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XIII Preview |
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XIII
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With an awesome first person shooter lineup with games like Half-Life 2, Doom III, and Halo 2 coming to the Xbox video game console, there really isn't much one could wish for. Thanks to Ubi Soft, the same guys who brought us games like last year's AIAS Game of the Year award winner, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon, a new FPS title will be coming to the Xbox this year. XIII, a conspiracy ridden FPS title featuring cel-shaded graphics and unique flashback visuals.
Unlike Halo and Doom or even Valve's forthcoming Half-Life 2, the game isn't the story of some guy fighting aliens or zombies to save Earth or anything else close to that science-fiction experience.
The story starts out with the president of the United States found to be assasinated. As the main character of the game wakes up on a New England beach, he finds the number "XIII" has been somehow mysteriously tattooed on his chest and his picket contains a key to a New York City bank box. Unfortunately, he has no idea of who he is or his past. As he struggles up to his feet, he finds hitmen intent on finishing the job. To his own surprise, he finish esall of them with killing skills of an assasin and then heads to the bank in search of any shred of information about his lost identity and his involvement in the President's murder. With that is the start of your action adventure. XIII features a deadly arsenal of weapons that range from silent crossbows, sniper rifles, to furious automatic weapons, chairs, bottles, ashtrays, shovels and even enemy soldiers' bodies. The game features a unique gameplay system which the developers call "commando gameplay". With this, XIII's skills are so sophisticated that he can turn any situation, good or bad, to his advantage. Sort of like Spider-Man, XIII has a sixth sense (instead of spider sense). This "sixth sense" detects enemies that are near.
The game is so interactive that similar to Splinter Cell, you can can pick up objects like broken bottles and actually use them to inflict damage on enemies rather than distracting them. Another similar feature is the ability to hold enemies hostage. If you haven't played Splinter Cell, holding enemies hostage is so they will take all damage for you. They are human shields. Stealth will be used in the game at different times to ensure survival. So because of that, you will also have silent weapons. These include harpoons, a crossbow and throwing knives.
XIII has chances of being online enabled thanks to Microsoft's Xbox LIVE! service. Though an online fragfest option has not been confirmed for the Xbox version of XIII, Julien Bares, a producer of XIII, has commented saying it could end up being an option in the Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions of the game. If you're wanting to play XIII with your buddies, offline multiplayer options in XIII include the cooperative Cover Me, along with classic modes such as Capture the Flag and Deathmatch.
Cel-shading, the unique technology used in few other games such as Jet Set Radio Future or Gungrave on Sony's PlayStation 2 will certainly give a unique aspect to XIII since it will be the first FPS to incorporate the feature. The power of the Xbox will be used with cel-shading via the Unreal 2 technology and next generation animation.
Another aspect of XIII includes the unique flashback visuals. Suffering from amnesia, XIII will experience flashback sequences. These will correspond to memories of his forgotten past. This will allow gamers to fully unravel XIII's past as he meets different characters throughout the game to gradually unfold the game's story. The story sure seems to have had an influence from John F. Kennedy, but focusing on the theory that it was the result of businessmen, the US army, and Mafiosi.
XIII is a first person shooter with a unique new twist. When it's released at the end of this year, you'll definitely want to check it out unless you absolutely hate first person shooters. Stay tuned at Xbox Central for any more information released about XIII.
Review By: Hasan Sadiki
Game Info: XIII
Buy Game: Buy XIII Now!
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