carl_lazarevic's Full Review: XIII for PlayStation 2
XIII tells a story that is something akin to Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Identity; it involves a man with the number XIII tattooed onto his chest waking up with amnesia before finding himself hunted down by a secret branch of the government. As this man moves through the game, piecing together the brief flashes of memory that do come to him, he discovers a conspiracy led by 20 men who hide behind numbered pseudonyms. He himself is number XIII.
Now I'm not going to lie to you here, I liked, no loved, XIII. It's one of those games that gets everything right, control system, plot, difficulty level, and everything else you care to imagine is as close to perfect as it's ever likely to get, but, I'm not about to give the game the full five stars because, when all is said and done, XIII plays exactly the same as every other First Person Shooter in recent memory.
You see, the FPS is a game genre that has existed for many years now, ever since the original Wolfenstein 3D invented the formula, not Doom as so many people believe, but regardless of it's origins, it a genre that has remained the same. Sure you get the occasional Evolution, the ability to look up and down, jump and duck ect... but the basic formula remains the same, you stare down the barrel of a gun, hundreds of enemies charge at you and you squeeze the trigger until they stop moving. XIII doesn't even offer a slight evolution though, it simply does what every other FPS does, though thankfully it does it well.
I suppose the most sensitive area among FPS fans is the control system; because when these games became more realistic the level of control suddenly became more complex, as such playing these games on consoles became very difficult. There were exceptions, but these were the games designed to be played on a console, example-Goldeneye would be unplayable without an N64 pad. XIII uses the revolutionary control system that was used on PS2Half Life, a system which is nowhere near as good as the old mouse and keyboard but which is the best you're going to find on any joypad. It uses the 2 analogue sticks, the left for movement and the right for looking, which initially seems like trying to do 2 things at once, but when you get used to it it does manage to become a fluid and natural way to play the game. Unfortunately the PS2 controller wasn't really optimized for these kind of games, the thumb pads are at a funny angle, forcing you to rearrange your thumps, and the back buttons are too close together so that you occasionally throw a hand grenade instead of a throwing knife, which, needless to say, kind of blows your stealth approach right out the window. I think that perhaps, on the X Box, which the game was designed for, this wouldn't be a problem, but of course my main recommendation would be to get it on a PC, or get a PS2 mouse and keyboard combo.
After that though it's pretty much a solid business deal all the way. Weapons range from the standard pistol, to the ridiculously destructive machine gun, the heavy rocket launcher and of course the classic shotgun, where would the genre have gone without that loyal friend? However what is most fun is that, for those who want to try using a little non lethal force, meaning No one will until the game insists, you can utilize objects you find lying around such as chairs, ash trays, house bricks and even a broom. There's just so much satisfaction to be found in bashing a guard around the head with a broom, more satisfaction than merely sneaking past them at least.
Other areas include a good solid frame rate that keeps things running smoothly, without any noticeable slowdown. Something that helps out with the learning curve, which starts out very easy, but quickly gets difficult, yet by the time this happens you know the game well enough to be able to handle it, something which slowdown nearly always interferes with. It's just that with all of those pros the game still remains a FPS. It's like ordering a Kebab, sure it tastes nice and the ingredients compliment each other well, but you're not going to call it the best meal you've ever had because it's the same as every other Kebab you've ever tried. It's only when a chef does something a little different that you will remember it past lunchtime. XIII is just like that, the ingredients all compliment each other, and I had a blast playing it, but wouldn't really have remembered it after completing a few levels of run, shoot, pick up key, shoot, open locked door, shoot, find next key, shoot and so on and so forth. Any other game that did this would get an average 3 stars at best, but, while formulaic, XIII still has something to make it memorable, to drag it from the crowd and place it in the publics eye. That is, that what this game lacks in substance, it more than makes up for in style.
XIII is based on some French comic strip and so UBI Soft have gone to great lengths in order to capture the look and feel of said comic. It utilizes some of the best cell shaded graphics that I have seen to date in order to create a vivid world of bold and vibrant colours. However taking it one step further than that, the game at times looks like it has actually become a comic book, with frames appearing during cut scenes, whenever something is happening a little off screen, or when you just happen to get the perfect head shot with your Sniper Rifle/ Crossbow weapons, making the result infinitely more stylish, and infinitely more satisfying than it has been in a long time.
Of course there is another area, an idea so absolutely cool that I cannot believe noone has thought to utilize it before. It is speech bubbles!!! During cut scenes characters will produce speech bubbles that follow them around, explaining the plot in a very classy way, and this of course makes the game suitable for deaf gamers, who I know are becoming concerned by the frequency of games without subtitles and would otherwise be unable to understand the dialogue that has been delivered so perfectly by the voice actors. Not the only thing though, during the in game sections, whenever you blow something up the screen becomes filled with big, bold, white letters that spell out the word "BOOM!!", it's just the coolest thing ever programmed.
Now I can't say for sure, as I haven't witnessed most versions of this game in motion, but from screen shots the 3 console versions looked pretty much even, with the PC version having slightly better graphics, which is to be expected with a high res monitor. Nevertheless, this PS2 incarnation looks stunning, and does easily well enough to get across just how cool this game truly is. That, my friends, is why I give it such a high score!
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