A game with a unique art style, but does it have the gameplay to back it up?
As I said the game looks amazing. While not exactly the best looking game i've ever seen, the cel-shaded visuals plus a comic book style interface make it unique. It's just so satisfying to see a big fat "BLAM!" over a guy's head after you plug him in the face. Or shooting a guy off a cliff and seeing "AAAAAAHHHHH" following him down the cliff. Awesome stuff.
Audiowise the game is kind of a mixed bag. The enemies sound like they should, the music is well done and kicks in the action heats up, and guns sound....well like guns. However the voice actors are embarrassing, and sound hungover or just bored. The awful VO drags down the audio, but just think; you see "BOOM!" as opposed to just hearing it.
Gameplay is mixed as well. The shooting kind of kills the game too. With a game with such a unique look the gameplay feels like the original doom or quake, nothing innovative but it works. The A.I is odd too. They jump from genius to retard to genius again. They take cover in wide open spaces, but loot their dead comrades for ammo. I dont get it. But hey, the game looks good.
Overall XIII is very innovative, but only in its art style. The gameplay works, but feels dated, the VO is sad, plus all this and a disappointing ending make XIII lack in what it should have been. But I had fun with it, and if you want to see something unique in a shooter its worth a look, just dont be expecting something massive.