Ubisoft strikes XIII (thirteen)
Written: Nov 24 '03 (Updated Feb 03 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cel-shaded graphics (hot!), comic style story telling, simplified controls, stealth and tactics elements, multiplayer
Cons: Cumbersome game save, long load time between scenes, user manual
The Bottom Line: XIII is as unconventional as its title. What is mostly a great game has been needless handicapped with a few weak points like the checkpoint saving.
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| theuerkorn's Full Review: XIII for Windows |
It's prime time for Xmas shopping and one of the most praised games to be released in this time may very well be the first person shooter with the unconventional name XIII. It's a classic espionage story but with several twists from a gaming perspective. Its cel-shaded in order to look like a comic. But not enough with that, the whole story also unfolds very similar to comic strips. In a time where most games try to beat reality with continuously better graphics (i.e. Call of Duty), XIII stands out for it's looks just like Tron2.0 - which actually did very good with the same strategy and amazing renderings of a surreal world.
I. The story line
The story reads like most classic spy thrillers: "You wake up on a desolate strip of New England beach. The near-fatal impact of a bullet has left your head pounding, and your memory erased. What's more, the number 'XIII' has been mysteriously tattooed on your chest, while your pocket holds a key to a NYC bank box. Head swimming in amnesia, you struggle to your feet only to encounter more assailants intent of finishing the job. To your shock, you handle the hitmen with the killing skills of a professional before heading to the bank in search of any shred of information about your lost identity and your involvement in the President's murder.
Wanted by all the cops in New York State and hunted down by The Mongoose, the amnesiac seems doomed to a choice of death or prison. But XIII hasn't counted on the unexpected assistance of Major Jones, a young female soldier who helps him flee through the city of New York. During their escape, this foxy lady reveals to XIII that he's a secret agent working for General Carrington."
The setup sounds a lot like a mix of the recent flick "Bourne Identity" and the video game Splinter Cell. In fact Agent XIII goes thru the same phase as Mr. Bourne, as he gets shot on a yacht and pretty much escapes his fate with the loss of his memory. XIII also ends up in a bank to retrieve a box and with it some of his identity, namely a passport stating that he is Steve Rowland and he's a captain in the United States army.
I guess the president's murder in XIII may as well be a reference to the 40th anniversary of the JFK assassination and your chance to play out the conspiracy theory behind it - right in the line of fire as the (official) main suspect.
And the rest you can figure yourself if you're not a stranger to the genre ...
II. Key Features
The graphics are most likely the most outstanding feature of XIII, as it deploys so-called cel-shading technology (based on an Unreal II graphics engine). Radeon owners may have seen the demo where ATI explains the technology behind it. Pretty much the same rendering technique as in most 3D engines but used to determine outlines and lighted as well as shaded areas. Each defined 'cell' then is filled with a single color, much like in comic books. Finally a game that's based on a comic and actually works like one too.
But not only does the rendering look like a comic, the whole story unfolds like one too. The gamer is informed about important facts via little PIP cut scenes and 'not-to-be-missed' items are highlighted with frames. The whole game feels like a comic strip that came to life - a fantastic mix of snap shots, sequences and 'life video'.
XIII is a first and foremost a Shooter, but without the use of stealth and tactics one will not get very far. In some cases it's better to sit back a little and wait for enemies to come to you than running out in a gun-wielding manner and trying to mow everybody down (a la Halo). In fact, some missions are calling for no fatalities or avoiding to trigger an alarm. Splinter Cell may be the closest to XIII in this regard. (However, Splinter Cell deploys the 3rd person whereas XIII is pure 1st person view.)
III. How does it play:
Manual: I guess it has to do with it being an espionage theme, but the user manual for XIII holds precious little information and one has to consult forums to find out that for instance Quicksave (F5), Quickload (F9) and Quickheal (Q) 'exist'.
Parental Control: Well, it's an option and while I believe that UBISoft meant well with it, it's really not what the name implies. Whoever starts the game and has access to the main menu (everybody) can turn the 'Parental Lock' on or off at will (no password etc.). So look at it more as an option to turn blood and viloent scenes off in case you object to it.
Graphics: Fresh new look in an innovative interface design are trademarks of XIII. Nothing to complain about here except for the lo-res nature of some textures in close-up.
Controls: Keyboard and mouse are the only input devices supported. However, since it basically follows standard conventions one will need only a short time in order to master the controls, which are simplified to allow to concentrate on the game at hand rather than fiddling for that magic key stroke.
Sound: The audible side of XIII reveals a fitting score and good sound effects. Very true to the comic theme is another specialty: Visible sound! Yes, you can actually 'see' people walking by behind walls or around corners simply by the words (i.e. 'tap tap tap') showing up where the sound occurred. This helps a great deal in most stealth actions and helps the game to define its character. Nice touch: XIII's voice is provided by David Duchovny (X-Files), though not as convincing as on tv.
