I don't like puzzle platformers. I was told this game "wasn't that bad" and "is mostly for the atmosphere anyway". That was a lie. This is definitely a puzzle platformer. I don't think it's a particularly great one either. There are some good puzzles, but also a lot of really bad ones. Way too much trial-and-error. The second half also has lots of puzzles requiring quite precise timing. I got it for like a dollar, so it's not like I feel ripped off. But I wouldn't pay much more for it.
XIII was really on to something back in 2003, and it's a shame that it never saw much success back then. Sequels that further refined this concept could have ended up being truly excellent. The cel shaded art style is a perfect example of how good art direction can make a game timeless despite lacking pure graphical fidelity. The game oozes style and the lovely 2D feeling of playing a game set in the panels of a comic book is such a unique concept. The written out sound effects like BOOMs on explositions and TAP TAP TAPs on footsteps popping up never fails to make me smile, and I think the vibe comes across even better in the original than in the recent remake in my opinion, despite this having worse graphics. Gameplay wise it's a decent spy shooter with a mix of action levels mostly resembling old corridor shooters and stealth levels where you have to remain undetected. It's nothing to write home about compared to modern titles but if you like retro games it's perfectly fine and worth the experiencing in my opinion simply for the style factor. Some sequences are really cool and very classic high octane spy action. With the game being extremely short (about 7 hours) it's really not a big commitment either. Word of warning: the story is based on volumes 1-5 of the XIII comic books, of which there are 28 total. This means that, yes: the story isn't concluded at the end of the game and yes, it ends in a cliffhanger. Sadly with the remake flopping in terms of sales we're unlikely to ever see that sequel. It's still worth playing in my opinion, and I think the game concludes it's own mini-story satisfyingly enough even though the larger conspiracy isn't unravelled.
