XIII

At first glance you will think that this game is horrible but it is really challenging and fun! You are a secret agent, you wake up on a beach (If I'm not mistaken it is in Staten Island) and a lifeguard spots you and you don't remember a thing. Then when you reach a bank where you have a key in your pocket for a bank in Manhattan. You go there and you arrested for killing the president! This game is action packed, and is even more fun using Xbox live! However it is on all three systems as well as on some cell phones. The game is comic book based and the game really relates to the comic book style, for example if you shoot someone in the head three frames will pop up in the corner and you will see the bullet hit the guy in the head, it sounds gruesome but it doesn't look that bad, this is a must have for every gamer out there. This game is what all the James Bond games want to be!

You wake up on a beach with no recollection of how you got there. You're sore and have gunshot wounds. A life guard finds you and patches you up for the time being and tells you she found just one key to a NYC bank on you. Then... you're attacked. You're savior is killed and you quickly realize whoever put you in this position is out to finish the job. In getting away you slowly gather clues as to why you're accused of assassinating the US President (!!), what the mysterious tattoo 'XII' means, and figuring out the web of a sinister conspiracy of global domination.

From the get-go this is one terrific game, no two ways about it. It incorporates the clever comic book look, which is an homage to the source material. Shoot a guy and a trail of 'AAAAAAAAs' will follow him down as he plummets. You also get nice close up of some of your kills. For instance if you get a guy in the head with the crossbow or throwing knives, three sequential windows across the top of the screen will detail your kill. The cinematic scenes are also in comic book style with multiple windows showing many things going on, or even cooler, the same image fragmented, giving you that thriller feel as you piece the clues together to the puzzle of what is going on. The game doesn't just stop with weapons, there are also useful gadgets like a lock pick and grappling hook which you must use for infiltrating bases and general sneaking around. The game doesn't stop there. Since you play an elite soldier/agent, as you uncover your past in the form of documents you will regain your abilities that you had before - more effective use of med-kits, ability to hold two guns at once, being able to dispatch foes from behind with a blow to the neck, and others which make the game ridiculously exciting and allow many approaches to many situations.

Also the settings must be mentioned. Starting in bank vault and going all the way to a secret nuclear launch site with a submarine and a secret desert prison in between along with others this game just refuses to be repetitive. Each level offers new challenges and a new way to use the skills and weapons which you have acquired.

The game's few negative points are David Duchovny's fairly dull voice acting and a difficult save-game system which only allows you to save in certain points. But the latter isn't really all that bad as it keeps you on your toes and other popular games like HALO also have it, so it isn't a factor against the games enjoyability, but rookies of FPS will have that to complain about. Everyone else, this is a great game that comes highly recommended. 9/10

Rated MATURE: violence

I finished playing XIII today and I can tell that this is by far a great game! Not only the graphics are unique (in a comic book style that will definitely blown you away, unless you hate comic book style graphics...), but everything including voice actors, great number of weapons and a great story that is barely seen in a FPS game are all great! However that are some low points that must be reported. I've been fascinated to know that David Duchovny, star of one of the greatest movies I've ever seen, Kalifornia, is the voice actor for the character XIII. But sadly Duchovny's voice in this game is kind of boring. He speaks like he's depressed or not feeling very well at doing a video game character. His voice is by far not as great as other actors like Ray Liotta as Tommy Vercetti or William Fitchner as Ken Rosenberg both from Grand Theft Auto : Vice City, who made a masterpiece of a job performing Tommy and Rosenberg. I understand that there always will be the low points in the career of an artist, but just give me an explanation for Duchovny's bad performing in XIII, even though he's a great actor, a great performer in my opinion. If you get past Duchovny's bad performing, you'll find that the others are great and I think that this game is more special that many other FPS around there, for being so long! We can't find FPS games like XIII around there... at least not much... But I've always been dreaming of playing another game which could be in the same style of Strife. Heard of? Well, play XIII if you like FPS games... and comic book style graphics also...

When I heard previews about this game it sounded really awesome. My friend got it right before Christmas and he said it was awesome. I got the money and I bought it. Let me tell you, I was blown away. Things just kept getting cooler. You could move bodies, take hostages, knock people out using funiature, it was awesome. The graphics were great, it look like i was watching a movie/comic book! The celebrity voice actors only add on to what may be the best FPS of the year. With a very unique and in-depth storyline with tons of weapons, areas to explore and one of the coolest numbers tatooed to your head, what could be better?

I'll admit the bad things now. The game is long. I mean, really long. The auto-aim is pretty clunky. In the sneaky missions, it's not like Metal Gear Solid, when a guard sees you, you get a chance to hide and wait, you have to kill the guard right away otherwise you might lose by getting an alarm sounded on you. You may forget what happened early in the game by the time you get far in it. Many areas of the world look the same and many of the objectives area very clear.

All-and-all, I give this game a 8.5 outta 10. That's 'B' and a well-earned one.

The only way to make the game slightly harder is to try to go through the stealth levels completely undetected. But overall, it's way too easy to kill the soldiers, and the bosses are overall not a challenge.

I would have to disagree with the previous comment about the shotgun...that's actually one of my favorite weapons. One shot, one kill for each soldier. It's also really fun and satisfying when your shots land! :)

All in all, it's a relatively fun game and it's amusing to hear David Duchovney and Adam West doing their voice roles...they definitely add flavor to the story! I think it'd be amusing if in the middle of the game, David Duchovney would randomly say "Where's Scully?"