XIII

"A comic coming to life!"

~ Introduction ~

XIII looks like a comic book, in some cut scenes it really looks like your reading a comic. This game is a pretty good shooter!

~ Game Play ~ 8.5/10

There are several mission where you need to fight your way through, some others require stealth. When you've shot an enemy with your weapon (can be a crossbow, shotgun, sniper riffle and so on) you can drag it around the corner, put it in the bathroom or somewhere other enemies can't see the dead body. You can sneak to a guy and hit him with a stick, a piece of glass and more things. In some missions you'll need to protect someone or flee with a helicopter. Most of the time you just need to shoot all enemies and hit a switch here and there to open a door or gate, activate an elevator and other things. Ah, right, there's also a multi player mode, that's more like the other shooters, form parties and kill as much players from the other party. Too bad the game doesn't have its own server (like RA2 or C&CG) but that's ok if you have a high speed interrnet connection

~ Story ~ 8/10

Don't remember the story very well but here's the main thing. You're washed on a beach and a woman drags you into a hut and troops attack the hut you're in, the woman gets shot and that's the beginning of the exciting game. You're Number 13 and apparently you've shot the president. The main goal is to eliminate all other numbers, 1 to 12 and the others. The story isn't done when you've beat the game, after the credits you'll get the "to be continued" thing.

~ Graphics ~ 9.5/10

These are amazing, the cel shading graphics let you think you're playing a comic book. The cut scenes are like a real page of a comic book (each first screen of a mission too). The missions are very detailed and most of the things are interactive so you can open a closet shoot something and so on. If you zoom in with your weapon you don't see pixelized guys but very smooth zoomed people.

~ Music / Sound ~ 9/10

The music is pretty nice in the game, you can hear people talk in the distance if you're trying to sneak to them. Most of the people will shout something like ALARM!!! when they see you, that's pretty realistic, the alarm will ring and more troops will come to assist the other one. The sounds of the guns are really good, it's like shooting with the real gun!

~ Controls ~ 7/10

There are a lot of keys you need to learn, most of them are hot keys but if you play the PS2 or the other console versions you'll notice that's the easier part. But don't get me wrong! Aiming with your mouse is like a thousand times easier than with your analog stick on your controller!

~ Play Time & Replay Value ~ 6/10

This game is very short, they should have added a lot more missions, you can beat this game in less than a week, the multi player isn't good too. Hopefully Part 2 will be a lot longer.

~ Overall ~ 8.5/10

A pretty good shooter with original graphics!

Rent or Buy? Buy!!!!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/30/04