Animation: Character animation is somewhat hard to compare since the comic style needs to be taken into consideration when judging on the quality. Simplified and fitting to the overall theme, motion may have been intentionally not as realistic as in Call of Duty or Tron2.0.
Cut scenes: Despite their lo-res character, cut-scenes are widely used to convey the story. It may be one of the most interesting features in XIII as they manage to effectively use comic elements to show multiple events simultaneously and disseminate important information. However, with the current gamesave you will be doomed to see the same keyscenes over and over again. That's the point where I wished at least to be able to skip them.
Weapons: One of the greatest varieties in quantity and quality of any shooter, XIII offers 15 mostly different weapon types. Equipment ranges from knives (which can be thrown) and handguns all the way to sniper rifles, cross bow, sub-machine guns and grenades. But not enough with those traditional ones, on your way you can pick up chairs and ashtrays (etc.) to knock out enemies as well. (I.e. in missions where you are not allowed to kill anybody.) Some weapons can be used for melee attacks.
Progress: You may have read about it in forums, but developers of XIII were a little off in their perception of a reasonable game save system. Sure it deploys checkpoints just as in Halo etc., but what has been already annoying in this space shooter, is even another notch worse in XIII. Checkpoints are very rare (!) and so-called Quicksave (F5) still just stores the last checkpoint. Quickload (F9) becomes relatively useless that way. Be prepared to play the same section numerous times!
Navigation: Due to the comic style user interface and story telling, many features are put in place to ease navigation and point out what next to do or pick up, in case it's not so obvious or one simply forgot. Not much wrong here.
Enemy AI: Just like comics, XIII appears very scripted as enemies engage and events unfold. Even though there is many ways to complete missions, each situation has mostly one solution only. Other than that, AI is mostly reasonable and can be bone breaking hard - depending on the set level. (This is where the game save really hurts.)
Difficulty: With 4 settings, difficulty can be adjusted to Arcade, Normal, Realistic or XXX, where the latter is for 'experienced' gamers only. I play the Realistic mode and it feels about right. However, the save feature makes it harder than it needs to be, you will find yourself longing for that precious checkpoint. Though levels are kind of short, it feels much longer since one has to repeat it several times. (Difficulty cannot be changed once in the game, and playing everyting in Arcade is not the solution either.)
Locations: It all starts on Brighton Beach. This is a rather short level but kind of useful to learn the basics on how to use controls in XIII. The it goes to Winslow Bank in New York, FBI Headquarters, the Emerald Military Base, Kellownee Lake, Plain Rock Penitentiary, Spads Military Base (South America), and a cliff-top Sanctuary mansion. Finally XIII ends up at the SSH Secret Base to prevent a global catastrophe. Great variety in 9 different environments with a total of 38 sections! If that's not enough, the included level editor might help.
MultiPlayer: Promises to be a good argument for XIII since it allows to square off against other PlayStation2, Xbox, and PC players. Multiplayer modes are somewhat innovative such as Barfight and the cooperative Cover Me, along with classic modes such as Capture the Flag and Deathmatch. One can play online (host: Ubi.com) or via LAN. And if non of these are available, one can square off with and against bots (computer simulated team mates). It is here where XIII will have a chance to shine.
IV. System Requirements
Surprisingly, despite the 4 CDs the game manages to keep requirements relatively low. Unlike many new 3D engines, XIII does not require DX9 nor T&L hardware. That should open the door to more systems where Enter The Matrix, Tron2.0, Midnight Club 2, Halo, and Call of Duty simply refuse to even start.
According to the manufacturer a 700 MHz Pentium III with 128 MB of RAM and DirectX 8.1 supported video card (32 MB) will suffice to have XIII cooperate. But don't forget the sound as one needs a DirectX-compatible sound card (16 bit). Operating system is limited to Windows 98/Me/2000 or XP - Win95 and WinNT are excluded mainly since the DX technology never caught up with those 'oldies'. However, even the recommended system specs read rather tame with a 1 GHz processor and 256 MB of RAM. 'Biggest' hurdle may be the 64 MB video memory for best results.
Installation allows 2 modes whereas in the minimum installation only 120 MB are occupied on the hard disk. Prepare yourself for a busy CDROM! In full installation, the required space grows to 2.5 GByte (today's average for many games). However, if you're expecting to not need the discs anymore you're in for a disappointment. Even in full installation the game still requires most of the 4 discs (level dependent) to play. While one disc is unfortunately common for many games (as a dongle), having to have all 4 available seems like a relic from many years ago. XIII does not have a dedicated play disc, but a mere 4 of them.
