| "Yet another Cel Shaded
game? Hardly!"
There's been a glut of cel
shaded games lately across all formats, with little to distinguish
them from each other. Until the release of XIII, the only cel game
worth it's salt in my opinion would have to have been Zelda on
GameCube. That's not to say that other titles haven't been highly
enjoyable, they just have not stood out as far as I am concerned
as an overall gaming experience. There are so many plusses for
this one. An intense storyline (based upon a popular French
graphic novel), amazing artwork and a great control system to
boot, XIII has everything that fans of first person shooters could
hope for. This title is a beautiful
example of a comic book brought to life. Characters are
exquisitely shown in glorious detail. Environments abound and
players should enjoy the different playing areas that are
presented to them. Whilst not showing the same immaculate detail
that characters do, the maps are well designed and lend themselves
to a fast playing game, however this also leads to an extremely
linear game as well. There is a feeling of being trapped within
the playable limits of the game, which considering that the Unreal
Warfare engine was used, shouldn't be the case. Comic book effects are used
throughout the game to create some of the most innovative
sequences I have seen in a game in some time with little comic
panels showing when explosions are special attacks are carried
out. This approach is refreshing and makes the game stand out as
something special in it's own right. Weapons abound in this title
and the control system is incredibly intuitive, meaning that you
should be up and running in no time at all. There are two seperate
control systems in place where you use the DPad for general
inventory and items such as a grappling hook, medkits and the
like. There is also armour all over the place so if you are
finding the game a bit too easy then make sure that you try the
difficulty on hardest where you will take something akin to real
damage when hit. The game uses a jazzy
soundtrack and this intensifies when you are in trouble. It's a
unique take for a game to use jazz and is in keeping with the rest
of the title. Weapon sounds are a little weak and don't really
increase in level despite being very different from each other.
The game also has autolock to assist with tricky shots.
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