I remember XIII getting mediocre reviews when it first came out. I even remember playing a demo before it launched and distincly recall being unimpressed. The game became a bit of a cult hit though in the years thereafter. So I figured maybe I had missed something and recently gave the game a fresh new try. Unfortunatly I still don't think I would've missed much had I never played it. It's a long (too long even if you ask me), mediocre FPS game with too many stealth missions that fail you instantly the second you get spotted. The story is convoluted for no good reason and even has the audacity to end in a cliffhanger which, we know now, never gets resolved. The cell shaded comic book style graphics are a nice touch though, I'll give it that. But it's been proven time and again that good graphics and good art style is not enough to warrant a playthrough and XIII is no different. Skip it.
It's a farily decent game I'd say. Heck it even has some rather enjoyable moments and the campaign has a good lenght without feeling it is dragging its feet. But in general it plays like a design-by-the-numbers FPS and throughout you can't help but feel like it was developped with consoles in mind first and PC second. Just like in the original the "horror-parts" fall flat as ALMA never really poses a treath. That's a real shame because with the shooting feeling somewhat lackluster it is the one thing that could've elevated the franchise above mediocracy. But that sadly doesn't happen. There's 2 things better than in the original: graphically the game looks very nice even today and environments are far more varied. And secondly the story is stronger in this sequel. But beyond that it fails to build upon the foundation F.E.A.R. established. The GOG-version comes with the "reborn" DLC bundled in. Don't expect too much out of that though. It is only 1 or 2 hours long but it does have an intresting take on the story. Buy it in a sale if you're intrested but you're not missing much if you give this game a miss.
Can an infinitly cool bullet-time effect hold up a game that is otherwise just a string of same-y environments and repetitve enemies with in an inane story and failed attempts at horror? Mostly It's considered a classic so I guess you should play it at least once, but I for one was expecting a whole lot more going into thise game.
Had to tinker a bit to get it running on a modern Windows 10 machine but once it did I discovered why Return to Castle Wolfenstein is considered a classic. The missions are fun, the story is entertaining, for it's time the graphics and A.I. were great and after all the modern shooters replaying a WWII-era shooter felt a bit like homecoming for me. The only real gripe I have with it is in the shooting mechanics. RtcW tried applying some realism to the weapons with bullitspread, movement penalties and recoil and while admirable it doesn't always feel great. Your bullits bounce around in a circle rather than in a more-or-less upwards recoil pattern like most FPS do nowadays, which make the guns feel more random than they really should. And it's not only for sustained firing, even the very first shot can randomly go way of target. This creates a few frustrating moments here and there especially in stealth-sections where a missed shot can mean a quick trip to the mission failed screen. Thankfully quick save and quick load options prevent things from getting to rage-inducing. All in all though this is a game I can easily recommend to any WWII-FPS enthousiast.
As a technical achievement this game still holds up beautifully ten years after it's initial release. Purely from a gameplay perspective however, things aren't so positive. Firstly the weapons, probably the most important thing to get right in an FPS, feel underwhelming and underpowered. Even later firearms with names like gauss canon that do a lot of damage, still FEEL like they don't and that's an issue. Guns, especially the powerful ones in the end game, should feel satisfying to shoot. Crysis gives you a nuke to fire and still manages to make it into a boring event. This issue extends to the player himself as well. You might be in a nano armor power suit, it never FEELS like it. You can only take a couple of hits before you'll have to leg it towards the nearest cover. Sure the suit has abilities such as a cloak function and extra strength but the first one drains battery so fast you might as well not bother and the second one lets you jump a little higher...whoo-hoo...I guess. If you were hoping for a power fantasy you won't find it here. Is this a bad game? No. But I went in with high expectations since this is considered a classic and I came out 4 hours later thoroughly underwhelmed. To put it in Immortan Joe's words: "Mediocre!"
