Back in my early years of owning a PS2, XIII was among the first games I owned for the platform. It’s a first-person shooter, with a unique comic look to it. I hadn’t played this game in years, so I figured it was high time I gave the game another go. I gotta say, it’s not brilliant, but the nostalgia still makes me like the game in general, and I’m pretty darn sure you will, too.

The Graphics

XIII’s comic-like art style looks really unique. Certain events in the single player causes a comic panel to pop up showing the point of interest. Text balloons pop up whenever a person is talking, sound effects are indicated with various comic-like words like “Aahhh!” and “BOOM!!”… it’s all very genuine and authentic, and I love it. But then there are the obvious downsides, which almost act like a counterweight to hold the metaphoric scale in balance. There are a lot of minor bugs which can easily pull you out of the immersion. For instance, when you shoot and kill a baddie who’s close to a wall, he often actually falls through the wall, or sometimes falls through the ground entirely. The blood effect is also a little inconsistent. Sometimes, the comic panel pop-ups that show someone dying show blood where it’s not supposed to be, etc. There aren’t any game-breaking glitches or anything like that, but these bugs still manage to ‘bug’ me a little.

The Sound

The music is never really memorable. The soundtrack mainly consists fast-paced army drums tunes, and slow, jazz-like tunes. The voice cast isn’t too impressive, even though the protagonist is voiced by Dave Duchovny from X-Files, which is pretty awesome. What I do like, though, is the way the sound is designed for the gameplay. Initially when you begin most levels, you hear nothing but ambience, the sound of your environments. When the actions begins, the music transitions to the faster tunes, and when the action stops, the music changes to ambience again. This is done really well, and it makes for tense moments when you’re supposed to be stealthy, but a minor screw-up causes all hell to break loose.

The Addictiveness

Well, I still play it after eight years, so that’s something. But that’s probably nostalgia talking. Aside from a single player which story is quite a rollercoaster ride (in a good way), and one interesting multiplayer game, there’s not a lot to come back for. The single player is linear, multiplayer is generic aside from The Hunt (will explain what it means in the Depth paragraph) and the amount of visual bugs might put some people off.

The Story

Obviously the best part about XIII, the story of the game is some of the most interesting in any first person shooter. You are a man named Steve Rowland (or are you?). You wake up on Brighton Beach, suffering from a severe case of amnesia. It’s a conspiracy story, with lots of mind-screwing plot turns and twists. I won’t spoil too much of it, but I will tell you this: The ending will leave you begging for more. Shame XIII never got a sequel, and probably never will.

The Depth

There are quite a lot of weapons to play around with, each with a respective ‘second-fire’ mode. The single player campaign takes also quite a while to complete. In certain chapters, there are secret documents lying about, which might grant you with a permanent new ability… What’s more impressive, is that you face different kinds of enemies in the story, who all behave in a different way. The ordinary thugs fight really chaotic, while the soldiers and mercenaries fight more organized. When you’ve finished the campaign or it just isn’t your thing; there’s also a multiplayer, online of offline, where you can fight players and/or AI-controlled opponents in various game modes. The game modes include the self-explanatory Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture The Flag. But there’s also The Hunt, a very interesting game mode in which you, other players and/or AI-controlled opponents start out with a hunting rifle, and hunt some kind of dwarf/grim reaper creature which gets smaller each time it is hit by fire. The one who eventually kills the creature, gains a point. Even though The Hunt is a very different, interesting and fun game mode, it doesn’t mask the fact that the rest of the game modes are very generic. And as a matter of fact, that’s what XIII is in a nutshell: Generic. Apart from the unique visuals, it never really sets itself apart from most other first-person shooters. It doesn’t really do anything terrible, but it’s just… nothing special.

The Difficulty

XIII has three different difficulty settings, each one drastically raising the game’s difficulty than the previous one. The two main things that make XIII a quite challenge sometimes, are the shoddy (aged) controls which take some getting used to, and how good the AI enemies are. Let’s start with the latter. Often, the thugs you fight don’t find specific places to take cover in. This results in them jumping around like a headless chicken. Thing is, their aim remains perfect, no matter how much they’re jumping around. This places you in a bit of a disadvantage over your enemies. There’s also the shoddy aiming, but let’s face it; this is to be expected from a PS2 game. Once you’re used to them, XIII shoots away nicely. But chances are, you’ll have a hard time until you do.

XIII is really nothing special but I still happily play it, albeit for the nostalgia factor. In my opinion, you should definitely get this game if you’re a collector. It’s acclaimed for its unique art style, and looks good. However, keep in mind that there are visual bugs here and there, and the single player is quite linear. Still, XIII is by no means a bad game. Definitely one you should try out.

Pros:

-          Story is very interesting

-          Crisp cell shade visuals are also very interesting

-          The Hunt is a very interesting multiplayer game mode

Cons:

-          Enemies have perfect aim, regardless of how much they’re moving around

-          Aside from the unique art style, XIII is a very generic shooter experience

-          Single player is linear, aside from the great story