Big fan of the written works, so I wanted to try this. It largely does them justice. The characters aren't as full/fleshed out. Sometimes, their personalities have changed(Jones delivers an inordinate quantity of black woman sass... compare her to the novels), which could maybe be argued as necessary for this. The plot is great, and while not all of it is there, and the structure is altered, it's fairly accurate, and this does recreate several of the portions that are the highest up on the awesomeness and excitement scales. The casting is... interesting. 1960's Batman, Mulder and... who's that girl...? Sorry. Anyway, though the voice acting is varied, and occasionally off, apart from the, in this role, seemingly eternally unengaged Duchovny, nearly everyone does well. The audio and music in this are well-done and appropriate. The tone is made milder, with what's objectionable in the original being removed/changed. The essence is retained, to a relative degree. This is perhaps more driven by the action(a case could be made for the word "simplified" being applied) than the mystery... however, the source material held many sequences of such, and, frankly, it is pretty rockin' in this. It's an FPS(with adventure, although I suppose about as much as that of the next of the genre), but it has things that others only dream of, that fit and that really make you feel like a heavily trained... well, young man with amnesia(you didn't think I was gonna give it away, did you?). You can hear footsteps, implemented rather well, and you can break household objects over the heads of others to knock them out(or, if you go unnoticed by them, use your bare hands, or take them hostage). In addition to those, you get flashbacks along the way, and these are well-integrated, and here the already quite good story-telling breaks new ground. Another two things need to be said that have to do with how close this is to what Vance and Van Hamme have entertained, disturbed and surprised us with(granted, Ludlum's inspiration deserves mention) since the mid-80's. The first is the stealth. It is downright required several places... kudos to them for that facet being present, and so well handled, being satisfying and well-achieved. The second of the two are among the most instantly recognizable aspects of this: The style. The fact that this was a comic before has *not* been lost in translation. Lines are shown in speech-bubbles, and explosions and other occurrences have a "sound" written on the screen(this reads considerably less well-done than it looks... and it's not distracting, either). Everything you see is also drawn in that realistic way that we know from when we read the books. This may take a little getting used to, meanwhile, it does happen. The framing is also well-done, and helps the overall feeling of this, without becoming excessive. The cinematics are well-done and really magnificent in their use of aforementioned staple of the underrated medium. The fluid animation is gorgeous, the graphics, excellent. Multiplayer has none of these fancy features, nevertheless, it's very enjoyable. There are six modes. They are: Deathmatch, Team DM, Hunted(Death runs around the arena, dying by his skeletal hand loses you points, and, killing him obviously causes the opposite reaction), CTF, Sabotage(think Counter-Strike) and Powerup(there boxes are around, the ones that don't hold ammo/weapons grant powers... not all of which aid the holder, mind you). Granted, there are other titles out there that exceed these in creativity... free-for-all half of the way(rules do differ some). There are also bots to battle against/with. They aren't half bad. In general, the AI is strong, and seldom get stuck. In fact, there are few bugs. It isn't entirely polished, if nearly. The game-play is a lot of fun, and it's dynamic, never staying anywhere too long, or standing still. It's a bit short, and the re-playability value is OK. It is raised by the freedom allowed being admirable. Still, this is mainly linear. It does have a pretty interactive environment. The items are well-done. You get to use different real-life spy gadgets, and there are numerous instances where you use a grappling hook. The save system is based on checkpoints, and it can be debated whether or not that's a positive. The guns are well-selected and diverse, and they don't become too over-the-top, in keeping with the franchise being based on our world, with things that exist, situations that could happen, to a certain extent. They're all useful and cool. The objectives are easy enough to understand, you know what you're supposed to do. You seldom get lost. The HUD is well-done. The humor is reasonable, with a couple of silly parts. The, I kid you not, singing in this, I suppose goes under that. I don't know why they decided to have as much of it in this as they did... even The Grim Reaper, in MP, engages in a heart-felt solo. The dialog ranges. The difficulty settings ensure that those who want a challenge, as well as those who don't feel as confident in their abilities, can both try this. The level design is marvelous. The boss fights are fine, neither the best ever, nor the worst. No, the ending isn't fantastic... what could they have done, really? There is blood and violence, but not gore, in this. Like the rest, it is in a cartoony, albeit not childish, or kid-friendly, way. There is harsh language, in a nominal amount. It isn't as strong as what it's based on. It thus makes less of an impact on the player, and I would suggest at least taking them in, unless you can't see yourself opening one. That isn't a requirement for giving this a shot, it can be appreciated without. If you *are* into them, make sure to adjust your expectations accordingly... the type of VG didn't allow for all of the content. I recommend this game to anyone who are fond of First Person Shooters, XIII and/or the concept. 8/10
Review of XIII
