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XIII takes you through the darkest parts of America's corridors of power, as you discover the ugliest government secrets. The President of the United States has been assassinated. The day this happened, you woke up on a beach with no memory, and the Roman numeral "XIII" tattooed across your chest. Your only clue is the key to a safe deposit box in New York.
XIII (Mac) Accessories
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XIII (Mac) Reviews
This is a glitch, and quite obviously not for dramatic effect. Also, a lot of characters repeat lines or words. But these are the only bad points. Unfortunately, I have only the minumum of some of the requirements, and as a result, often the view went erratic when I tried to aim on one person out of many.
This is a really good game, and the plot goes at a tremendous place, taking a lot from JFK (you are accused of assasinating the President), graphic novels (the whole game is animated as if it was one) and other FPS (first person shooter) games, including now standards of the genre: bazooka, rifle, sniper rifle, automatic, ect. Where the games fall down, is that the minumum requirements are the bare bones. Also, at a point it is too steeped in comic book lore, and the BOOOM on the screen when a grenade explodes gets irritating.
Overall, this is an enveloping game with a unique style and gameplay, let down by a lack of polish.
The only thing that bothers me is the save game function mentioned in other reviews and the contrived story line. This game is made to feel like a comic book. This doesn't take away from how fun the game is though go out and buy it while its still cheap. I like that I don't know about you but i'm sick of dull FPS and this is not dull at all. Just not properly thought out with some large plot holes. Also the game is totally linear with not much diffrence between difficulty levels (besides stronger enemies) so there is no replay value. If your at all a fan of comic books you might find the story line similar to the comics you find in the dollar bin.
I notice when the game realy needs to think, there is a slight pause and the fps drops for a couple seconds. I was also worried about the save function but found I could save the game whenever I want to. I played the demo for a year and bought the real thing. It has not disappointed me. I like it and would by a sequal, if there was one.
XIII may be okay for high-speed shooter fanatics, but I found it frustrating beyond words. Great story, great art, great scenarios. It's a visual treat and the narrative is fun, but I got so bored having to kill the same badguys over and over to get through every level that I finally gave up. What a shame. but the abilty to save this game only at 'checkpoints' is a deadly flaw. I don't care who Number I is, or whether anybody saves the world, and I can't imagine anyone who finishes this ever playing it a second time.
Audio often skips and the comic book menus can be difficult to navigate on the first try. Network play is supported via GameRanger (http://www.gameranger.com/) but in a week of trying I couldn't find anyone to play against. Shoot a foe in the head and see three subsequent frames of the impact flash on your screen. The multiplayer aspect is no help either. Though corny in detail, it is creative. It's not a must-have for everyone, but if you're a fan of shooters or are looking for a new kind of eye candy, check this one out. Your arsenal is even rounded out with some non-lethals.
Crouch and cartoony letters spell "tap, tap" - warning you of the guard waiting for you around the corner. Despite taking up a lot of screen space in some cases, this usually helps you complete your mission. As the first of its kind, XIII is a welcome addition to the Mac library. That says something. Shooters are a dime a dozen now, but one of UK distributor Feral Interactive's new releases, XIII (Thirteen), stands out from the crowd. Every aspect of the game is meant to feel like a living comic book. Those missions follow a pretty tight plot. You often have the option to sneak and snipe or go in guns blazing, but regardless of your technique you'll have plenty of tools at your disposal.
Rather than using semi-realistic 3D rendering typical in video games, XIII employs a technique called cell shading that uses the real 3D information to block out colored shapes. You spend most of the game fighting through soldiers to find characters from your past and trying to piece together your life through character dialog, stolen documents, and flashbacks. The grappling hook and lock-pick are essential to navigating most missions and you can even take hostages to cover a retreat. The games strong point is it's novel appearance. It's more than dressing though. You can also pick up chairs, ashtrays, and shards of glass to smash or throw at the enemy. Of course that just means the virtues of the game do not translate well into deathmatch. The crossbow and throwing knives are a nice addition to the weapons you'd expect and the revolver, which you can speed shoot like Clint Eastwood, is a personal favorite.
The cinematic effects that represent being stunned or having a flashback look great. Once you've finished it, you can adjust the difficulty and try again, but the cheesy voice acting, repetitive kill animations, and looping soundtrack will get old quick. Despite the attention paid to the story, XIII is still a shooter at heart. XIII has reasonable system requirements and a violence setting so it might even be an option for some younger players.
The result is a visual style that resembles a comic but retains all the capabilities of computer graphics. You play agent XIII, voiced by The X-Files' David Duchovny, who finds himself amnesic and on the run. I was able to try out the "bot challenge" which simulates online play and found it slow and uninteresting. There's no page turning, but everything from menus to cut scenes is presented in frames. Come across an object that is important to the story and it is highlighted in comic-style box. The mission failure dialog surprisingly lacks a load option so you have to navigate back to the main menu if you don't want to replay the whole level. The style is surprisingly consistent and you really feel like GI Joe or some other hero in cartoon action that belies the realism of the underlying engine.
This game is based on more than just the story of the comic book by the same name. The pop-up needs for these actions make the game pretty interesting the first time around. It has some deficiencies though. On the up side, the Mac version of XIII contains all the game types from both the PC and console versions, making Mac OS X hands-down the best platform for XIII.
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