XIII

"Sure this games original...for about XIII minutes! I guess the Cubes lacking in FPS though..."

A cel-shaded first person shooter with what looked to be a great story and interesting gameplay, but to some dismay, it wasnt as great as it seemed in the first XIII minutes hehe...Sorry Im not funny. Anyways, this games based of the French comic XIII, thus the games name is *drum rolls* ...XIII!

Graphics-7/10
They really have a sharp and colorful feel that brings forth the comic book nature, though textures are really quite bland. This game my no means looks bad, it certainly gets the job done and fits the game perfectly, but more work could have definately be put in, such as in the Wind Wakers Cel-shading. I have yet to see any noticable effects such as lighting in this game.

Story-5/10
An amnesiac named Rowland awakens on the beach and doesn't have much recollection of what happened prior to waking up to a splitting headache and a semi-concerned lifeguard. Piece by piece he starts putting together the puzzle that is his exploited past. At first glance upon the premise, it hooks, it supplies mystery and interest, but how it's presented is what really bombs it right into the depths of hellish-blandness. It's not convincing, they prepare these mission based objectives that somewhat flow with the story while providing clips of back story that's of no particular interest because it's just not presented well.
The developers didn't really seem to keen in immersing the player into the plot nor the gameplay. There is hardly any character development or focus on the main character, not to mention this story is BORING AND OVERDONE! This is where the game loses all its credibility! It seems that the developers simply stole the story from The Bourne Identity and tinkered it for copyright purpouses! God!

Sound-6/10
The overall presentation in this game is very average, and the audio is no different. Just moderately passable on accounts of both music, effects and the voice acting. The music is dry with some jazzy tunes that just don't seem to fit the action and circumstances. LiKE OMG!~ A PLANE!111 SH00TING M3! Such intense moments are destroyed by slow jazz music when some intense original compilations or rock may have even done a better job representing the moment. The effects are muffled and drowned in the annoying music. And the voice acting is decent for the most part, Adam West who plays Carrington does a good job as does Duchovny who voices XIII, however, the script that they read from kills any conveyance. I mean, show some emotion! Games such as MGS show that a little effort goes a long way.

Gameplay-6/10
As with first person shooters, there really isn't a great ammount of things to indulge, due to the simplistic nature. Interestingly, XIII did implement a couple of things to break away from the 'norm', but just didn't do them well enough to be satisfying. They would be better left out.

The controls seem a tad bit slow, after awhile the learning curve fades, but still retains a very low pressure sensitive right analogue control scheme, which is used to look around, needless to say, it can be a pain to target the enemy with such a small reticule. Its also very annoying to accidently tap the D-pad and waste a well-deserved health pack. This game is very unpolished.

The techinques you will later find are not worth mentioning, as they are standard to all sub-par FPS.

The AI is horrible and unfair...THEY HACK I TELL YOU! Theyt ake advantage of your every move directly fed by what your pressing on the controller. Indespicable.

The comic book style is neat, but not very well presented. I hate the dull plain white menus! Though the death animations are very neat, like watching a comic book. This brings the game up a point in my books. Its pretty sweet to shoot some joker in the head and watch him fall of a building in individual slides.

Honestly, Im lucky I only got this game for 10 bucks canadian, ill never finish it its too tiresome...simply sub-standard.

Replay Value-4/10
The only replay value that I see would be the multiplayer or setting up bots, the single player is hard enough to pull yourself through once, why play that beast again?

Over All, its lacks in depth and feel, it seems stale with no sense of satisfaction in your completion of objectives. Youll find yourself playing tihs just to get your damn moneys worth. Give it a rent, some FPS starved 'Cubers actually like this game.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/18/05