LoathsomePete

Which brings me to my next write up:


There are plenty of original games among the stifling numbers of others, however some of the examples I have in mind I am saving for a different article, today I want to talk about a very under appreciated game, XIII.

XIII was a cel-shaded First Person Shooter based on a French graphic novel of the same name about an amnesiac who wakes up on Brighton Beach with the roman numerals XIII tattooed into his shoulder and a key for a New York City bank deposit box. Soon shit hits the fan and a legion of people are out to kill you (as is with all FPS) and you have to solve the puzzle of your missing identity as well as figuring out what the hell is going on.

The game set itself up as being an actual "living comic" hence the cartoony graphics. One of the coolest things the game did though was if you got a headshot with a sniper rifle, crossbow, or knife, it did this three panel graphic shot of it about to enter the cranium, going into the head, and then coming out again in the top middle section of the screen. It was a gimmick that I never got tired of and wish more games would utilize because it at least gives you something more for your efforts rather than just a death. Another way the game made itself more like a comic was when you killed somebody with a grenade or smashed a bottle or brick over their head, a "thwack" or "BOOM" would appear near them, something you'd see in the comic. Also the game would use a comic style during the cut scenes, usually moving within a frame but the most important thing that the game did was remember it's original format, it stayed true to it and that is something I can really appreciate.

The gameplay was also incredibly well done as I recall, the controls felt natural and the stealth elements of the game were actually quite do able. While it was nowhere near the quality that the Thief series created, it did actually work on the areas where it wasn't required and did add a new element to the game. The level design was also easy to navigate without being patronizingly simple, plus there were occasionally alternative routes that you could take, most of which put you outside of enemy view and allowed you to finish the level easily, but you had to actively hunt them down and they were not for every level.

The only part of the game that fails was the voice acting for the main character, XIII who was voiced by popular robot actor David Duchovny who could not sound more bored and uninterested in the role if he tried. However to make up for that the support characters Jones and General Carrington voiced by rapper Eve and Adam West respectfully. You know something's gone wrong when your support character shows more emotion and interest in the role than the main character, but that was just a mistake on UbiSoft's part. Other than David Duchovny's voice acting, the game was pretty much solid.

Looking back at this I notice it's more of a review than anything else, but I'm not sure exactly what else I could do for this game. Besides a few of the gimmicks like the comic book style, it really could've been any other first-person shooter so what made it stand stand out for me? That answer was the artist style of the game. The use of Cel-Shading tends to immediately set off people's skepticism alerts as The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker found out when it's first screen shots were released. Now the game did have kind of an easy ride because if had "The Legend Of Zelda" stapled onto the front of it, but Nintendo did take a second look at that art style and decided to go with a more realistic one later on with Twilight Princess. XIII was not as lucky because it had nothing other than some obscure French comic book to back it up and thus suffered in sales. I'm sure UbiSoft's focus on Prince of Persia: Sands of Time as far as advertising went also helped to reduce sales for the game. Regardless of who's fault it is, the game ends on a cliffhanger that will most likely never be resolved because Ubisoft has no plans on making a sequel to it.

XIII is quite easily one of the most original and stylish looking games I've ever played, which kept me entertained for a good few weeks at at 13 dollars used I got more than my money's worth. The fact that they stuck to their roots rather than following what all the other First Person Shooters at the time were doing really made it stand out for me. With a great story, unique graphics, and some truly fun gimmicks it's a shame the game didn't do as well or get the appreciation that it really deserved.

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