XIII

The best thing XIII has going for it are its theme and art style. The art is inarguably stylish, and there aren't nerely enough secret agent games imo. The shooting also works. The writing is below that of the Jason Bourne and James Bond movies (I've yet to read the books), and the voice acting is laughably bad. There is no character I can point to as interesting or compelling, and that includes the main character. The gunplay is fun, but suffers from a shortage of health kits and high-damaging enemies in some areas. The shotgun, with its long reload and huge pump-action animation (it takes up literally half the screen), sucks. No gun or explosive really stood out to me as fun, overall. The stealth, even outside of the mandatory boss fights, doesn't hold up well enough to stand on its own. Enemies too often saw me through the backs of thier own heads. I very early learned to give up on the idea of completely stealthing a level unless forced to do so. Finally, the last levels of the game are a complete slog. I remember beating the game once as a kid, and I bought it to replay for nostalgia. I don't think I can stand suffering through to beat it a second time, though, when I already know the reward will be a cliffhanger. Spoiler: This game never got a sequel, so hope you don't mind unresolved plots... I won't lie and claim to've not had fun. I just can't recommend a game as problem-ridden as XII when you can't even save-scum. It's checkpoints-only, and if the checkpoints stick you in an unwinnable position you better hope you have a save for the start of the level!

I wanted to play this game once more, thank you for giving me this opportunity!

In my opinion after XIII (13) more Cel-shaded games released as this is a great artistic style and shows graphics doesn't need to be realistic to make a game great, comic book style narrative when you kill an enemy far away or with style it shows it on a pop up screen like in comic books, great story as you don't remember what happened to you, you slowly get your memory back and try to stop an evil plan if you like bourne identity you will like games similar story it is great fun to play and I highly recommend it

This game is timeless good! Still today it looks beautiful in it's very own way. The gameplay and Story reminds me of times where games were made with passion and not with marketing goals in mind. Oh, and be careful. You have to be very thoughtful to not to die.. this is not a "simple shooter". Even Arcade Mode could be challenging! Give it a try. It's one of the best! Honestly!

I bought this game for around $14 on a whim when I was 12 or 13. I didn't know anyone my age who was into pc games, and lived in a place that barely had internet. So I didn't have any way to discover what was out there, really. Saw this game at some discount store and thought it looked reallyyy cool. Got it home not knowing if it would run or not. Everything turned out okay though; installed, and started playing through the first level. I was in love. It was like playing through this secret agent comic book-like piece of cinematic epicness, yet the gunplay and other mechanics alone were so solid. Just play it! I would buy it on GOG but I still have my install discs (: