible combat sections and uninspired mini-games mean it struggles to stand out." OVERALL: 5/10 |
OTHER GAMES WITH THEMES OF ESPIONAGE REVIEWED
Headhunter (2001, Dreamcast)
|
Syphon Filter 3 (2001, PlayStation)
|