XIII review

The question is... why are you in prison and why isn't she getting you out?

Truly stylish games are very hard to come by, purely because once a successful style has been established, it is copied and emulated until the ends of time (take Max Payne’s bullet time feature for one), but cell-shading, although seemingly simple enough to create has never been done well in a first person shooter... at least until now.

XIII is based on a Belgian comic book of the same name and superbly manages to recreate a comic book feel, right down to the large lettered BOOM text that appears with each explosion. Naturally it feel a little strange to begin with, but when you’re looking for visible ‘TAP’s to appear when an enemy is walking around behind the door you’re considering opening up, you’ll feel they work very well for the gameplay style. In the game you control an amnesiac operative called XIII, who is trying to uncover twenty conspirators behind the assassination of the president.

Controls are the basis of gameplay

There's nothing more wonderous than natural scenery. Except a hostile chopper hitting the waves.

Unfortunately, the PS2 never really fares that well with FPS games, mainly because of the inaccurate analogue controls and although you can certainly get used to it, it takes some time before you’ll be dispatching enemies with headshots and truly playing as a highly trained operative. Other controls do work fine, allowing you to seamlessly activate health packs and switch between weapons while jumping over a crate.

When you do finally get the hang of aiming or if your enemy doesn’t notice you in time, one of the most satisfying moments of gameplay is popping an enemy in the head with a sniper rifle or a silent crossbow. Three shots appear in sequence to demonstrate a close up of the damage you have just done in an effective comic book style. As satisfying as this is, it certainly becomes necessary in certain missions where stealth is the key.

Stealth, you either love it or hate it

Creeping around the evil conspirators' base is XIII at its best.

A common gameplay device nowadays, stealth missions are rife in XIII. Normally these will involve avoiding the eyes of guards, taking them out in silence (using crossbows, throwing knives or heavy items to smash over their heads) and hiding the bodies before another guard shows up who can set off the alarm, swiftly ending the mission. With the extremely limited checkpoint system however, when a guard sets off an alarm 30 minutes into a level, just before completion, it gets rather frustrating.

While the gameplay remains interesting through a pleasing variety of mission objectives, the graphics remain adequate for the comic book style. Levels look entirely different, with enough detailing to portray exactly what is needed without going over the top for cell-shaded imagery. It’s certainly not the most impressive thing you’ll have seen, but it’s very stylish.

Well, it’s got an X in the title too

No, the sun hasn't just exploded - but that chopper has, after it met the business end of a ground-to-air missile.

Sound wise, everything fits nicely… a little repetitive but appropriate and more often than not dramatic music that reminds me of 60s spy thrillers sets the scene, while weapons and general sound effects add to the ambience of the world, but the most intriguing choices seem to be in the voice cast.

Heading up the vocalists is David Duchovny of X-Files fame, who plays our hero, XIII, and in general all voices are performed well, especially Adam West’s General Carrington, but Duchovny seems overly nonchalant and calm about the entire situation he is in. Perhaps the biggest problem with the characters lies not in the voices however, but in the naming of one of your major enemies. I mean, who can seriously be afraid of an assassin named ‘The Mongoose’?

PS2 specifics

Split Screen mode obviously doesn't run as fast, but it's acceptable for some friendly firefights.

With such a multi-platform game there have to be differences, but in terms of graphical presentation, the PS2 manages to stand up to the other versions, with just a few moments of slowdown and still screenshots showing action taking place at other points in the level instead of the animated versions on other platforms. Fortunately, it doesn’t really affect gameplay and makes it feel more comic book like.

Interestingly, Ubisoft have decided to add purposeful differences to the three versions by giving each platform its own exclusive multiplayer mode, and the PS2 has two unique game types which can be played on or offline (with bots; computer controlled opponents). Power Up takes a slight twist on regular power ups replacing them with more interesting and gameplay altering ones, while ‘The Hunt’ only gives you points by shooting a small skeletal figure who moves randomly around the level and kills you, removing 10 points if he touches you.

Adding to the play time

An action fest indeed. Protecting someone is never easy when the cable of your cable car snaps.

Multiplayer really does help increase the longevity, allowing you to play online with up to five other players or offline in split screen mode in the regular deathmatch, team deathmatch and capture the flag game types that always deserve to be standard. It remains playable in split screen, although online play is obviously the preference for performance, where it becomes a very entertaining blaster, despite the slightly dodgy aiming controls.

The simple fact is that FPS fans will revel in its quirky style and while it brings little more to the table than a comic book, it fares pretty well in all other aspects. It won’t revolutionise the genre, but it does give us all a present day shooter that gave me a decent amount of pleasure, at least when I wasn’t frustrated at not managing to kill the guards before they could sound the alarms.