XIII should be at rock bottom bargain bin prices in most stores right now - and deservedly so.
XIII puts you in the shoes of Steve Rowland, an amnesiac that wakes up on a beach with an extremely spotty memory, a strange tattoo, and a safe key. The current president has just been assassinated, and you may or may not be the killer. This sounds like a pretty catchy opening, but it just goes downhill from there. The story develops, but the action falls flat and the pacing seems all wrong. There are flashbacks, revelations, and plot twists, but they have no impact whatsoever. The whole game has a sense of "so what?" The only time when you'll actually feel any surprise at all is the very last moment where the developers throw in a final cliffhanger-twist, and that's because of how incredibly tacked-on it is, as well as the total lack of closure it leaves.
A large problem in the storytelling can be attributed to the characters. There are a whole lot of them for a 10-hour game, and no time is spent developing any of them, which is just as well because they never seemed interesting anyways. Even Steve himself is undeveloped, probably because he hardly has any dialogue, despite being voiced by famous David Duchovny. There is a character who seems to be intended as love interest, but she rarely ever shows up in the game. When she does, it's just to guide you through a level, except for this other instance where she attempts something that's supposed to be considered flirting. And she's one of the more developed characters in the game.
XIII's visuals are somewhat unique such that it retains some comic book elements, like the sound-text (eg. POW! & BANG!, etc.) that accompanies the audio, or the overlay of still comic book frames to show events transpiring out of your field of vision, but it's more of a novelty than anything else. The cel shading effect itself is also distinct, but not particularly good-looking. If you look at objects up close, you'll see that they're pretty blocky and made of nothing but some basic polygons. The FMV videos that come between game levels are nice and slick, but unfortunately the quality doesn't carry over to the game itself. The audio is hardly extraordinary, except for the voice acting, which is actually fairly good. Too bad there isn't any interesting plot for the actors to deliver.
Despite what seems like a great setup for a vintage adventure game, XIII is a first-person shooter and plays much like any other. Steve Rowland quickly recalls his expert physical abilities, and is able to use an assorted variety of arms. Weapons here are pretty standard; you get your usual pistols, shotguns, grenades, submachine gun, assault rifle, sniper crossbow, etc. Likewise, combat using these is as per usual FPS modus operandi: point, shoot, reload, evade, move on to the next room and do it all over again. A slight frustration lies with the PS2 controllers; running and gunning with the joysticks are never as good as a keyboard and mouse configuration, but this is an issue inherent in all console shooters. Occasionally you'll be asked to pick up or manipulate certain items or objectives, and that's all done with a easy touch of a button. There's also a grappling hook type gadget that's so clumsy to use and limited as where it can be used that it's hardly worth mentioning. As a shooter, XIII is solid, but hardly outstanding.
In an attempt to make things a little more interesting, XIII incorporates a gameplay element that's been appearing in lots of titles lately: stealth. Steve Rowland has the ability to walk slowly, sneak up on enemies, and hold them hostage, causing enemies you're facing to hesitate firing on you. Moving around with a hostage requires you to walk backwards while still facing your enemies to keep them at bay. This works fairly well, but like with the grappling hook, you're rarely ever presented with opportunities to use it. There are also many segments in the game where you must get through an area without raising the alarm (which simply leads to a game over screen). This means avoiding security cameras, taking out guards one at a time, and dumping dead bodies in hidden spots. Unfortunately, it's never entirely clear what counts as a "hidden body", because you can have the alarm ring thanks to a guard that can see through an apparently solid sheet of grass. On the flip side, you can sometimes walk up to a security camera and look directly at it and nothing will happen. Rowland can also pick up certain objects scattered about (like brooms, chairs, or bottles) and use them as one-shot melee weapons, which is necessary for quietly taking out non-hostile enemies. Overall, XIII's stealth game mechanics are rough and sometimes broken, requiring frustrating trial-and-error instead of actual skill and finesse.
XIII also includes multiplayer matches against computer-controlled bots, another player on a split-screen, or online if you have the PS2 network adapter. You can do battle in an assortment of levels from the single player storyline adapted for multiplayer use. In addition to regular deathmatch (free-for-all), there's also capture the flag, a [demon mode], and a [powerup mode]. [demon mode] is an bizarre mode where players compete to shoot down a computer-controlled ghost that runs around the level that instantly kills whoever it touches. [powerup mode] is basically the same as deathmatch, except for additional powerups scattered about that give abilities such as temporary invincibility or invisibility. In this mode, powerups and weapons pickups are also compensated for the player's performance during the match. XIII's multiplayer is more fast-paced than the story mode, so the inadequacy of the joypad controls are even more apparent when facing the bots.
Due to a whole slew of problems, XIII is really a below-average shooter. The graphics and gameplay lacks polish, the plot lacks punch, the multiplayer fails to extend the life of the game in any significant way. The game should be at rock bottom bargain bin prices in most stores right now - and deservedly so. But if you're really itching to spend some money and shoot some people, go out for a game of paintball. You'll have more fun and save more cash.