Another surprise is the long load times even in full installation. Regardless whether starting a level for the first time or retrying it, one sits in front of a black monitor (with cute little stars and the word 'tap' popping up (in comics manner) for about 5 seconds.
XIII ran very smoothly on my system (2.4GHz P4, 1GB RAM, Radeon 9700 Pro) as one would expect from the low requirements. (video options set to: 1280x960, 32bit, 4xAA, all options max.)
V. Does it strike 13?
There is lots of good potential in this unorthodox shooter. Certainly most outstanding is the cel-shading technology and the comic strip graphics and scene sequences. The design is right despite the low-res feel of the cut scenes and most textures. (A tribute to console limitations?)
The actual game play is not bad by any means and actually quite good for a shooter with interesting stealth elements and a great variety of weapons and missions. Throw in the simplified controls and you have a good game for most expectations.
However, XIII shows some minor but annoying shortcomings like the cumbersome game save and very scripted enemy AI. On top of that, copy protection reasons or not, the CD handling is simply outdated and very inconvenient. Interesting: console gamers don't have to endure the same inconvenience.
As in Enclave, XIII lets the gamer repeat sections over and over in case one fails. Repetition is seldom a good thing and even with all the comic style graphics can be a chore in XIII. Further, unlike Tron2.0 this game does not allow changing difficulty level in a mission to get past extremely hard sections.
Nevertheless, XIII manages to tell the espionage story very well and keep players interested in how the story unfolds. Never mind that sometimes it feels repetitive and a little clumsy. In its core, this game is pretty much a solid traditional shooter with a few extras.
XIII sells for $39.95 at BestBuy ($49.95 MSRP) and this may be a reasonable price considering the novelties and hard to deny fun factor of the story and its presentation. It's not a must though, and given the choice, one should also consider Tron2.0, Splinter Cell, and Call of Duty before making the plunge.
There is rumor about a patch in the works that should take care of much of the criticism, especially the game save. We will have to see how that matures.
!!! XIII deserves 4 stars, but I reserve 1 star for such improvements and will re-rate upon evaluation !!!
XIII. Game Website Link
http://www.whoisxiii.com/thirteen.html
Update: (1-Dec-2003)
About 12 sections into the game I decided to acknowledge its character and overall feel despite the cumbersome gamesave. (... which just forced me to 'free' General Carrington about 20 times before finally succeeding in one of the longest stretches I have encountered so far ... with 2 groups (!) of 5 or 6 enemy soldiers charging simultaneously ... poised to not let Steve Rowland (me) succeed. On top of that I had to look out for the general's health while taking care of 5 foes ... all without interim saving! Further, the general has a tendency to stay right in the line of fire and really doesn't help my task of protecting him.)
So I am giving XIII the well deserved 4th star, since it keeps me motivated despite mentioned shortcomings. Something neither Halo nor Enter The Matrix were able to do! However, the save function still needs to be fixed as soon as possible. Please!?
Update: (23-Dec-2003)
About 20 levels and 2 boss enemies later I can feel good about my decision to upgrade the rating on December 1st. Despite its extreme difficulty due to the save and bosses being everything but easy, there is a feeling of achievement in finally getting to the next level. That's especially true after repeating the boss levels more than 20 times each -- in order to finally succeed (in Realistic setting). It certainly gives some sort of satisfaction (after the frustration of having to repeat extremely long sections for the 20th time).
This all does not excuse for the one major short-coming of the game, but once immersed one may be willing to accept it and just enjoy the rest of it. And this is what I am doing right now ...
Update: (18-Jan-2004)
The rumor of a patch that fixes the gamesave turns out to be just that ... rumor! Since the checkpoints are too deeply integrated in the game, a simple patch seems impossible. Bummer! Supposedly end of January or beginning February it should available to address mostly compatibility issues.
Having played about 30 levels by now in so-called realistic mode, the extremely hard boss levels finally convinced me to take it down a notch. In Normal mode, the game turns out much (!!!) easier and at least the hard levels more enjoyable. (Compared to Realistic one feels almost invincible in Normal). Of course now it feels like I am cheating myself out of the full experience, but I figured that's still better than putting this game aside out of frustration about the gamesave.
Update: (27-Jan-2004)
It's done. Last level is complete and the conspiracy has been defeated! ;-) Anyway just wanted to note that my vote for the most beautiful level goes to Sactuary, with its amazing lighting and beautiful sun set! (Almost made me forget the grief the gamesave gave me before getting here.)
Since I had no compatibility issues and the major annoyance will not be fixed, I may not come back to update on 'improvements' of the expected patch, so it may arrive.
Recommended:
Yes
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