XIII

"This is severly underrated...a brilliant game."

This is one of the finest shooters that I have ever played. It has easy controls to get used to, superb graphics, great sound and its only letdown is the difficulty of some of the levels.

Gameplay 8/10:
The gameplay on XIII(thirteen) is gripping. From the beginning, when you wake up with none of your memory left on a beach, to the very end, when you foil an evil sceme to take over the world, this is gripping and you will constantly want to play on. There are about 5 or 6 bosses in the game and each of them gives a fresh challange. Often you will be surronded by dozens of enemies and if you dont think in a split second, you WILL die. But that is where it can get tedious. When you are at a insanely hard to get to location for the tenth time and you end up being killed a couple of seconds away from your objective it can make you want to throw the controller across the room and go mental. But overall, gameplay is highly entertaining.

Story 10/10
The story is highly complex but once you start uncovering the truth you wont be able to stop playing this. Basically, President Sheridan has been brutally assassinated...and the F.B.I think that you were the one who did it. To make matters worse you yourself do not know whether you really fired the bullet or not. You learn that a highly mysterous organisation, called the XX(twenty)are trying to kill you.

Graphics 9/10
The graphics are all cell-shaded so that it looks like a cartoon strip (but this is not a bad thing. Whenever you kill someone using a headshot, a brutal animation flashes up on the screen showing the knive/bullet going through their head. When you reach a dull place, the graphics start to look a bit samey but most of the time they are excellent.

Sound 8/10
Nothing particually great about the music or the voices but the explosions and gunshots sound authentic and real most of the time and at times the music is very exciting.

Controls 10/10
They are not the classic controls normally used on shooters but I personally prefer these to the classic ones. And if you dont like them you can change them to classic.

Replayability 8/10
The multiplayer is amazing and you will keep coming back for more of it. But the singleplayer mode can be completed in about two weeks and you wont be particually interested in playing it again one you have completed it. However the ending should give way to a sequel.

Buy or Rent?
Personally I would buy because you will want to play the multiplayer mode for weeks but if you prefer single player games it would probably be best to rent.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/25/05