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Genre Perspective Gameplay Interface Narrative Misc |
Description
XIII is a cel-shaded first-person shooter based on the popular Belgian cult comic created by Jean Van Hamme and illustrated by William Vance. The game is loosely based on the first five comics. The main theme of the game is based on Robert Ludlum's book The Bourne Identity, and features a man who is suffering from amnesia and quite possibly involved in the recent assassination of the President of the United States. The hero knows almost nothing except that he must be important, since everyone is trying to kill him. Gradually uncovering the mystery, the hero, learns more about his secret agent past and his curious name: XIII.The player unravels clues, trying to solve a conspiracy set in an environment that breathes a comic book ambiance. Footsteps and shots are visualized in text and actions: for example, head shots are shown in a series of still images. Aside from that, the game has all the typical FPS elements: both stealth and action, more than fifteen weapons (shotguns, crossbows, rifles, ...), interaction with environmental objects and plenty of enemies in levels spread all over the world. During the game, the player can learn a number of skills such as silent walking, lockpicking and dual weapons handling.
Screenshots
Promo Images
Alternate Titles
- "杀手十三" -- Simplified Chinese spelling
- "XIII: le jeu vidéo" -- French title
- "Thirteen" -- Common title
- "Shashou Shisan" -- Simplified Chinese title
Part of the Following Groups
- 3D Engine: Unreal Engine 2
- Gameplay feature: Body dragging
- Gameplay feature: Lock picking
- Green Pepper releases
- Inspiration: Comics
- Setting: City - New York
- Setting: City - Washington, D.C.
- Software Pyramide releases
- Theme: Amnesia
- Ubisoft eXclusive releases
- Visual technique / style: Cel shaded
- XIII licensees
User Reviews
Old shed, new paint... but such sexy paint! | PlayStation 2 | Bill Clay (34) |
High on Graphic, Low on Novel | Windows | Terrence Bosky (5458) |
Best attempt at a playable comic book yet | Windows | Paul Sinnett (506) |
Superb graphics, good gameplay | GameCube | Paul Jones (288) |
A fantastic FPS. Blew away all my expectations. | Windows | kbmb (435) |
It looked great and played terribly. | Windows | Ricky Pugh (7) |
Critic Reviews
Game Freaks 365 | GameCube | 2003 | 9.6 out of 10 | 96 |
Inside Mac Games (IMG) | Macintosh | Jun 16, 2004 | 8.75 out of 10 | 88 |
Playzone | PlayStation 2 | Nov 12, 2003 | 87 out of 100 | 87 |
PC Gamer | Windows | Feb, 2004 | 85 out of 100 | 85 |
Jeuxvideo.com | GameCube | Nov 19, 2003 | 17 out of 20 | 85 |
PlayFrance | PlayStation 2 | Dec 09, 2003 | 8 out of 10 | 80 |
Oldies Rising | GameCube | May 26, 2014 | 16 out of 20 | 80 |
Worth Playing | PlayStation 2 | Dec 14, 2003 | 7.6 out of 10 | 76 |
1UP | GameCube | May 09, 2004 | 7.5 out of 10 | 75 |
ActionTrip | Windows | Nov 17, 2003 | 74 out of 100 | 74 |
Forums
Topic | # Posts | Last Post |
---|---|---|
Game with MSI! | 3 | Fred VT (25910) Feb 19, 2014 |
Cine14.bik | 3 | Daniel Saner (3423) Aug 12, 2007 |
Trivia
Characters
Not all the enemies in the game are pure fantasy. The look of at least two of them is based on real persons. One of them is Niels Bogdan, German PR-guy from Ubi Soft, the other one is more interesting: In cooperation with the German games-show NBC GIGA GAMES, the designers gave the viewers of the show the chance to get themselves into the game. They just had to send pictures - and the other viewers decided, which was the meanest looking villain, you could imagine.Well, in the end, they didn't choose some mean looking guy - but a very, very mean, in a strange way, looking, young, ultra-nerdish guy. So, if you come across some really questionable villain who looks a bit like Bill Gates, you know why...
References
In the Canyon level, you can find three deserted graves. Unlike the tomb in the garden of the mansion, later on in the game, the names written on them do not refer to in-game characters, but to members of the development team: Olivier Dupin (2D), Marc Chevalier (3D Artists and Special Effects) and Nath Moschetti (Artistic Director).Soundtrack
The groovy seventies music is composed by artists associated with the San Francisco's Future Primitive Sound art collective. The soundtrack has been made available exclusively in a XIII game bundle that could be ordered from the Ubisoft site. There are no song titles, just 13 unidentified tracks that flow one into the other in one continuous mix.Awards
- 4Players
- 2003 – Best PC Story of the Year
- 2003 – Best PC Innovation of the Year
- Computer Gaming World
- March 2004 (Issue #236) – Special Achievement in Art Direction
Related Web Sites
- XIII (official website)
- Official Webpage (Mac) (The official product page for the Mac version of XIII on the publisher's website, which provides trailers, an overview of characters and weapons within the game itself, desktop wallpapers, a demo, and purchasing information, among other such particulars.)
- Official XIII site (Official website)
- Treize (Official comic book site)
- UBI Soft XIII site (UBI Soft website for XIII)
- XIII - le site non-officiel (Unofficial XIII comic book site)
Windows Credits (380 people)
324 developers, 56 thanks
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3D Artists and Special Effects:
Marc Meyer, Loïc Bébin, Christophe Neverre, Marc Chevalier, Olivier Conorton, Jocelyn Tridémy, Frédéric Ressaire, Rossana Cesaretti, Giuliano Boiocchi
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