XIII
All joking aside, comic books and video games have long shared the dubious cultural presumption of being “just for kids.” I’m sure some of you may even gander at XIII’s cel-shaded, thick-lined graphics and think, “When did Zelda get an Uzi?” To that, I sigh and shake my head. XIII is one of the most stylish shooters released this year, and it would be wrong — no, tragic — if adult gamers (note the “M” rating) couldn’t look past its funny-book heritage.
The “ripped-from-the-comics” look is integral to the game’s design. You star as a wounded amnesiac (voiced by a somnolent Duchovny) who regains consciousness on a beach, wanted for the assassination of the President of the United States. The only clue to your identity is your tattoo of the numeral XIII. As you uncover further evidence, helped along by the feisty Major Jones (actor/singer Eve) and General Carrington (West, over the top as usual), hunted by a succession of armed killers, the truth about who you are is slowly revealed.
One of those revelations is your “sixth sense” skill. It allows you the same omniscient powers given to a comic-book reader: the ability to view an unseen opponent’s location by “seeing” his footfalls (as represented by comic-book text), to perceive pop-up frames highlighting important items or enemies, and to witness sudden flashbacks when a chunk of memory is filled in.
What’s more impressive is that your sixth sense isn’t window-dressing: it’s absolutely necessary to completing the game’s 37 levels, especially the later stealth missions. So, while XIII’s level design is right out of the rigidly linear No One Lives Forever rulebook — mandatory stealth missions (hiding bodies, avoiding alarms) mixed with gunplay and an occasional boss — its visual panache and immersion are totally fresh.
Cut-scenes unfold in a mind-boggling swell of animated panels. The Unreal engine replicates an interactive comic book: headshots are accompanied by graphic close-ups of the impact; frag grenades explode in a big, readable “BOOM!”; and tense moments are dynamically punctuated by a pulsing soundtrack.
If XIII has a major flaw, it’s the save-game system. Inexplicably, you can permanently save only between levels, and though there are checkpoints within missions, you’ll have to restart the entire level if you quit the game. On a few occasions, I also saw NPCs jogging into a wall, but for the most part, the AI drew few complaints — enemies always take cover under fire, and I was actually surprised to see a soldier loot his fallen buddies for ammunition.
XIII is rounded out by a tantalizing multiplayer component that’s playable over LAN, Ubisoft’s online service, or against bots. Modes include classics (deathmatch, team deathmatch, and CTF) as well as newcomers like Sabotage, in which teams attack and defend checkpoints.
However, my most compelling reason to recommend XIII is personal: The game ends on a cliffhanger — which means the only way I’ll discover how it all turns out is if there’s a XIII: Part II…or XIV?