XIII is a competent yet underappreciated shooter.
XIII has quite a bit of competition, as it is one of about a million first person shooters on the Xbox. While it doesn't break with any of the gameplay conventions typical to a first-person shooter, it does have a very unique and interesting visual style that adds interest and sets it apart from other games of this type.
Story-wise, XIII follows an amnesiac government assassin who may, or may not, have shot the president. Throughout the course of the game, you will find out more about the conspiracy and start piecing together your own past to find out just what in the hell happened. Despite succumbing to some cliched storytelling, the plot is sufficient enough to motivate the action. For an FPS, XIII is a bit plot-heavy, so a more interesting story would have been welcomed. In this case, though, it doesn't add much to the game. In any case, XIII wraps up in a dozen or so hours making it worth a playthrough.
XIII's action doesn't depart much from standard FPS fare. You'll start with relatively weak weapons before slowly working up to grenade launchers, assault rifles, and the like. Each weapon responds like you would expect it to. Most weapons have an alternate fire mode, like a sniper scope or full-auto fire. You'll find copious amounts of health packs lying around, as well as several gadgets that get you from point A to point B, like the grapling hook. I found a few of the more interesting levels included stipulations where you couldn't kill someone, but had to find a way to take them out without them shooting you. You could pick up chairs and bean them over the head, or sneak up behind them and knock them cold. It provided a nice change of pace to have to sneak around a bit.
The one place where XIII departs from standard FPS games is in its presentation. The game is based on a comic book, so the developers decided to keep the comic book look by using cel shading. Taking it a bit further, the game is presented in a comic book style by using panels to move between scenes or showing multiple camera angles during certain mission sections. For instance, you'll see a panel of a guard's feet as he walks towards you while the other panel shows you waiting to pounce when he's close enough to stealthily kill him. Also, a lot of the sound effects have visual cues as well. If a guard is on the other side of the wall, you'll hear his footsteps and see "tap, tap, tap" move across the floor as the guard moves. Whenever a grenade explodes nearby, a large "BOOM" in comic-style text will appear alongside the sound of the explosion. These little touches do a lot to add immersion into the game and make it stand out.
While, at its core, XIII doesn't play much differently than any other FPS, it's still a solid game. Due to its unique visual style and presentation, I can recommend playing through it once.
