"Very bad game disguised as a good looking decent one"

XIII is a FPS developed by Ubisoft Paris. Wherever I could find a professional review of this game I would be told about the wonderful comic-style of the game's graphics due to the use of great cel-shading techniques, with panels surrounding certain events and big text appearing throughout the game… that's good and all but… what about the gameplay??? Whenever I hear a reviewer praising the graphics of a game or some other meaningless feature I get very suspicious and my Hype Detector gets crazy. I've spent 2,5 Euro to rent this game, I've completed it in an evening and now I wish I could put in a couple of more coins and just buy a pizza instead!!!

Story: 3/10
Presentation: 1/10

Ever saw even a single action flick of the 80's? You know the ones with Schwarzenegger or Stallone? Well if you have you'll know what to expect here. The great nation of America, the land of the free, the brave, yada-yada, blah, blah, blah is in big trouble because of some guys that want to destroy dollarocracy… err… I mean democracy and become something like tyrants. You are an agent that has lost his memory and who is given the objective of finding these guys and at the same time trying to find about yourself. The story is boring, unoriginal and filled with cliches, however that's not the problem. Metal Gear Solid was quite typical too, but it had style, it had character, it had class… all the things that are nonexistent here! Your character is a lame James Bond kind of middle-aged hunk that you won't care about, your female partner is an African-American lady that says “Damn!” every now and then, (ARRRGH!!!), and you won't even care about her and generally the overall presentation is very lame or at least very flat\dull. The game also tries to create some mystery but even from the start you can guess who is the boss of the conspirators and each time you meet, (and kill), someone from their group you won't exactly get excited. Unlike for example Metal Gear Solid, characters here are extremely forgettable. Finally the game has one of the worst cliffhanger endings in TEH HISTORY OF TEH UNIVAAARSE!!!

Gameplay: 4/10
Replay Value: 0/10

So I start my game, the controls are fine, (although the option menus are a bit problematic), the graphics are nice, the sound effects are decent. I pull out my gun and kill some bad guys. Were they tough? Answer: No. They generally have good aim even when they are far away from you but they just stand there waiting for you to kill them. Apart from their attire all enemies are pretty much the same. I don't remember a single one that was harder than the rest. Even “boss” enemies, (if you can call them that), are just some people with higher health points and only 2 were only a bit tougher. Now besides enemies what do we have? Typical weapons that you've seen in a million other FPS games, a bit of key searching\button pushing and generally nothing special. So far the problem with the game is its average nature, the big problems start with the overall structure of the game…

XIII is supposed to be a Jack Of All Trades but it fails miserably in everything. Its not a fast paced Doom\Quake\Serious Sam game but a boring shoot-some-jerks-per-10-minutes kind of experience. The battles don't involve smart F.E.A.R.-like enemies, you simply aim and shoot and finally stealth… man, this game must be one of the worst stealth shooters I've ever played. The AI of the enemies is very problematic, (and extremely scripted), and sometimes see you even when they are not supposed to and most “stealth” missions just require avoiding sounding the alarm, nothing really special or innovative, (like Deus Ex for example). Finally instead of just making things tougher for you when an alarm goes of… you just loose the game! So don't expect any alternative method of playing in this boring and linear game. I've kept the worse for the end… you can save everywhere in the game but when you load the game you just go back to the closest checkpoint you've reached something that completely destroys the quick save function. Not that the game is hard, but its easy to set off an alarm accidentally and then have to see the same long boring cutscene that the developers couldn't place BEFORE the checkpoint!!!

Graphics: 8/10
Design: 6.8/10

The aspect that XIII became known for is without doubt its comic look, which was achieved with the Cel-Shade technique, (Fear Effect, Wind Waker, Futurama's 3D scenes, etc), and not only that but the overall direction of the game's action and cutscenes where made to make you feel as if you where inside a comic book. For example when you kill an enemy you can see a big “Noooooo!” over his head, or when a bomb explodes you see a large “BOOOM!!!”. Some more original examples: When an enemy falls from somewhere or when you throw a knife at his head, you get 3 small panels\frames showing his fall or death. There are 3 problems with the graphics of the game though. First of all the overall design is pretty boring. All the enemies look the same, special effects are nothing to die for and level design is EXTREMELY boring. 2nd problem: The contrast between comic-like objects, (mostly characters), and some parts that look too digital or photo-realistic like some textures or special effects.

Sound: 6.5/10
Music: 4.5/10

Something that some people might figure out by hearing the voice of the protagonist is that his voice actor is actually David Duchovny. Dave is a decent actor but he is totally out of place in this game. He sounds bored, as if he doesn't care about what's happening around him… something that goes pretty much for everyone in the game, including… you. The SFX from weapons and such are nothing special and maybe a bit repetitive. I hated the music of the game, firstly because it was too typical and insignificant and secondly because it was trying too hard. Hearing the same “Action” music each time an enemy appears is a bit anticlimactic and doesn't help the atmosphere of the game.

[+]:
-Cool Comic Book style graphics

[-]:
-Boring plot, forgettable characters and a very bad ending
-Tries to be a “Swiss knife” but ends up being a rusty shaving blade
-Very boring\bad stealth missions
-Very simple, scripted and sometimes problematic AI
-Can save only on checkpoints

Also Play:
Call Of Duty (Series)(PC)
F.E.A.R. (PC)
Medal Of Honor (Series)(PC)
No One Lives Forever 1 & 2 (PC)

Overall: 4.2/10

When a game's best quality is how it looks, (even though the novelty wears off pretty soon), then something is very wrong. XIII is a very bad game disguised as a good looking decent one… AVOID!!!

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 07/06/10

Game Release: XIII (US, 11/18/03)