Reviews for XIII

XIII

Strengths: Good first-person shooter; quality voice-acting; inspired interface and graphics

Weakness: Comic book style sometime gets in the way of the story

XIII is a cel-shaded first person shooter styled like an interactive comic book. The graphics are great as long as you can appreciate the style they are done in, and the voice-acting is filled with emotion without being over-the-top. It's a short play at under 15 hours, but those looking for a decent shooter on the Gamecube have come to the right place.

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XIII

Strengths: Great 1st person shooter. excellent graphics and game play

Weakness: none

This game is one of the best 1st person shooters I have ever played. It has excellent graphics. The game shows you an extreme close-up of the kill. There are a lot of weapons to choose from like a bow and arrow. It also has a lot of levels to keep you entertained for a while.

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Definitely not my favorite console FPS

Strengths: Cel shaded graphics are nice

Weakness: Control scheme is poor

While I am mostly familiar with playing FPS on the PC, I have enjoyed several games from this genre on the Game Cube -- Time Splitters comes to mind. When I was able to find this game at current bargain bin prices, I decided to pull the trigger and buy it. I can not recommend this game to anyone. While the cel shaded graphics are nice, I did not care for the control scheme at all. I played for two hours, and gave up in disgust. I then picked up my copy of James Bond: Everything or Nothing, just to make sure that I wasn't mistaken. I was able to jump right in to the Bond game and was enjoying it again within minutes. While the Bond games was admittedly a third person perspective and not a FPS, I just found the controls much more intuitive. I may go back to XIII at some point, but with all the other games that I have waiting to be played I think it is pretty unlikely that I'll try this one again.

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XIII

Strengths: Stylized cel-shaded graphics are nice

Weakness: Dumb enemy AI

XIII is a first-person shooter done in a graphic novel cel-shaded style. The character models are amazing, while the backgrounds are slightly less so. The game has a fairly linear presentation and some very dumb enemy AI, making the game somewhat easy. Despite that, though, this is a change-of-pace game, particularly on the Gamecube, and worth a look especially as it can be found for bargain-basement prices nowadays.

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Now available for a price you might consider paying....

Strengths: Based on the comics/graphic novel series, neat cel-shaded graphics, huge weapons inventory, multiplayer support, decent enemy AI, budget price

Weakness: Confusing storyline, uninspired voice acting, limited replay value, no unlockables, save issues, cliffhanger ending

XIII has been popular as a comic and graphics novel series in Europe for many years now, but the series is just now making its way stateside. The video game was released on all the current systems (including PC and Mac), so pretty much anyone interested could find a copy for their machine.

The game itself is somewhat of an acquired taste though. The cartoon-like cel-shaded graphics give it an odd look for a first person shooter, and the underwhelming voice acting by lead David Duchovny and tired "lost my memory" storyline don't add much to the equation.

On the other hand, Adam West does a decent job here, and your weapons inventory is quite large. The AI can also be quite challenging as their weapons seem much more powerful than anything you get to shoot with. The fact that XIII can now be found new for $20 (cheaper used) makes it less risky as a purchase.

Some will dislike the cliffhanger ending and limited replay value, but a multiplayer mode gives it slightly longer legs. Don't pay more than $20 for this though. If you have any doubts going in, try renting it first.

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Fairly decent FPS

Strengths: Art style really is like a comic come to life.

Weakness: Not enough to seperate it from the rest of the FPS pack.

I want to explain why I game this game three stars. There is certainly nothing wrong with it, it is in fact, quite a nice, fun game. The problem is the plethora of FPS's in the console market. This game is simply not an A-level FPS. With the eight or nine games I would consider an A level FPS, it is hard to recommend the puchase of an also ran, even though many, like XIII, are still quite good.

I do have to say that the visual style of the game is very good, and if I were to intentionally choose a B level FPS to play, the artwork would definitely seperate this game from the rest of the pack.

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Wasn't David Duchovny the voice actor for this game?

Strengths: Nice graphics, good gameplay, expansive multiplayer

Weakness: No one bought it

Although a commercial flop, XIII is a good FPS with a graphics twist, looking more like a comic book/cartoon than real-life.

There are a number of different multiplayer modes (deathmatch, capture the flag, etc), which utilizes the split-screen (up to four players) pretty well. The control scheme is pretty standard for FPS.

Overall, a worthwhile budget purchase.

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XIII (Gamecube)

Strengths: Art Style

Weakness: Dumb AI

This is a very pretty game. The cell-shading gets across the comic book feel very well. It plays very well, but the weak AI and linear levels break immersion and suspension of disbelief quite a bit. The voice acting is good (especially Adam West).

Overall this was an enjoyable play experience.

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XIII

Strengths: Graphics, Sound, Presentation, Level design

XIII is yet another game that really should have sold better. It has all the aspects of what should have been a hit. Great graphics, unique to fps games, it featured comic book style cell shading that looked great and fit the material. Tight control partnered with good level design, and great sense of immersion. An engrossing story with an excellent cast of voice actors and solid music round out a great package.
XIII solid in nearly ever way. The graphics fit the game to a T. Rarely is cell shading used in what could be described a serious game, let alone one that is a Fps. The cell shading here evokes a real comic book feel. The game is actually based on a European comic book, and when the game inserts comic-style panel every so often to advance the story it never feels out of place.
XIII must be commended for its use of voice actors. Often big name actors are brought in, just as a part of the marketing of the game. In XIII the actors seem perfectly suited to their roles and their performances are perfect. David Duchovny of X-Files fame is perfect as the amnesia affected lead, Adam West does a turn as grizzled military boss, Eve the rapper is also here as a soldier. The rest of the sound is similarly good, excellent music and sound effects round out what is an great overall sound package.
XIII's control and gameplay are almost as good as the presentation, but not quite. The control is tight, but at times can feel slightly loose. The levels are well designed and offer plenty of different challenges but the game itself isn't particularly long. Overall the gameplay and control are quite good.
XIII is a very good game, only a few steps away from being a classic. A sequel could have produced a truly excellent game. Hopefully Ubisoft considers this and lets the team make another cell shaded fps, or better yet a true sequel. XIII is an excellent place to put your gaming dollar.

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XIII

Testseek.com has collected 1 expert review for XIII and the rating is 64 of 100. Click below and use Testseek.com to find all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

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XIII

XIII receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS rating of 3.06 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #2,376 game of all time, #46 game of 2003 for the GameCube and #182 GameCube game of all time. The rating and ranking is based on an average of 44 critic scores, awards and other criteria. To see a breakdown of the game ranking, read individual critic reviews, or see how other games ranked, click on the link below.

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XIII

As most gamers have probably heard by now, XIII is a cel-shaded first-person shooter based on a French comic book--excuse moi, graphic novel--about a military operative who's suffering from amnesia and is being chased after by both the authorities and a shadowy group of Bad People who want to do Bad Things. It feels like a bouquet of Hitman 2, No One Lives Forever, and the movie The Bourne...

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XIII

Aesthetics can get a title pretty far in the video game industry. But graphical tricks stand the chance of becoming clichéd gimmicks as quickly as tired gameplay mechanics. When Ubisoft announced that it would release the first cel-shaded first-person shooter, skeptics were quick to insult the company's apparent hop onto the bandwagon. But as people were shown more of the game, the dismay turned...

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XIII

Published by and developed by Ubi Soft, XIII is a action game for the GameCube. It has an ESRB rating of MATURE.

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