For a bargain basement price, XIII is a great action packed shooter.  Based on a comic book, this game has a unique "cell shaded" appearance that looks and plays just like the player is acting out a comic book.  Your screen will pop up little picture-in-picture slow motion images of your foes taking a knife to the head or otherwise stealth fully taken out.  Often you will see mini action sequences play out in the little screen that may alert you to baddies around,  show conversations while your main field of vision is focused on what is going on in front of you, or even show close-ups of your enemies falling to their death so you will definitely appreciate that comic book feel.  The cell shaded look is also very well done and easy to look at, as it is based off of the Unreal 2 graphics engine.  While those graphics are slightly outdated by today's standards, for what its worth, the cell shaded characters and world look quite unique.

The story involves you as a nameless character who wakes up with only some vague memories and XIII tattooed on your arm, but is otherwise plagued with amnesia. You are rescued by a life guard and soon ambushed by murderous thugs who seem to be looking specifically for you.  The games story takes you along a path to find out who you are and why these thugs and armed men want you dead.  Later, you will be directly involved with ending whatever evil plans they have and blowing a lot of them up in the process. The game is rather linear, but you will have the choice to use stealth to eliminate your opponents or run in there guns blazing and picking up health packs.  As you regain your memory, you will also start to regain knowledge of super abilities you once had.  This usually involves you talking to then fighting a boss you recognize and having access to an innate ability on the next level.  These abilities range from one hit knockout hand chops, steady hand sniping, super fast lock picking, med kit prowess, and other skills.  The best is probably the silent walk skill because before you obtain that, all enemies can hear you walking up behind them which makes the one hit handchop knockout skill worthless until you can get behind the enemy to use it.  The game will encourage stealth by letting you creep up and snag guards from behind and either use them as hostages to keep from getting shot at and the ability to drag bodies around and hide them.  Guards will patrol areas and find your bodies and raise alarms, so hiding them is key.  You will get your standard shooter line-up of weapons to dispose upon your many enemies who are mostly nameless thugs or renegade military types.  Most of the weapons feel very underpowered with the exception of the cross bow.  The cross bow is like a sniper rifle that makes zero noise and almost always kills with one hit, especially if you can hit someone in the head or neck.  The sniper rifle isn't much more powerful and causes alarms to sound. Enemies will react to other weapons as if you were spraying them with a garden hose.  They will stand there getting pumped with lead, pouring blood on the floor and aimlessly firing back at you before eventually falling down in a heap even if you are shooting them with an AK-47.  That is unless you pick up a throwing knife and throw that into their face.  You will get a one-hit kill for that and can knock them out if you break a chair or brick over someones head.

 The game was fun to play and is worth playing twice or maybe 1 1/2 times just to see some of the mystery you may have missed.  Otherwise the game play is more or less standard shooter fare with an interesting look and David Duchovney's voice.  It would have felt more satisfying to play if the weapons felt like they packed more of a punch or affected the enemies more.  I don't need more damage, just more of an indication that my enemies are taking my hits or reacting to getting shot.  You will use the crossbow the most and love it.  On the plus side, it does have some multiplayer deathmatch and a few other options to play with however there are no servers anymore.  Feel free to enjoy the bots the game offers.  They are always average in their level of AI, but if you turn up the difficulty they are more accurate and jump around more.

This game scores on many levels while missing on a few things.  The save system is lacking.  The cutscenese were not skippable.  The game is linear.  It has limited replayability if you don't care about botmatch. The ending contains a clifhanger.
For a bargain basement price, XIII is a great action packed shooter. Based on a comic book, this game has a unique "cell shaded" appearance that looks and plays just like the player is acting out a comic book. Your screen will pop up little picture-in-picture slow motion images of your foes taking a knife to the head or otherwise stealth fully taken out. Often you will see mini action sequences play out in the little screen that may alert you to baddies around,  show conversations while your main field of vision is focused on what is going on in front of you, or even show close-ups of your enemies falling to their death so you will definitely appreciate that comic book feel. The cell shaded look is also very well done and easy to look at, as it is based off of the Unreal 2 graphics engine. While those graphics are slightly outdated by today's standards, for what its worth, the cell shaded characters and world look quite unique. The story involves you as a nameless character who wakes up with only some vague memories and XIII tattooed on your arm, but is otherwise plagued with amnesia. You are rescued by a life guard and soon ambushed by murderous thugs who seem to be looking specifically for you. The games story takes you along a path to find out who you are and why these thugs and armed men want you dead. Later, you will be directly involved with ending whatever evil plans they have and blowing a lot of them up in the process. The game is rather linear, but you will have the choice to use stealth to eliminate your opponents or run in there guns blazing and picking up health packs. As you regain your memory, you will also start to regain knowledge of super abilities you once had. This usually involves you talking to then fighting a boss you recognize and having access to an innate ability on the next level. These abilities range from one hit knockout hand chops, steady hand sniping, super fast lock picking, med kit prowess, and other skills. The best is probably the silent walk skill because before you obtain that, all enemies can hear you walking up behind them which makes the one hit handchop knockout skill worthless until you can get behind the enemy to use it. The game will encourage stealth by letting you creep up and snag guards from behind and either use them as hostages to keep from getting shot at and the ability to drag bodies around and hide them. Guards will patrol areas and find your bodies and raise alarms, so hiding them is key. You will get your standard shooter line-up of weapons to dispose upon your many enemies who are mostly nameless thugs or renegade military types. Most of the weapons feel very underpowered with the exception of the cross bow. The cross bow is like a sniper rifle that makes zero noise and almost always kills with one hit, especially if you can hit someone in the head or neck. The sniper rifle isn't much more powerful and causes alarms to sound. Enemies will react to other weapons as if you were spraying them with a garden hose. They will stand there getting pumped with lead, pouring blood on the floor and aimlessly firing back at you before eventually falling down in a heap even if you are shooting them with an AK-47. That is unless you pick up a throwing knife and throw that into their face. You will get a one-hit kill for that and can knock them out if you break a chair or brick over someones head. The game was fun to play and is worth playing twice or maybe 1 1/2 times just to see some of the mystery you may have missed. Otherwise the game play is more or less standard shooter fare with an interesting look and David Duchovney's voice. It would have felt more satisfying to play if the weapons felt like they packed more of a punch or affected the enemies more. I don't need more damage, just more of an indication that my enemies are taking my hits or reacting to getting shot. You will use the crossbow the most and love it. On the plus side, it does have some multiplayer deathmatch and a few other options to play with however there are no servers anymore. Feel free to enjoy the bots the game offers. They are always average in their level of AI, but if you turn up the difficulty they are more accurate and jump around more. This game scores on many levels while missing on a few things. The save system is lacking. The cutscenese were not skippable. The game is linear. It has limited replayability if you don't care about botmatch. The ending contains a clifhanger.