"With a great story and terrific graphics, XIII is a very lucky number."

First off, I like XIII. It is a near perfect mix of first person shooter mechanics, comic book graphics and text, and a government conspiracy storyline.
The story places you in the identity of an amnesiac who is trying to figure out who he is. The only clues you have to your identity is a tattoo of the roman numerals ''XIII'' (thirteen, 13) and a key to Winslow Bank.
You begin stranded on a beach, with no memory at all. A friendly life-guard named Janet comes to your rescue. This is followed by a good shoot-out in a canyon type area that is near the first aid station, and then a semi-stealth level in the aforementioned bank.

Graphics - 10/10
The graphics really impressed me. The cel-shading brings out and presents the comic book effects perfectly. The speech boxes and ''tap,tap,tap'' effects truly bring the comic to life. The sniper effect is insanely cool as well. When using a scoped weapon, or throwing knives, you are rewarded with a three panel display of the action. These panels show where you bullet penetrated the skull of the victim. And they are very, very cool.

Story - 10/10
This story is top notch. With a JFK assassination type theme, putting you in the role of the suspected killer. Once you are free, you try to regain the memories of your past in an attempt to incriminate the other members of the conspiracy. There are also a number of interactive flashback sequences, where you move throughout a memory that your character has just reflected upon. The story will compel you to finish the game.

Sound - 9/10
The voice acting in this game is superb. Specifically, the job of Adam West, who played Batman on the old television series, and David Duchovney, from the X-Files. The singer Eve also lends her voice to the character of Major Jones. The weapons sound great as well. Shooting the 9mm pistol or 44 Magnum sound just as good as blasting with the Sniper Rifle or AK Kalashminov. The enemies that you will lay waste to have good voices as well.
There are some downsides. David Duchovney has a decent role, but his voice makes him sound rather dull, bland, and just plain boring. And, on a much smaller note, when the enemies scream ''alert'', they sound like idiots.

Gameplay & Control - 8/10
This is what everyone has a problem with. They say the A.I. is too much of a crack shot and you will suffer countless cheap deaths. This, so far, is untrue. I've played through the game twice and yet to experience any A.I. that is too cheap. Even if they do hit you, after you dispose of them you can just find a safe spot and use a medkit or two to restore your health. The main problem is that the gameplay is pretty basic as far as FPS games go. Shoot the enemies, move on, shoot some more, it gets kind of repetitive. The stealth missions can be the most trouble. If you are seen, you have about 5 seconds to react. There is an over abundance of alarms, which presents easy access to most enemies so they never have too far to run.
The control is pretty solid, but has a few flaws. The L button is used for jumping, and B is secondary fire. This could have been switched and been much better. X and Y are next and previous weapon, Z is crouch, A is action/reload, and the pad is used to switch gadgets.

Multiplayer - 7/10
There are a decent variety of modes. Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and The Hunt are the available modes. There is no ability to choose your character, or the bots, but that isn't too big a deal. It can still be a fun diversion for a while.
On a side note, while I have read a few accounts that speak of a cooperative gameplay mode, I have not seen such a mode.

Overall - 9/10
The semi-repetitive gameplay isn't enough to really damage the overall package. It's a fun and beautifully designed first person shooter that no FPS fan should be without. The well done conspiracy and suspense story will make you want to finish this game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/01/04