XIII

"Not Fantastic, but good"

My friend bought this game for 10 dollars NEW. He beat it and said 'Hey (my name), play this game, its awesome!' I never picked it up from him, and eventually he just brought it over. Reluctantly I started a game. The first half of the game I enjoyed a lot, but after that it got a bit boring, and repetitive. The game is definitally worth the buy if you can find it for under 15$ (which isnt uncommon).

NOTE: I ONLY REVIEW THE SINGLEPLAYER PORTION OF ANY GAME I REVIEW, UNLESS IT IS MADE SPECIFICALLY FOR MULTIPLAYER!

Story
9/10

Ah... I love a good conspiracy story. You wake up on a beach, and are found by an attractive lifeguard. You have forgotten everything except the basics such how to walk, open doors, talk to people, and fire various illegal firearms. The only clue of your identity is a mysterious tatoo under your collarbone that is simply the number 13 in roman numberals. The plot gets pretty cool if you follow it through the game, but im not going to spoil anything for you. It isnt your basic 'kill all and FAST' game, but requires you to think some. There is a really cool interactive 'flashback' thing that happens a bunch of times, where you 'remember' something from your past. Oh. incase you didnt know, the game is based on a french comic book >_>.

Gameplay
6/10

This game falls short on the all important gameplay points. There are a huge variety of guns, but a lot of them (mostly the cool ones) only appear a few times throughout the game. You get to use crossbows, sniper rifles, ak-47s, Machine guns, a freaking awesome revolver, and many many more. You also can do a really lame punch, some kind of 'sleeper' karate chop, and you can pick up various objects throughout the game to hit people with. You also have to make use of grappling hooks, lockpicks, and various other things. Again, lots of the cool features only are used a couple times throughout the game. The main thing that I would say makes this game not as good is the Difficulty. It varies soo much. There is one level where you just breeze through it, then you are stuck on one part for a long time, then easy, then hard etc... It gets annoying. Overall, its a pretty easy game.

Sound
6/10

Average sound effects. The game is in a cartoon style, so it is appropriate that most sound effects are put into onomatopoeias (is that spelt right?) or sounds put into words. For example, when you kill a guy, a speech bubble goes above his head with the text 'aaarrrgghhh' along with him saying it. The voice acting is awful and the music will get annoying. Did you know that the guy who you play as had his voice done by the X-Files narrator? He did a terrible job...

Graph-X
5/10

tee hee, comic book ^_^. The game (like I said) is done entirely like a comic book, so it is only appropriate that graphics look like they were hand drawn. even so, they are not good at all. Detail is lacking, and many things could have been done better givin more time. There are some good effects such as rain hitting your face, and leaves falling in one of the later levels. Not much more to say here.

Controls
7/10

Meh, nothing new. Same as most x-box First Person Shooters (FPS if you didnt know), with some new things. I tended to forget some of the more advanced controls through the entire game. I am not going to get into details here, and although Ive never played this game for the PC, i would imagine it would be better for that.

Replay Value
2/10

Oh Man, you beat this game and its over. You just dont want to play it anymore, unless you really enjoyed it THAT much. My friend who lent me the game said that I could borrow it as long as I wanted because he had no interest in playing it for some time. There is only one or two levels that I would want to replay, just becuase they have a one time only gun in that level.

Conclusion

Yes, Buy this game if you see it for, or less than fifteen dollers. It isnt worth a rent because it is too long to beat in the rental time, and you are paying one third the price. I said I wouldnt review multiplayer any, but it sucks, just letting you know. If you feel compelled to, buy this game with a friend, and just pass it back and forth between the two of you. Okay, time for the Sats!

STORY----------9
GAMEPLAY-----6
SOUND---------6
GRAPHICS------5
CONTROLS-----7
REPLAY VALUE-2

Minimum - Replay Value
Maximum -Story
Score - 35/60 =58%
Grade - D+
Average - 5.8/10
My Grade - 7

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/17/06