XIII

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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" -- Chinese spelling (simplified)
• "XIII: le jeu vidéo" -- French title
• "Thirteen" -- Common title
• "Shashou Shisan" -- Chinese title

Part of the Following Groups

• 3D Engine: UnrealEngine2
• 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 (5463)
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

GamePro (US)	PlayStation 2	Nov 19, 2003	5 out of 5	100
Jeuxvideo.com	GameCube	Nov 19, 2003	17 out of 20	85
Press Start Online	Xbox	Nov 16, 2006	17 out of 20	85
Retroage	Xbox	May 07, 2011	8.3 out of 10	83
Eurogamer.net (UK)	Xbox	Dec 11, 2003	8 out of 10	80
AppleLinks.Com	Macintosh	Aug 01, 2004		80
IGN	Xbox	Nov 24, 2003	8 out of 10	80
Kombo.com	GameCube	Feb 19, 2004	8 out of 10	80
Factornews	PlayStation 2	Nov 20, 2003	6 out of 10	60
Game Shark	Windows	Dec 30, 2003	D+	33

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
Game with MSI!	3	Fred VT (25922) Feb 19, 2014
Cine14.bik	3	Daniel Saner (3253) 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

Information also contributed by Felix Knoke

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)