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We have been following Ubi Soft's XIII for a couple of years now, and were amazed how far the game had come when we played it at this years ECTS. So we were delighted when preview code for the PlayStation 2 version of the game arrived here at Silicon Fusion. XIII, (pronounced thirteen), is a cel-shaded first-person shooter with a strong comic-book style story that runs throughout the game. Players take on the character of XIII - who is voiced by David Duchovny from the X-Files. Your character awakes on Brighton Beach, USA, which no memory of who he is or where he is. Your only clues are that you have 'XIII' tattooed on your collarbone, and that you have a key to a New York bank vault...
Ubi Soft kindly gave us a few levels to play with, the first level in the game is Long Beach - this is the very start of the game, and sees out hero wake up an look into the beautiful cel-shaded eyes of a shapely blonde, who fits perfectly into a red bay-watch style swimsuit. Her name is Janet and before she can help you she is brutally shot down, and you are forced to explore your surroundings to find anything to help defend yourself from these mystery attackers. Your first priority is to escape from the beach hut, and as you explore the two rooms you come across a key for the main door, a gun and some throwing knives. There are also bottles and other objects that you can smash and use as weapons, and also some destructible objects like fire extinguishers that can give your character the edge in combat. After taking care of a couple of assassins you make your way out onto a large wooden pier, just as a helicopter full of more goons takes off. After exploring your surrounding and finding one or two useful items hidden in deserted beach huts, you press on following the coastline while taking out a few enemies that are using some expensive looking cel-shaded yachts for cover. It's not long before you reach you goal and a means to escape - but we won't give everything away!
The Cable-Car Facility level is set amongst snow and ice, and you must protect General Carrington, (voiced by the original Batman - Adam West), as you attempt to repair the cableway while protecting the General from gunfire. This is quite a large level filled with enemy assassins and a few buildings to explore, and the cable-car facility itself. Before you have a hope of escaping in the cable car you have to find a way to repair the cableway, and eliminate a squad of enemies. Once you and the General are safely aboard the cable car, the next level begins and you and Carrington come under heavy fire from rocket launchers. As the General makes a quick exit from the cable car by using a rope, the player must find another way of exiting before the carriage plummets to the snowy ground. As well as many guns and other everyday objects that your character can use as weapons, he also has a few gadgets up his sleeve, and once you escape to the roof of the cable car you can use your grappling hook to escape - just as it tumbles to the plateau far below. Now you can descend safely, while taking out some enemies shooting at General Carrington as he takes cover behind some rocks.
We also played another level titled Dry Dock - complete with submerged submarine. The water effects when your character swims underwater are very effective, and players even get to use harpoons to take out enemy scuba divers. One of the mission objectives is to plant a bomb on the submarines propeller, which causes it to surface. On this level there are many crates to use as cover while taking out the enemies, and players can make use of the odd shovel that's lying around the warehouse, which you can use to crack the head of a guard on patrol.
Overall, XIII has come a really long way in the last year of development. The graphics are gorgeous and really do the comic-book style justice, and the framerate is blisteringly fast with some very large well thought-out levels. Voice acting is superb and the music in XIII fits the style of the game perfectly. We're really impressed with XIII - it's one of the most stylish and polished first-person shooters we've ever played, and the game certainly deserves to be on gamers wish lists when it's released at the end of this month. Stay tuned to Silicon Fusion for a full review very soon!
John Grothier
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